Comments on: What Are the Rules of a Yankee Swap and How to Win

By: Harry Snapperorgans

Harry Snapperorgans — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:46:00 +0000

BB, I’m sure your tender little snowflake got over it. Maybe you should keep them inside until they turn 18. And consider a lawsuit.

Jeesh!

By: et tu and you » Sleek MakeUP Pout Paint party! | A few of my favorite things….., Destinations….., feedbag, I feel pretty…., mon ami, News, reviews

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:06:11 +0000

[...] if we weren’t having a good enough time, Lisa Marie decided to throw a “yankee swap” into the mix. Oh boy, let the good times roll. In case you didn’t know, I can be a [...]

By: VLS

VLS — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 17:34:28 +0000

Thank you Dorrie for putting my words (as well) in print!

By: VLS

VLS — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 17:32:58 +0000

Despicable? That’s kind of harsh, isn’t it? Perhaps you on the West coast should refrain from participating in this “Yankee” game.

By: Pottymouth

Pottymouth — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 05:17:23 +0000

I’m loving these comments. Your children are a bunch of ignorant cry babies who need to learn that life isn’t fair; it’s just a game of chance, and in the end none of it matters cuz we’re all doomed anyway. Merry effin Xmas!

By: Robynne

Robynne — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:52:44 +0000

The point of this game is to allow people to exchange gifts who could not otherwise. Large families, workplaces, book clubs, any group of people. The idea is that everyone only needs to purchase one gift instead of 20 (or however many are in the group). The swap part is a twist to allow for some FUN and allow the possibility of getting your gift back. Kids can play as long as the rules are explained completely and they understand they may (probably will) ‘lose’ their gift. What a great learning experience it could be. Anyone who complains about getting a gift…is just sad. And each group can adjust the rules to fit their needs. Our office does not ‘force’ everyone to participate and when the swap has been completed, we can then exchange with anyone. So BB, Ella and Lori – I hope you do refrain from joining these ‘games’ you do NOT have the right attitude for it. Merry Christmas!

By: Robynne

Robynne — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:46:45 +0000

I played this in Girl Scouts as a young girl and I was not traumatized by the “stealing” of gifts. It is a fun idea and I hope your reaction didn’t make it worse for your child. Being ‘civilized’ has nothing to do with it (and that is an offensive comment) it is about having FUN. Hopefully your child is not as stuffy as you and has a better sense of fun and games.

By: not a grinch

not a grinch — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:00:52 +0000

you people need to lighten up.
it’s a fun adult party gift exchange game.
we’ve done this game at our Christmas party every year for the past 5 years and we’ve always had a blast.

By: Dorrie

Dorrie — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:24:30 +0000

You people are crazy! We have been playing this game at our family get-together for several years now as opposed to everyone trying to buy a gift for everyone else or drawing names and trying to buy for somebody that you may or may not really know well enough to buy a good gift for. Our family members range in age (this year) from 3 all the way up to 80-something (not really sure exactly how old grandma is this year) and everyone has a GREAT time! We limit the gift price to $10 and up until this year it’s just been adult participation, but the past few years the older kids (9 to 12) have bugged us to join in. So, this year we let the parents handle whether or not their kids play. The kids do still get their own gifts from all the grandparents and we start the gifting event with them opening their gifts in the hopes that they will entertain themselves with their new gifts while we play the adult game. However, that plan hasn’t worked out so well, they see us having a fun time and they wanna join in. So we are working on adjusting some rules and maybe letting them have their own kind of gift exchange game next year.
As for the spirit of Christmas, and teaching our children to actually “steal”??? Geez! Give me a break! It’s a G-A-M-E and I can think of MANYYYYY other “games” where children are taught to “steal” or “take” something from somebody else in order to “win”. So, please don’t try lecturing me on the idea of teaching our children something terribly, horribly wrong by playing this game. You want to talk about teaching your children something wrong? How many of you who are saying you “hate” this game and how evil it is have been raising your children to believe in the LIE of Santa Claus? Our family focus’ our Christmas beliefs on the Biblical story of Christmas, not the fictional one. The dirty santa game is just a very small part of our big family get-together where we all try to enjoy each others company. Many of us usually also end up “swapping” things out afterwards anyway if anyone else is interested, so it’s not like we are teaching our children anything beyond how to participate in a group game situation, which is a pretty important life lesson. When they have to go out into the “real” world I’d hate to think I’d taught them that life is all perfect and pretty cause it’s NOT!
I do agree, however, that children should be made well aware of how the game works before they are allowed to participate and we definitely refrain from letting the very young children play because they are not old enough yet to understand how to play the game. Just like I would not expect the 3 year olds to sit down and play a game of monopoly with the adults either.
My final comment is this: you want to talk about “human greed”? How about children expecting to receive a gift at every party they attend this time of year or displaying a “tantrum” over receiving a gift they don’t like? I’ve seen that attitude too many times from other children and before we started playing this game, even some of our older children had started acting like that because the gifts they were getting were not “good enough”. So now we have used the dirty santa game to “teach” them that this holiday season is NOT about giving/receiving gifts, it’s about family fellowship and fun and thanking our Lord & Savior for another year together and for coming to this world so long ago to save us ALL!

By: Lori

Lori — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 20:18:45 +0000

I too hate this game. The point of Christmas gift-giving is to show someone you care about them by picking out a thoughtful gift that you feel they would like. This game takes all the joy of giving away. Why would you think it’s fun to steal someone’s gift that they really like? I have to do this for my office party and am dreading it. I do not think I will steal anybody’s gift. It’s mean.