Shottys Guide To Hosting A Rockstar Holiday Gift Exchange

If you’ve been tasked with organizing a holiday gift exchange this season, you might be freaking out. Organizing holiday events can give you ho-ho-horrible anxiety, but hold off on drowning your sorrows in ice cream and pre-packaged gelatin shots. With just a few key strategies, you can easily plan a holiday gift exchange for your friends, family, or coworkers that will knock their stockings off. Here’s what you need to know:

What to Spend

We can’t decide who’s more obnoxious, the gift exchange under-spender or the gift exchange over-spender. One leaves their recipient shafted and bummed, the other leaves the entire room insecure and annoyed. Either way, bad vibes.

At your holiday gift exchange, make sure to set a reasonable price limit, taking into account the formality of the occasion and how broke you and all your friends are. 10-20 dollars is usually reasonable, leaving participants with enough wiggle room to get a nice, personalized gift that the recipient will appreciate, while eliminating any chances of eye-rolling one-upmanship.

When to Start

The holiday season can be a blast, but it can also be a pain in the… tinsel. On top of all the usual stressors of adulting, suddenly you’re also tasked with endless shopping, event organizing, travel planning, and the same 8 songs playing on loop any time you’re in public. We mean…you can only hear Mariah Carey sing “All I Want for Christmas is You” so many times before you feel the urge to drown it out with some alcohol.

holiday gift exchangeThe last thing anyone wants is an unexpected last-minute holiday obligation, so that’s why it’s important that you get your gift exchange plans started early. As a good Party Hero, we know you’re ready for last minute fun with Shottys gelatin shots on hand, but your friends probably aren’t as prepared as you. A good holiday gift exchange should be announced preferably at least three, but certainly no less than two, weeks prior to the event itself. That gives people plenty of time to find the perfect gift (or at least dig through their closet for that picture frame they’ve been meaning to regift for ages).

What to Buy

Organizing a gift exchange then showing up with a sub-par gift of your own is not a good look, so it’s important that you put thought into what you’re bringing to the table.

If you’re Secret Santa buying for someone you know, ask around among their friends so you know what they like or want. Alternatively, channel your inner CIA agent with some next level social media stalking. If you’re shopping for a dirty Santa or White Elephant,  you won’t be able to take this personalized approach. Instead, look for gifts with crowd pleasing appeal.

When in doubt, you can always fall back on everyone’s favorite: candy and booze. Go high class with some bougie lavender chocolate bars and a bottle of wine. Or, for a quirkier spin on an old favorite, try a pack of trendy Shottys pre-packaged gelatin shots. No matter your style, sugar and alcohol is always a winning gift-swap option.

What to Do

Make sure to have easy snacks on deck and a jingle-bell-rocking holiday playlist in the background. To keep the fun and conversation flowing, make sure to also keep a cooler or fridge of beer, canned wines, and premade gelatin-shots from Shottys close at hand.

Your gift exchange isn’t just about the planning and the buying; at the end of the day, it’s all about getting the best gift out of all your frien– erm, we mean spreading holiday cheer! While getting ready for your gift exchange, don’t forget that having festive fun is the real reason for the season.

 

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