During the holiday season we gather together with friends and family. As we gather, some of us may celebrate the birth of Christ, some of us may light candles on a Menorah. We gather to exchange gifts, enjoy food, good conversation and each other's company.  Sometimes we forget that the holidays are all of these things combined and we get caught up in the commercialism of gift giving. 

Some of us rush from department store to department store, spiraling our credit card debt out of control. We wake up early to stand in long lines at the store pushing and grabbing to buy, buy, buy.  The members of our families increase with each new marriage or birth but our budgets don't.  We stress and worry about the perfect gift to buy for Aunt Gladys or daughter Susan only to see that they unwrap the Christmas gifts with glee without a second thought.  This holiday season plan to do things differently. 

Instead of buying gifts for everyone,  have a Secret Santa Gift Exchange.  Ask everyone that will be home for the holidays to write their name and the three gifts they want on a slip of paper. Put all the names in in a hat and match people up so that everyone has a special Secret Santa. You can adjust the amount of money to be spent according to the income of the guests, but ten to fifteen dollars is usually a good maximum amount to spend on a gift. Specify whether the gifts can be new or used. You can send out clues and small gifts throughout the holiday season to keep your person guessing. 

Plan a White Elephant Gift Exchange at your holiday party.  Ask all guests to bring a New or Used wrapped gift for either gender. The gifts can be specific to a catergory such as only craft gifts or only books.  Ask all guests to draw a number, the person who picks number 1 chooses the first gift to open. The person who picks number 2 can choose a gift or  trade their gift with number 1 and so on.  At the very end, number 1 has a chance to make a final trade.   

Buy a Family Gift, rather than buying for each individual. This makes the gift exchange more equitable for singles and for couples without children, who find themselves buying many more presents than they get in return.  Choose a gift that the whole family will like such as a game, tickets to a play, or an item that they can used to cook a wonderful meal.

Try an eBay Gift Exchange.  Everyone involved in this gift exchange is given a spending limit and asked to buy their gifts only on eBay.  The gifts can be from any category from antinques to video games. They can be New or Used.  Remember to buy early because shipping is hectic the closer to the holiday.

Whatever type of gift exchange you do this year, remember the reason you are gathering and what is really important is that you are together with those you love.