13 Best Christmas Gift Exchange Games for the Office

Brace yourself. The silly season is here. And so are the Christmas gift games that turn even your quietest colleagues into fierce and festive competitors. Whether your workplace loves gentle fun or full-blown holiday chaos, the right game can turn a simple gift swap into the much-loved highlight of the office calendar.

We’ve rounded up a fresh mix of Christmas giving games — from quick and quirky to clever team-building. Help your office celebrate in style (and maybe discover who’s been practising their rock-paper-scissors strategy all year).

No matter the size of your team or the vibe at your end-of-year party, these games for gifts at Christmas are guaranteed to bring it: laughter, connection and a little (friendly) competition. Ready to play? Let’s unwrap some ideas.

What is Oxfam Unwrapped?

Before we dive into the gifting games, meet the charity cards that make Christmas feel twice as good.

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Oxfam Unwrapped is a punny collection of charity gifts guaranteed to quack you up. Even better, they help fund Oxfam’s work tackling the root causes of poverty. Each card represents something meaningful like clean water, food security, women’s leadership or climate action, and supports projects that help communities build strong, lasting futures.

You can personalise your cards with your company logo or message, send them as e-cards or printed cards, and yes, they’re tax-deductible. It’s festive giving with impact baked in. Like a Christmas pudding, but with fewer currants.

Ready to mix purpose with play? Let the games begin.

Fun Gift Exchange Games for the Office

1. White Elephant

White Elephant is a classic Christmas gift game where players unwrap presents, “steal” their favourites, and compete for the most sought-after surprise. It’s fast, funny, and delivers just the right amount of festive mischief. Perfect if you enjoy a bit of strategy with your shortbread.

How to play

Everyone brings a wrapped gift and places it in a central pile.
Players draw numbers to determine the order of play.
Player 1 picks and unwraps a gift.
Each following player can either unwrap a new gift or “steal” an opened one.
If your gift gets stolen, you choose a new wrapped one (or steal from someone else, if allowed).
Continue until every participant is holding a gift.

Tips for success

Set a clear budget so no one accidentally becomes the office philanthropist.
Limit how many times a gift can be stolen to keep things moving.
Encourage fun, quirky gifts — every good White Elephant game needs at least one mysteriously rattly present.

Optional idea

If you want to sneak in a meaningful twist, slip in an Oxfam Unwrapped card as one of the wrapped gifts. It’s the only “steal” that makes everyone feel like they’ve won.

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2. Rock Paper Scissors Switch

Secret Santa is a Christmas gift game where each person anonymously buys a present for one colleague, then reveals (or keeps secret) who gifted what. It’s as simple as they come. Christmas gifting, but with plot twists.

How to play

A few weeks before the party, everyone writes their name on a slip of paper.
Participants draw a name at random — that’s who they’ll buy a gift for.
If someone draws their own name, they redraw.
On the day: gifts are exchanged anonymously, revealed in a group, or delivered stealthily to desks — whatever suits your team’s vibe.
You can decide whether Secret Santas reveal themselves or remain forever mysterious.

Tips for success

Give people plenty of notice so no one panic-buys from the servo on the way in.
Use an online name-drawing tool if your team is remote or hybrid.
Make participation optional — gifting should feel fun, never pressured.
Share a budget so everyone’s on equal footing.

Read our guide to Secret Santa gift ideas for our thoughts on how to make the game unforgettable.

4. Dice Exchange

Dice Exchange is a Christmas gift game powered entirely by the roll of the dice. Every turn decides whether you unwrap, swap, or suddenly find yourself holding the gift everyone’s been eyeing off. It’s simple and silly. And it delivers festive fun with a bit of suspense.

How to play

Everyone brings a wrapped gift and receives one at random.
Players take turns rolling one or two dice (depending on how chaotic you want it).
Each number corresponds to an action — for example:
- 1: Switch gifts with the person on your right
- 2: Switch gifts with the person on your left
- 3 or 4: Swap with anyone in the circle (and unwrap if it’s still wrapped)
- 5 or 6: Unwrap your gift
The game ends once all gifts are unwrapped and everyone is holding one.

Tips for success

Print a simple action sheet so people can follow along.
Use oversized dice for extra novelty.
For big groups, have two dice rolling at once to keep the pace up.

5. Musical Gifts

Musical Gifts works like a festive mash-up of hot potato and musical chairs. Gifts get passed around the circle while the music plays — when it stops, whoever’s holding the present opens it. Don’t underestimate this one. Your choice of music can make it a surefire hit. 90s mash-up, anyone?

How to play

Everyone brings a small, wrapped gift and places it in a central pile.
Choose a DJ (ideally someone with decent taste or at least good comedic timing).
The DJ hands a wrapped gift to the first player.
When the music starts, players pass the gift around the circle.
When the music stops, the person holding the gift opens it and steps out of the circle.
Continue until every player has opened a gift.

Tips for success

Encourage your DJ to add surprise pauses. It keeps everyone on their toes.
Use upbeat songs that suit your workplace vibe: festive hits, 90s throwbacks or whatever gets people smiling.
Avoid breakable gifts (unless your insurance policy is better than most).
For bigger teams, pass multiple gifts at once to keep things moving.

3. Secret Santa

How to play

A few weeks before the party, everyone writes their name on a slip of paper.
Participants draw a name at random — that’s who they’ll buy a gift for.
If someone draws their own name, they redraw.
On the day: gifts are exchanged anonymously, revealed in a group, or delivered stealthily to desks — whatever suits your team’s vibe.
You can decide whether Secret Santas reveal themselves or remain forever mysterious.

Tips for success

Give people plenty of notice so no one panic-buys from the servo on the way in.
Use an online name-drawing tool if your team is remote or hybrid.
Make participation optional — gifting should feel fun, never pressured.
Share a budget so everyone’s on equal footing.

Read our guide to Secret Santa gift ideas for our thoughts on how to make the game unforgettable.

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4. Dice Exchange

Dice exchange is another fun twist on office gift-giving games. Will you swap gifts with someone or unwrap a new surprise? It all depends on your luck when you roll the dice.

Rules:

For the dice exchange gift game, the choices about what happens to your gift are determined by a roll of one or two dice, depending on how complex you want to make the game.

Everyone brings a wrapped gift, and they are distributed to all players at random.
Players roll dice to determine what happens to the gift they’re holding. It’s a good idea to print instruction sheets so everyone can easily track what will happen next. There are lots of possibilities, but here’s a simple version of the game:
- 1 – Switch gifts with the person on your right
- 2 – Switch gifts with the person on your left
- 3 or 4 – Switch gifts with anyone in the circle AND unwrap the gift if it’s not already unwrapped
- 5 or 6 – Unwrap your gift
The game ends when everyone is holding an unwrapped gift.

Tips for a successful game:

If you play with a larger group, you can speed up the game by having people unwrap the gifts that get passed to them.
With smaller groups, you could start with 2-3 small gifts per person. Then, people can choose which ones they pass and open.
Consider using an oversized pair of dice to make the rolling more dramatic and fun.

5. Musical Gifts

Musical Gifts is a Christmas exchange gift game that is a mashup of music chairs and hot potato where players will pass gifts around the room until the music stops. But, don’t underestimate this one. With the right soundtrack, the music itself can become the most memorable player in this game.

Rules:

Everyone brings a small, wrapped gift and sets it in a pile by the DJ.
Arrange everyone in a circle, either sitting or standing, and the DJ hands someone a gift.
When the DJ starts the music, players pass the gift. Whoever is holding the gift when the music stops gets to open it. When you’ve won a gift, it’s time to step out of the circle to watch and dance along.
Repeat until everyone has received a gift.

Tips for a successful game:

Encourage the designated DJ to add unexpected pauses for more fun.
Choose music to match the mood of the office and aim for songs that people already know. Christmas music might be perfect for some groups, but don’t be afraid to go with 90’s dance favourites or anything that will keep people on the dance floor.
Encourage non-breakable gifts, in case anyone misses a gift when someone passes it to them.
For larger groups, pass around more than one gift at a time to speed up the game.

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6. Christmas Chaos

Christmas Chaos is an unpredictable and spontaneous Christmas gift game (in the best possible way). Every player draws instruction cards that tell them who to swap gifts with — using fun prompts like “trade with someone wearing red” or “swap with the person who loves spreadsheets.”

How to play

Print a stack of instruction cards (or, even better, write your own tailored to the office).
Place all wrapped gifts in a central pile and distribute one to each person.
Players take turns drawing a card and following its instructions — swap left, swap right, trade with a colleague who matches a prompt, etc.
Continue until all cards are drawn.
Once the final action is complete, everyone unwraps the gift they’re holding.

Tips for success

Personalise the prompts with office in-jokes (“swap with someone who always remembers the Wi-Fi password”) or prompts that celebrate people (“trade with someone who helped you this year”).
Keep the pace brisk so the energy stays high.
For hybrid teams, prompts like “swap with someone on the next screen over” also work.

7. Gift Scavenger Hunt

You guessed it — Gift Scavenger Hunt turns your office (or party venue) into a festive treasure map. Your team will follow clues, solve riddles and race to discover where their gift is hidden. It’s playful problem solving, one office in-joke at a time.

How to play

Collect all wrapped gifts ahead of time and give them to the organiser.
The organiser hides the gifts around the office or venue.
Prepare clues or riddles — each one leading players to their gift’s location.
Hand out the first clue and let players (or pairs/teams) begin the hunt.
The game finishes when every gift has been found.

Tips for success

Tailor clues to your workplace: the meeting room where everyone forgets their mugs, the printer no one admits to jamming, the “too cold” side of the office.
Pair people up to make it more social — and to avoid anyone accidentally disappearing behind a filing cabinet.
Include a mix of clue styles: riddles, photos, word puzzles, map fragments.
Make sure all hiding spots are safe and accessible.

Optional idea

Hide an Oxfam Unwrapped card as a bonus “golden gift” at the end. What says holiday spirit more than a team trio of chickens?

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8. Gifts by Number

Gifts by Number is just about the most simple Christmas gift game you can imagine. Everyone brings a wrapped gift that gets assigned a number, then players draw numbers to discover which one they’ll unwrap. It’s orderly. And now we’re all grown-ups, that’s pretty satisfying, right?

How to play

Assign each wrapped gift a unique number.
Place all the numbers in a bowl or hat.
Team members draw a number at random.
Everyone retrieves the gift matching their number.

Tips for success

Unwrap the gifts in numerical order to add a bit of suspense.
Track who brought which number to avoid accidentally giving yourself a reel-y punny Christmas fish.
For extra fun, wrap tiny gifts in giant boxes (the ultimate office plot twist).

9. Holiday Trivia Gift Exchange

Holiday Trivia Gift Exchange makes your team earn their pick from the gift pile with their trivia smarts. You might be surprised by the colleagues who’ve been quietly storing Christmas movie facts all year.

How to play

Prepare a list of holiday-themed trivia questions (movies, music, history, pop culture).
Set up the wrapped gifts in a central pile.
Participants take turns answering trivia questions.
A correct answer lets them choose and unwrap any gift.
Continue until all gifts have been selected and opened.

Tips for success

Mix easy and tricky questions so everyone has a chance to shine.
Try team-based trivia if your office loves collaboration.
Add a lightning round — song clip, then guess the next line — bonus points for singing it.
Use visual questions too (identify the Christmas movie by a cropped screenshot, etc.).

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10. Left-Right Christmas Story

Left-Right Christmas Story is a Christmas gift game that follows a story. Everyone passes their wrapped present left or right every time those words (left and right) appear in a story read aloud. It brings a playful dash of chaos to the day. The key is to tell a memorable story.

How to play

Each person starts with a wrapped gift on their lap.
The organiser reads a short Christmas-themed story filled with the words “left” and “right.”
Every time “left” is read, everyone passes their gift to the left.
Every time “right” is read, everyone passes their gift to the right.
When the story ends, participants unwrap whichever gift they’re holding.

Tips for success

Write a personalised story with office in-jokes (“right when the printer jammed…”).
Keep the pace steady — fast enough for fun, slow enough that gifts don’t fly.
Choose a story with a good mix of lefts and rights to keep everyone on their toes.

They’re ten of our favourites. But in case nothing feels quite like your team yet, here are some more quick ideas.

11. Speed Swap

A rapid-fire gift shuffle that quickly turns into chaos. Play some music (try to choose a song you’d love to sing to in the shower), and have someone ready to hit pause. Every time it stops, everyone swaps their wrapped gift with someone nearby.

Keep the timing unpredictable and stop the game when the chaos turns into giggles. Unwrap whatever lands in your hands at the end. Bonus points if you can stop the music just as everyone’s belting out “You’re the voice, try and understand it — WOO-OO-OO-AAH”

12. Sneaky Santa

This one’s a fun twist on Secret Santa. Everyone still buys a gift for the person they draw, but instead of tagging it, they add one short clue about themselves. Think “Has a desk plant that’s somehow still alive” or “Always freezing under the office air-con.” Gifts go into a pile, clues are read aloud, and the group guesses which colleague matches each hint.

13. Pass the Parcel: Team building edition

A nostalgic classic with a workplace twist. We all know how Pass the Parcel goes: wrap one gift in several layers. While music plays, your team passes the parcel to the person on their left, and when the music stops, whoever is holding the parcel opens that layer.

Now, here’s the team-building twist. Instead of wrapping little gifts in every layer, add a note with instructions to give the parcel to another person. Things like “Pass the parcel to someone who has gone from strength to strength this year”, or “pass this on to someone whose work you admire”.

You could add some fun ones, too: “Give this to the one who cracks the best dad jokes” or “Pass the parcel to the one who distracts you when they shouldn’t”.

And the gift in the middle? Choose an Oxfam gift card that suits your crew. Your team = closer. Your contribution to people experiencing poverty = awesome.

Ready to wrap things up?

If you’re planning Christmas gift games this year, why not pair the fun with something that actually does good? Oxfam Unwrapped cards can be personalised with your company logo, sent as e-cards or print, and don’t forget — they’re tax deductible.

Explore the full Christmas range, pick something that fits your team’s spirit, and give a gift that keeps the goodwill going long after the last game ends.

Looking for more ideas? Try our guides on corporate Christmas gifts or Christmas present ideas.