You wrap the gifts. They play for one.
The Christmas gift game: one box is coal, one is the big present
Save one present for the end of the morning and make them play for it. Fill a board of mystery boxes with the real gift, a few IOUs, some small treats and at least one lump of coal, put the game on the TV and hand them the remote. The Banker calls three times with an offer. Whatever is in the box they finish with is theirs.
Make their Christmas game · $4.99Plays on a TV, tablet or phone · $4.99 once · unlimited replays
How the Christmas present game works
You do the elf work before the day. Choose 10, 15 or 20 boxes and tell us a little about the person playing. We fill every box from 192 gift ideas, sorted into four tiers: Coal for the jokes, Treat for small things and IOUs, Great for proper presents and Grand for the big one. Then you make it yours. Type in the gift you actually bought, or a clue to where it's hidden ("Check the hall closet, top shelf"), and write the three offers the Banker will make.
On Christmas morning they pick a box to keep, closed, and open the others over four rounds. Every gift that appears is one that isn't in their box, so the room cheers for coal and groans at the concert tickets. After rounds one, two and three the Banker rings: GIFT takes the offer and ends the game, NO GIFT plays on. At the end it's KEEP or SWAP for the last box on the board, and the final box opens. A game takes about ten minutes, and replays reshuffle the boxes.
What to hide in the Christmas boxes
A good board has a bit of everything. These come straight from the ideas the game suggests.
- A lump of coal Santa checked the list twice. Better luck next box · Coal
- Half a candy cane The other half was quality-tested · Coal
- A single Brussels sprout Christmas dinner, the director's cut · Coal
- Hot chocolate kit Cocoa, marshmallows and a mug to keep · Treat
- Christmas pajamas Matching, if you're brave enough · Treat
- Homemade cookies A fresh batch, baked by me, shared with no one · Treat
- Holiday lights drive Cocoa, carols and the most extra houses in town · Treat
- Ice skating and cocoa Rink time, hand-holding mandatory · Great
- A cozy new sweater Soft, warm and absolutely not ugly · Great
- A day on the slopes Lift tickets and rentals sorted · Great
- Look under the bed Something big is hiding down there · Grand
- Your real present Check the hall closet, top shelf · Grand
A Christmas gift exchange game for two
Most Christmas gift exchange games need a crowd: a circle of cousins, a stack of wrapped parcels and a rule about stealing. When it's just the two of you, there's no one to steal from. This works the other way round. One person builds a game for the other, and the fun is in watching. You know where the Grand box is; they don't. You get to sit beside them while they turn down a perfectly good offer from the Banker.
For a real exchange, both of you make one. Agree on the number of boxes and a rough budget for the Grand prize, keep the links secret, and take turns on Christmas Eve. Whoever wins the bigger tier gets to pick the movie. It works for couples, for roommates, for a parent and a grown-up kid, or for two friends who live in different cities and play over a video call.
Round by round, on Christmas morning
- 01Pick
They choose one mystery box and keep it shut.
- 02Open
Round by round, they open the other boxes. Every gift revealed is one they can no longer win.
- 03Resist
The Banker calls three times with an offer you wrote. GIFT, or NO GIFT?
- 04Reveal
Keep or swap, then the last box opens. That gift is theirs.
Other Christmas gift games to play this year
Classic ways to give presents with a bit of drama. Most need nothing more than what's already under the tree.
- White Elephant (Yankee Swap): everyone brings one wrapped gift, players take turns opening a new one or stealing one already opened.
- Left-Right story game: someone reads a Christmas story out loud and the gifts in everyone's hands move left or right at every "left" and "right".
- Pass the parcel: one present wrapped in many layers, with a small treat in each layer and the music stopping at random.
- Gift scavenger hunt: a trail of clues around the house that ends at the hidden present.
- Roll for it: roll two dice in turn, a double lets you take a gift from the pile, and a timer decides when the stealing stops.
- Oven mitt unwrapping: open your gift wearing oven mitts while everyone else counts down.
Short of ideas for the boxes? Spin the gift idea generator.
More ways to give it
Playing with children and grandparents on the sofa? The Christmas game for the family has tips for kids and the big screen. Want the game to lead to one particular surprise, like a trip or a ticket? Read about using it as a gift reveal game. And when the tree comes down, it works just as well as a birthday gift game.
Questions, answered
What is a Christmas gift game?
Any game that decides who gets which present, or turns opening one into a challenge. This one is a game show: the person you are giving to picks one of 10, 15 or 20 mystery boxes, opens the rest over four rounds, takes or refuses three offers from the Banker, and wins whatever is in the box they finish with.
Is there a Christmas present game for two people?
Yes. One of you builds the game, the other plays it, and the builder gets the best seat in the house. Want it to be an exchange? Make one game each and play them back to back on Christmas Eve.
Do I need to buy a present for every box?
No. The player wins the box they finish with, so fill every box with something you're happy to give, but most of them can be IOUs, small treats or a lump of coal. One or two real presents in the Grand boxes is plenty.
Can we play it on the TV on Christmas morning?
Yes. Open the link on a laptop plugged into the TV, or mirror a phone or tablet with AirPlay, Chromecast or your TV's screen mirroring. It also plays on a phone on its own.
How long does it take to set up?
A few minutes. We fill every box and the Banker's three offers from 192 gift ideas, then you swap or rewrite what you like, pay $4.99 and get the link by email straight away. Nothing ships, so it works even on December 24th.
Can I keep it secret until Christmas?
Nothing reaches them until you share the link. You can also lock it with a 4 to 6 digit PIN and hand over the code when the moment comes.
Their Christmas present is in one of these boxes
Fill the boxes tonight, put it on the TV on Christmas morning.
Make their game$4.99, once · no subscription · unlimited replays