The holiday season is just around the corner, and many offices and companies are starting to plan events. One of the most popular holiday events is the exchange of gifts. It’s when employees bring gifts and exchange them with each other according to the rules set by the corporate event management.

If you’re tasked with corporate event management and you’re struggling to plan the event, there are many ways to organise an exchange gift event for your company successfully.

In this article, we’ll provide some tips on how to get started with managing a fun and exciting holiday event for your co-workers.

1. Choose the Right Exchange Gift Activity

Start with finalising the format of the exchange gift. As you know, there are many popular exchange gift formats that everyone may already have encountered during their time in school. Some of these include:

• White Elephant- Each participant should bring a neutral gift. They can either pick a gift that hasn’t been picked up before or one that someone already has. The game goes on until everyone receives a gift.
• Secret Santa- Weeks before the event, the participant should draw a random name prepared by the organiser. The person they pick is the one they buy a gift for. Since it’s a secret, the Secret Santa should just be revealed during the event itself.
• Themed Exchange Gift- The organiser must select a specific theme that the participants will follow when buying their gifts. For instance, if the theme is something sustainable, the participants should get eco-friendly products for the exchange gift.

2. Set the Budget and Clear Guidelines

One of the most important parts of having an exchange gift is the budget. Everyone should be comfortable buying gifts at the set amount. You can either survey their preferred amount or set a range where everyone can afford it.

At the same time, you should also set the guidelines, so that everyone has an idea of how their gift should be. This is why you should first choose the format before releasing any details of the event. Additionally, there should be limitations or restrictions. For instance, you can include that there should be no alcohol allowed, especially if not everyone drinks alcohol.

3. Organise Gift Assignments

With the rise of online applications, you no longer need to gather everyone at the same time if you’re planning to organise gift assignments in advance. Of course, the first thing you need is to know who is going to participate in the exchange of gifts. You can set a reservation deadline so that you still have enough time to arrange the gift assignments.

However, the downside of this is that everyone should know how to navigate the online name assignments so that there won’t be any mistakes on the day of the exchange of gifts.

4. Pick the Right Venue

It’s easy if you’re going to have a formal Christmas party. However, suppose you’re organising an exchange gift event for only one department or a few people. In that case, you should pick a venue where everyone can feel the festivity and holiday season.

Aside from the venue, you can also set a theme, and dress code, and ensure the ambience suits the theme. Usually, you can find online inspiration when it comes to venue decorations, and during this time of the year, it’s easy to find stores where you can buy such decorations.

5. Plan Fun Activities or Icebreakers

When hosting an exchange gift event, there should be more fun activities aside from that. Include other games, such as charades, holiday trivia, and scavenger hunts. Of course, aside from all the games and fun, you should also prepare food and drinks.

Whether it’s a huge celebration or a simple party, make sure that everyone is having a great time. Don’t forget to ask the participants about their dietary restrictions to avoid allergic reactions.

6. Capture the Moment

Documentation is one of the most important parts of corporate event management. It allows you to capture great moments and the bond among co-workers. Since everyone can take pictures of the event itself, you can just ask them to share their photos and videos online using a hashtag or tag the company’s social media profile. As for the staged or non-candid photos, you can rent a photo booth that comes with props and borders. This may come as both souvenirs and documentation since they usually provide both soft copies and hard copies of the photos.

7. Send Thank-You Notes or Tokens of Appreciation

During or after the exchange of gifts, encourage the participants to give a thank you note or message to their Secret Santa. In addition, aside from the photos they have from the photo booth, you should also give away a small token of appreciation for participating in the event.

Lastly, ask for their feedback about the activities and the overall event, so that if you’re planning to do this again the next year, you can come up with a better event.

Final Thoughts

Planning and organising an exchange gift event can take some time and effort, but if executed properly, you can guarantee that everyone will enjoy it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aliana Baraquio is a content writer for Pink Caviar Events Sydney, a full-service event management and decorative hire company located in Sydney. When she’s not typing out blog posts, you can find her watching anime series or baking cupcakes.