Martha, I have seen videos of that game. Looks kind of crazy!
My family used to buy for everyone when I was growing up and into my teenage years, and then we decided to draw names. Well, we did that for many years which worked good for me, expense-wise. I used to give a list of things I would like to whomever had my name and they could choose what they wanted to get me off that list. I would also ask the person I got, what they wanted. About 15 years ago, one of my brothers told me that by finding out what people wanted for Christmas, took the fun and surprise out of it and he no longer wanted to draw names. I told him I would rather get something I want, and I would still be excited about opening it to see what it was, than to get something I didn't want/like and had no use for. (Isn't that what kids do when they ask "Santa" for what they want?). So we just ended up doing the White elephant game instead. The guys hated that game and only wanted to do it for 10 minutes which was hardly enough time for everyone to get a gift (we had to roll doubles with dice in order to pick a gift, which can take awhile). The last year I was with the family for Christmas, apparently, everyone decided to buy for everyone else, except no one told me or my dad, so we were very surprised and kind of pissed when they all handed out the gifts and started opening them and we had nothing. We just sat there feeling very left out and uncomfortable.
No one else seemed to notice.
I love watching people open their gifts, whether they are from me or someone else! We used to take turns opening gifts but eventually they decided to just all open them at once to "get it over with sooner".
That just took all the fun out of it for me.
I miss giving and getting gifts. I will get one for the Secret Santa at work (maybe a dog bowl and a gallon of water
), and maybe for a couple friends around here. I will probably just make cookies and give them. I do try to buy for the Toys For Tots, or another good organization.
For me, I like anything chocolate, and gift cards for stores or restaurants I like. It would be great if Santa brought me a Class C RV this year tho...