Having a holiday get-together? For those of
you holiday partiers, the big decision when doing gift exchanges is deciding
between a Yankee Swap or a Secret Santa.

Yankee
Swaps consist of all participants bringing a present. After arriving, each member
of the group chooses a number between one and however many guests are
participating. Starting with one, each consecutive number chooses a present and
unwraps it deciding whether to keep their present or switch with one already
opened. Upon being the final person to go, he/she is the one with the best
choice because all of the presents are open. Finally the lucky drawer of the
number one gets to choose a final time and pick their most-desired present.

On
the other hand, Secret Santa requires each guest to pick a slip out of a hat,
containing the names of the other partiers. This is done before the actual
party in order to buy specific presents for their ‘chosen one.’ This makes each
group member’s gift specialized to the person that they are buying for.

Sophomore
Kelly Donovan prefers Secret Santa because “It makes it more fun to receive
presents from an unknown person.”

Junior
Chelsey Riccardi said, “It’s more exciting because it’s a surprise.”

Both
options can be economically conscious, if the party-thrower sets limits on how
much each person can spend. In order to keep one gift from being better than
another, especially in Yankee Swaps, the fairness and therefore enjoyment of
the exchange is increased.

English
teacher Ms. Shanley said, “I really find Yankee Swaps very fun. It has to be
inexpensive otherwise people, especially families, can get too intense.” For
the past two years the SHS English Department has been doing a swap for under
ten dollars. These monetary restraints still allow members to get creative with
their purchases.

The
host work load also varies between each kind of exchange. With a Secret Santa,
once names are chosen, the responsibility of gift purchasing and wrapping rely
on the ‘Santa.’ The only requirement of the host is to have the party in which
all members can exchange presents. This can be an allotted time for unwrapping,
and revealing the Secret Santa for all to see, or have the party-goers exchange
during the party on their own time. In some instances the host provides a table
for the gifts in which presents are placed with only the receiver’s name on the
tag and the presents are kept anonymous.

When
it comes to a Yankee Swap, the party-thrower plays an active role in the
exchange. Directing the number picks, order and flow of the swap are only some
of the duties of the host of a Yankee Swap. Guests often need to be reminded of
whose turn it is, and the host should plan on explaining how the process works
at the beginning of the exchange.

Yankee
Swaps work more efficiently in a large room, preferably with the guests sitting
in a circle so that unwrapped gifts are easily visible to the following
participants. Secret Santas do not require a specific environment for the
exchange.

The
Pros and Cons of each gift swap are as listed below:

Yankee
Swap Pros:

-Choices

-Competitive

-Takes time

-Fun group involved
activity

-Themed

-Less personalized in
case one doesn’t know the others

-Fun party activity

-Creates interaction among
party-goers

Yankee
Swap Cons:

-Hard to find gifts for both genders

-Lower numbers often get an unwanted
gift

-If one person brings a crappy, last minute gift
– not fair to others who put time and thought into

their purchase

-Some spend more than others

-Repeating gifts

-Insecurity/awkwardness pertaining
to desire of ones gift

Secret
Santa Pros:

-Personalized gift

-Thoughtful gift

-Fun surprise to find
out who had who

-(For families) only
have to buy one present instead of many, but everyone still receives one

Secret
Santa Cons:

-Boring/not entertaining

-Can be awkward

-Expected to spend more
money

-Could be stuck with
someone unfamiliar

-No breaking down of
barriers between party-goers

-May receive someone who
is hard to buy for