Looking to organize a gift exchange at work or at home the easy way?

Are you doing a gift exchange this holiday season with your friends?

Perhaps you’ll been selected to organize a gift exchange at work for your colleagues and coworkers.

While a gift exchange can be a lot of fun, it’s also filled with a lot of logistical details.

Unsure as to where you should begin?

You’re in luck!

In this post, you’ll find a few tips to help you organize a gift exchange event.

Let’s get started…

Step 1. Figure out the total number of participants.            

Get a full count of interested participants in the gift exchange. There’s no need to pressure people to participate!

You could send out a brief email asking people to reply to you or create a digital or old fashioned paper sign up sheet.

Strive for an even amount of people so you’ll have an equal exchange of gifts.

Step 2. Set a budget or spending limit.

People shouldn’t have to break the bank for a friendly gift exchange.

What’s more, you don’t want unequal, or over the top exchanges to take place.

Set a modest spending limit. Somewhere between $10 to $30 should suffice in most cases.

Step 3. Randomly generate matches.

Search online for sites or apps that generate matches instantly and keep the whole process a secret.

You can also do things the old-fashioned way by pulling names out of a hat.

Be sure to keep these names in a secure place.

Step 4. Set up a shopping deadline and the date, time and location for the gift exchange.

Give people enough time to do their shopping.

You can choose either to have everyone exchange gifts at the same time in the same location.

Another option is to ask people to leave or deliver gifts secretively to gift recipients.

Step 5. Send out separate emails/invites.

Send out the following information to participants.

You can do this either automatically with an online tool or manually if you are pulling names out of a hat:

• The gift exchange date, time and location
• Budget or spending limit
• Shopping deadline
• Gift delivery option and deadline (if not doing a gift exchange event)
• Each invitee’s gift recipient (remember: do not reveal their gift giver’s name to them!)

Step 6. Send out a reminder.

Send out a mass email reminder a couple of days before the gift exchange.

This is to remind people again of the event and to bring their labeled gifts in hand.

Step 7. Enjoy the gift giving event!

Keep things a secret and ask people to put their gifts into a big pile.

Have folks look for their gifts and see if they can guess their gift giver.

Remember, in any exchange of gifts it’s not necessarily the gift you receive or give, but the thought that counts.

I have an organization guide that could help you get organized around the home and office. Click here to find out more.

If you want to organize your office or workspace so you can work more productively, let’s talk. Click here to schedule a strategy session with me.

How about you? Which of these tips are you going to follow when it comes to organizing your gift exchange? Join the conversation and leave a comment below.