Make your white elephant gift exchange more memorable by doing a gift auction! This is one of the most fun Christmas party games that is perfect for all ages. Printable cash makes it a super easy and fun Christmas party game.
HOW TO HOST A WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT AUCTION
Alright so you're looking for some fun holiday party game ideas? This White Elephant Auction is a winner!
Not only is this White Elephant Game easy to put together, but it's hilarious and will have everyone laughing and smiling. Our families request to play this Christmas auction game for parties every year.
This is one of those Christmas game ideas you need to know about. It's a funny Christmas gift exchange game for family parties, office holiday parties, and more.
If you're looking for fun games for Christmas party, look no further! All ages can play.
OTHER FUN CHRISTMAS GAMES:
- White Elephant Game (Classic Version)
- Christmas Movie Trivia Game
- Christmas Scavenger Hunt
- 6 Easy Christmas Games Bundle
WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE DETAILS
The best part about this Christmas gift auction game is you don't know what you're going to get!
Since each gift is wrapped, you use your Christmas auction money to buy a gift. You don't know if it's awesome or lame.
Here's a list of the best white elephant gift ideas!
I paid big money for a roll of toilet paper, while others ended up with gift cards and other awesome prizes.
Here's what you need for the family auction gift exchange:
- Scissors
- Gift bags and wrapping paper- no perfect wrapping required!
- A fun group of party guests
> SAVE TIME! GET THE CHRISTMAS AUCTION CASH TO PRINT HERE <<
HOW TO DO A CHRISTMAS PARTY WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE AUCTION:
CHRISTMAS GIFT AUCTION GAME RULES
Tip: Give a dollar amount limit so that all gifts will be fairly equal.
6. For extra fun, the hosts should put together one "Grand Prize" for the end. This grand prize can be awesome or not... the person with the most cash at the end automatically wins the Grand Prize.
RELATED: 16 WHITE ELEPHANT GIFTS UNDER $20 THAT EVERYONE WANTS!
I've designed 2 versions of Cash: Christmas Cash or Holiday Cash, depending on what you prefer! Use it for this holiday auction party or job charts, good behavior rewards, or Christmas stores in your classroom.
For just a few dollars, you're on your way to a fun and simple Christmas party game!
DOWNLOAD THE CHRISTMAS AUCTION CASH FROM OUR SHOP HERE
HILARIOUS GIFT AUCTION GIFT IDEAS
The whole fun of a white elephant gift exchange auction is that some gifts will be awesome and some will be terrible!
Christmas Auction Ideas:
- Gift cards (with only a few cents on them!)
- Cash
- Toilet paper
- Extra "Christmas Cash"
- Christmas food
- Coloring books, stickers, play dough for kids
- Christmas CD
- Dollar store items
- bar of soap
- Can of food
- Christmas movie
FAQ
How much money in each domination is given to each person participating?
Plan to give each person about $100-$120 in Christmas cash.
To do a gift auction, print off the Christmas/Holiday Cash and separate into piles for each person. Have a your party guests bring a few wrapped gifts. And then auction presents off one-by-one until all the gifts are gone.
RELATED: 16 WHITE ELEPHANT GIFTS UNDER $20 THAT EVERYONE WANTS!
OTHER CHRISTMAS PARTY GAMES
- 72 Christmas Movie Trivia Game Questions
- Christmas Scavenger Hunt
- 6 Easy Christmas Holiday Party Games
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Beth Rafferty says
we are doing this for Christmas! looks so fun
Ashley says
Is each person only allowed to win one time or can they get multiple gifts?
sofestivemel says
You can win as many gifts as you have cash for!
Jan says
Is there a limi,t how many gifts a person can win, and won’t that leave people with no gift at All?
sofestivemel says
we haven't set a limit-- so if you have cash left, you can buy the gift. you might spend all your money for one gift (if the bid gets that high) or you might get mulitple gifts if you don't have to spend very much on them.
LINDA BIVEN says
A great way to change up the gift exchange, with minimal expense. I think I'll buy the gifts and wrap them in decorated snowman and reindeer lunch bags.
sofestivemel says
oh, that's such a great idea!
Kareemah says
If everyone is giving the same amount of money how can you outbid someone? Say both of you are willing to spend the Mac that was given?
sofestivemel says
Good question! I suppose that could happen! But, usually with all the gifts there are, it's unlikely that everyone will have the same amount leftover. If you wanted to avoid this, you could play a game beforehand to earn different amounts... it always works out.
Heidi says
This was the perfect game! We have such a wide variety of ages, that it was a challenge to find something everyone could enjoy. This was ideal because it allowed everyone to participate . We’d outgrown our traditional “right-left pass the present and swap” white elephant game and we’ve struggled to find a replacement. But everyone really loved this twist! The chance of getting a decent gift kept the interest high and the fact that you could bid as long as you have Christmas Cash kept people engaged the whole time instead of checking out as soon as they had a gift. Thanks so much for sharing!!
sofestivemel says
This makes me smile. I'm so glad your family loved this gift auction!
Thrifty LQ says
This sounds FUN! I'm a detail person...so I have questions. Giving a grand prize to whoever has the most $$$ at the end? Isn't that a reward for whoever didn't participate much? I want to encourage guests to get in on the action. And are we giving our money to whoever brought the gift or to a "cashier" or a central pot to throw it in? Maybe extra prizes should be given for the best gift (group vote) or the most absurd gift. That would encourage people to be creative.
Any other suggestions for money, other than printing all of that out? I may have 25 people at our party and that is a lot of wasted paper and ink...and time - printing, cutting, separating. Can't wait for our group to do this fun game.
sofestivemel says
The money goes to the auctioneer. You could definitely do extra prizes for most creative, etc. Or those people could get extra cash. We've always done it with money. I printed a set a few years ago and I reuse it every year.
Thrifty LQ says
Thanks for your reply and help. Looking forward to playing this. If anyone else has suggestions for my questions above, please feel free to post them. Especially for an option of not doing so much printing of money for a large group.
Kris TeBrake says
We have done this game in the past for a business Christmas party, and we make it a "change" auction using only the loose change people have along. They dont know ahead of time that we are using change, so they can't plan to bring more along, and we dont allow them to go up to the bar or waitress to get more. We are starting out this year playing the game left, center, right and playing with coins instead of chips, and they will be able to use the coins they win, in addition to their loose change. We then auction the gifts for small amounts like .50 or $1.00. We also use both gag and nice gifts. Hope that helps for another suggestion other than paper money!
sofestivemel says
What a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Rita says
Would it work to throw in a twist to include swapping (like dirty Santa)? You can bid with your available Cash and either give it to the Auctioneer for an unopened gift or to a player who has already opened one you want. Then that player would use the additional cash to bid some more. Downsides?
sofestivemel says
of course you could! really, the sky is the limit with this fun game!
Laura says
Monopoly money?
sofestivemel says
Christmas cash is more festive, but you could definitely use that!
Stephanie says
Suggestions on how to make it so each participant ends up with a ‘good prize’?
sofestivemel says
If you are worried about everyone getting a good prize, then I would limit the $ amount each gift is worth. Usually we do this with $10 or less gifts so that no one is out a lot. Or just have everyone bring dollar gifts or funny gifts. That's the fun is not knowing what you'll get!
Amanda says
Any suggestions for doing this during a family party with both kids and adults? Trying to figure out a way that each family doesn't have to bring a gift for each person that will be good for both adults and kids...
sofestivemel says
We usually do just cheap dollar gifts when kids and adults are involved. We do a seperate auction for kids sometimes too!
Susan says
How much money in each domination is given to each person participating?
melissa says
I recommend about $100-$120 per person. We usually do mostly $10s and $5s and some $1s.
Nicole says
So is each item a set $ amount and people can buy it...or does it start at a certain $ amount and then guests outbid each other like a real auction?
melissa says
We just start each item out and let people bid like an auction. Highest bid takes the gift!
Tammy says
I’m planning on doing this game this year and putting clues as to what may be in the gift so guests can have some idea what they might be bidding on - for instance, “Squeaky clean” as a clue on a gift may be a car wash kit OR it may just be a bar of soap! I thought it would be fun to have people try to figure out what they are “buying “.
melissa says
That is brilliant!!
Delewon Young says
My family is doing this for Christmas 2022!! I have a whole year (its Feb) to get it together!! I can't wait!
L L Range says
What a fun idea! I’ve collected so many free giveaways from casinos and our family has a blast playing card bingo to win them. I wrap them all and we play the game two ways. One way is to wrap all gifts and put numbers on them. When someone gets a bingo they pull a number out of the hat and that’s their prize. They can open their gift so all can see. The next winner can still the previous winner prize, or draw a number for a prize. If they steal the open gift that person draws a number and takes a new gift. We play until all gifts are opened. We have some fun things and some silly things and everyone has fun and good laugh. Also usually after we are done playing prizes are usually bargained with others to get something they want.
The second way is to give everyone a wrapped gift and to play a set number of bingos. As a person bingos they decide if they want to keep their current wrapped gift of trade with someone else. No gifts are opened until the games are finished. At that point everyone gets the prize they have.
Cindy says
We played that once at our Christmas get together. Using Monopoly money and the leader gave clues to what might be in the gift bag. One bag had snacks (chips, pop and candy) another had a gift card for the movies. Lots of fun.
Rob says
Great idea if I use $300 to give to each person what do you recommend I start the bidding at?
Linda says
So each person will recognize what they brought because of the bag it is in. Do they just not bid on it or is there some other way around it?
Melissa says
You can do a few different things- if everyone brings their gift in a bag, the host of the game switches all the gifts around in new bags before the bidding begins. That way no one knows what they are bidding on. Gift bags make it easy to do this. If you don't want to switch bags, then the person who brought it just wont vote since they know what it is.