LudaChristmas: Great Gift Exchange Game with a Twist

Here’s a repost from this time last year:

I hope it’s not too late to get this idea out there.  I don’t know where it comes from or if we made it up.  Let me know if you’ve heard of this before.

When you get your staff, volunteers, parents, students, coworkers, or whomever together for your annual Christmas party, give this one a shot.  If you’ve already had your Christmas get-together then just tuck this away for next year. It takes some setting up and may sound complicated at first but it’s a snap and every year we’ve done it, our people LOVE it.  Now they ask for it by name:  Ludachristmas.  It’s like a White Elephant gift exchange with a few twists.  Part Lunacy, all Christmas – it gets the party going.

Definitions and Roles:

1. “Round” – the time in which the “Batter” gets to select or steal a gift.
2. “Batting Order” – the order in which your people are “up at bat” or select gifts.
3. “Batter” – the person that begins the round, choosing to select or steal a gift.
4. “Timer” – the person you designate to keep time.  Must be steadfast, tough, and show no favoritism (you’ll see why).
5. “Umpire” – most likely you.  You’ll explain the rules.  You must be fair but firm, you’ll have the final call in all decisions (there will be many).  You may choose not to play in order to remain impartial but if you do choose to play then you must be very fair.  You will most likely end up with the lamest gift.

The Set-Up:

1. The game works best with at least 20 people.  Any more than 50, it could be a long night.
2. Everyone brings a simple gift, wrapped, you decide the $$ limit (tip: Starbucks gift cards can be placed in a gift bag).
3. During dinner, count the # of guests and write out individual #’s on small slips of paper. i.e., if you have 20 people, you’ll write 1-20 on separate slips of paper.
4. Have guests select the numbered slips from a hat.  This will randomly determine the batting order.
5. When you’re ready to start the game, have everyone place their gifts in the middle of the room, everyone gathers around in a circle.
6. To begin, designate who will be your timer & umpire (works best with 2 different people) and explain that each round lasts 30 seconds.

The Game:

1. Whomever has #1 (first “batter”) goes first and has no choice but to select from the pile and open the gift. They’ll have opportunities to steal later.
2. Whomever has #2, has two choices:  1) select a gift from the pile and open it or, 2) steal #1′s gift.
3. If #2 steals #1′s gift then #1 selects from the pile.  Round over.
4. Here’s where it starts to get really good:  #3 has two choices:  select from the pile or steal #1′s or #2′s gift – whomever had a gift stolen then has two choices: select from the pile or steal an UNSTOLEN gift.  Gifts may only be stolen only ONCE in each round. You’ll be keeping track but so will everyone else.
5. On to #4 – #4 has the two choices, steal or select from the pile.  You see where this is going:  i.e. #17 will have 16 potential gifts to steal.
6. The round begins (the timer starts 30 seconds) when the “batter up” chooses to either select from the pile (thus ending the round quickly) or steals.  Stealing may last for 30 seconds. If someone is left empty-handed at the end of 30 seconds (timer calls “time”) then he/she must select from the pile.  Next round.
7. If someone has a gift stolen, decides not to steal, and selects a gift from the pile then the round is over.  The next batter is up.

Scenarios and Wrinkles:

1. The game really speeds up when you get to higher numbers, like #10 or so.  Each person has the same two choices listed above.  Stealing becomes frenzied.  Guests may try to hide gifts – this is against the rules – all gifts must be displayed for potential thieves.
2. If a thief has their hands on a gift when time is called, the thief keeps the stolen gift.  The person who just had their gift stolen must select from the pile.  Round over.
3. You may decide to have a “halftime.”
4. After halftime or late in the game, you may decide to increase round time to 45 seconds, increasing the opportunities to steal gifts.
5. For the last few rounds, you may decide to allow gifts to be stolen twice in a single round.  This becomes more difficult to track but by then everyone will be keeping track with you.

If you try it, I’d love to hear how it went!  Did you find any new wrinkles to add?  Hopefully, no blood was shed and everyone had a blast!

Johnny and Chachi Christmas Medley

The folks over at Igniter Media have done it again. Genius. It’s already gone viral on youtube and making the rounds on Facebook. I can think of 10 different places I want to show this including my in-laws’ house. But also, we’ll probably show at Second City, our HS ministry worship service sometime over the next few weeks.

Leader Responses to 12 Questions Small Group Leaders Ask

In a previous post 12 Questions Small Group Leaders Ask, I shared the responses we received from new and veteran leaders about how to lead a great Small Group. We discovered that many of the questions our Small Group leaders are asking currently are similar to questions we’ve heard over the years in student ministry. A number of the questions transcend context, geography, and even theological perspective. Great Small Group leaders want to grow in loving Jesus and loving students. Then they want to know how to help students love Jesus and love others.

As I noted in the previous post, we’ve started using these questions as the basis for a segment of our training during our leadership gatherings. In any group of leaders, there’s a wealth of collective wisdom around the table and so we’ve turned many of these questions around by posing them to the group at large. The wisdom that’s come out has been awesome and we’ve found the process to be a great springboard for further conversations about leading a great Small Group.

Here are some ideas that our leaders have come up with to question #9 in the prior post: “What does it look like to lead a small group well in one hour each week?”

• Laughter
• Recognize when quiet kids need attention
• Be Flexible
• Start in prayer
• Intentional to connect throughout week
• Pray and plan
• Provide a takeaway for the week
• Kids simply showing up
• Model listening
• Prepare before then notice issues as they arise
• Give the kids space to interact
• Get everyone to share
• Focus time
• Try to get one deep moment
• Stop distractions
• If SG curriculum is based on a message or sermon, follow up with related questions
• Leave space for them to share life
• Be open to letting conversation go where needed
• Balancing socializing and questions
• Don’t fill every void with teaching, don’t be afraid of awkward silence
• Lead towards depth
• Keep God in the picture

For further reading, Matt McGill over at Love God, Love Students wrote a great post on 24 Basic Small Group Do’s and Don’t's. Lot’s of really practical stuff and a free resource in PDF or word doc.

Any further wisdom related to this question that you’ve found particularly helpful for you and your leaders? Please leave a comment so we can all benefit from your insight!