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Stocking Exchanges For Social Christmas Fun
Here in the Philippines is nothing like my home country when it comes to Christmas gifts. Few people can afford gifts on the scale we in the west are used to; most people are poor, and while there are lots of Christmas lights and other decorations, there are not piles of Christmas presents under the Christmas tree awaiting eager children on Christmas Day.
To get around this problem, some family or friend groups organise a small gift exchange. Each member of the group will buy a small gift and wrap it, and then on Christmas Eve, or other allotted time, gather for a social occasion and have a gift exchange. gifts are not for particular individuals. It is a lucky dip, on a tight budget.
Even in rich countries, such as my own England, people are prone to run a bit short of cash at Christmas. While most will go out of their way to buy individual gifts for close family and friends, there are still all those acquaintances to account for, such as office colleagues. For those, why not organize a stocking exchange; this is no different really to the Filipino gift exchange, except that with a stocking more small gifts are involved.
A stocking share is a bit like a secret Santa system, and works in pretty much any situation where you have a group of people who are there regularly. It is perfect for an office setting, but can also work in a large group of friends or friendly acquaintances.
Basically, it works in this way. Everyone in the group has a stocking. In an office setting, it is best to hang the stockings up in a specific place with names on them, and over a certain period of time everyone puts one small wrapped gift in everyone else’s stocking. On one specific day, everyone meets to open the stockings and socialize It also serves as a little community building party. It gets everyone more in the Christmas spirit to be able to share the spirit of giving a little bit with everyone.
In a social circle, it is a little bit more complicated The first step is to decide who is going to be in the stocking sharing group. Once you the group established, you designate a day and time at which you will all meet to swap stockings. This makes a great excuse for a Christmas party. You need to allow yourselves a certain amount of time to gather all of the stocking fillers, and a stocking for yourself of course.
On the allotted day for the stocking swap, everyone meets up at the designated place, and hangs their stockings in a common area. During an hour or so of social time, people put the stocking stuffers (or fillers) in the designated stockings. When that time is up, the group circles up to open their stockings, and of course the Christmas gifts inside. This is obviously the fun part; adults can be children again. Aren't we always?
When it comes to what to put in the stockings, you can have a great deal of fun with this part. In the US, places like Target and the Dollar Store are great places to pick up neat little trinkets for cheap. Party stores are also a great place to look for items like that. The UK has it's "under a pound" stores, Woolworth's and other options for buying little gifts.
Online stores can be a great resource for cheap gifts too, and companies like Oriental Trading Company have items that you can buy in bulks of anywhere from three to much larger numbers, to fit any size budget or crowd. The best part of the stocking share is the variety of presents you get. With a large group of people, there will be many different types of tastes going into the selection. It can be quite good fun all round, without costing everyone too much.