Best Office Holiday Party Ever: Yankee Swap Ideas to Make This Year Special

Coordinating an exchange of As Seen on TV products is sure to be a great hit at your office holiday party. Inform your participating employees to each purchase a gift of this type in the $10 to $20 range for the upcoming event. Despite the name, these helpful items can be purchased at various brick-and-mortar stores as well as through online shops (no 1-800 number required!).

For instance, one of your employees may enjoy being able to ease their morning rush with a Jiffy Juicer. It allows users to get the fresh-squeezed juice they desire, any time they want. Sticking to this type of product that is advertised heavily on television means all employees get the same level of gift, so no one feels jilted or left out.

Gift swap ideas can not only be creative, but also humorous. So encourage your employees to bring in funny items to gift. For example, frame a headshot of yourself and autograph it — it's a surefire way to get the crowd laughing.

Now, of course, you don't want your recipient to feel cheated with this present. So make sure you purchase a frame nice enough that the recipient will end up using it later with a photo of their choice.

You could establish an overarching theme for the swap, and have everyone bring in different versions of the same sort of item. For instance, for a "retro" exchange participants would bring in an updated model of a classic gift they received as a child, such as a Slinky, Etch-A-Sketch or View-Master.

You could also have a more general theme, so everyone brings in a t-shirt — or perhaps a food item — to swap. Just make sure to set some ground rules (like no used or damaged items) so this exchange isn't a disappointment to anyone.

To ensure that everyone has a chance to participate in the company celebration, consider adding a more creative theme to the office-wide Yankee swap.

For example, instruct your employees to each bring in their tackiest holiday sweater — you can first hold a contest to identify the ugliest, and then have everyone participate in a sweater swap. To kick things up another notch, a cookie swap could be held, unique family recipes can be traded or employees could exchange gift cards to local retailers and restaurants. These are all great ways to spark creativity and foster engagement in the workplace.

And don't forget that once the office holiday party is over, you should post some pictures of the event to your company's social media platforms to keep the fun rolling. You can use some of the office party photos for #TBT campaigns to keep your employees connected and get more people talking about your growing business.