Musical Chairs Gift Exchange Game

Last year, I shared 5 Christmas Gift Exchange Games that included a fun variation to play a musical chairs game to swap gifts.

This gift exchange game is our favorite, but works best with large groups – especially groups where you may not know everyone in the group really well as it doubles as a “get to know you” type game while you play. It’s perfect for play at a work party, a church group, or with a big group of friends. Of course, you can still play it with a smaller group of family, but you may already know most of the answers.

To make it easier to hop in and start playing this really fun gift exchange game, I created two printable question lists. You can print and play either one of this lists or print out both if you are playing with families and just add in the ones from each list you want to use. 20-30 questions is about right to make the game last long enough to be fun but not be too long, either.

How to Play Musical Chairs Gift Exchange Game

Have everyone bring a white elephant gift or a new gift with a set value amount. The gifts should come wrapped and ready to play with no names on the packages. Spread out the gifts placing one gift on each chair.

The chairs can be set up in a traditional musical chair arrangement, or just spread the group out however your layout works such as around tables or across your family room couches. The key is to know what spots are available with no extra seats around, as that can make it confusing when the group is shuffling and looking for a spot.

Explain the rules to the group before you begin, so everyone understands how to play. Then, start by calling out one “If…” statement from the questions list.

You can print out the list and cut and fold each of the strips and place them in the jar or just grab a pen and cross off the questions you have already read. You can let those from the group take turns grabbing a slip and calling out the questions to add to the fun. 

When the question applies to individuals in the group, they will need to stand and quickly find a new spot around the room where someone else also stood up. Everyone will leave the gifts with the chair they started at.

This will encourage the participants to quickly move and look for a gift that looks appealing to them before someone else snags the spot. If one or no one stands for a question, the person sits back down in the same spot and play continues. Keep reading off “If…” questions until just a couple of questions are left.

When you’re down to the last few questions you can optionally have everyone open and reveal the gift in front of them. This is still not their final gift. Give everyone the last few clues to try to get to their favorite of the gifts. When you’ve finished all the questions, whatever gift is in front of each person is theirs to keep. Everyone can then swap at will, if they can convince someone to switch gifts with them.

Gift Exchange Game Questions

Here’s a sampling of the questions that are part of the kids list. Each of the lists include 36 different questions. These questions are geared towards kids aged preschool to tweens. Younger children may need help from an adult to understand when they need to stand and switch places.

This next list is perfect for teens to adults with another 36 different questions. The variety is intended to encourage different groups to stand up and to hopefully select just a handful of the group at times and the majority at others times to keep the game interesting and challenging.

 ***Click here*** to download the: 
Musical Chairs Gift Exchange Game

I hope you enjoy this game just as much as our family does. Feel free to make your own question to add to the list to fit your own group. This list can just be a great starting place or an easy list to use without needing to put in extra thought to come up with your own questions. Most of all, have fun!

If you’re looking for more ideas, head over to see the other 4 gift exchange games from my first post!