The left, right, across Christmas game printable makes for such a fun gift exchange for large groups. Whether you’re having a holiday party with family members, friends, colleagues or students its such a great way to do gifts.
It can be hard to come up with another Christmas party game that people of all ages can participate in together. It is so much fun and is sure to get everyone laughing as they have to keep passing the presents back and forth.
If your family or friend group has been doing secret Santa for years, try this fun Christmas gift exchange game instead. It’s the perfect game to exchange gifts and have some fun while doing it. Who knows – it may even become a favorite Christmas tradition for your family!
What is the Left Right Across Game?
The left, right, across game is similar to a white elephant gift exchange. Everyone brings small gifts to exchange with each other – it only works if everyone brings a gift. Here are the directions.
- Ahead of the party, set a budget for the gifts for the gift exchange. Also, decide if they’re going to be regular gifts or funny gifts.
- Each party guest should buy and wrap one small gift to bring to the party or event.
- Click here to download the free printable.
- Print the free left right across game Christmas printable (or the left right across game version).
- Choose one person to be the reader. Unfortunately, they will not be able to participate (I suggest the host of the party, teacher, boss, Grandpa, etc.)
- Sit in a circle close together (there can’t be any large gaps).
- Everyone holds their wrapped gift in their hands.
- The reader reads the left right Christmas story from the free printable.
- Each time the reader says one of the action words “left, right, or across,” you pass the gifts in that direction.
- For example, in the sentence “‘Twas the Night RIGHT Before the LEFT family Christmas” you will pass gifts one person to the right and then one person to the left.
- The reader should read the entire story.
- Wherever gift you have in your hand at the end of the story is your gift to open and keep.
Where Can I Download the Left Right Game Christmas Story?
Click here to download the set of Left Right Across games. No email address is needed – you can instantly download it!
Both Left Right Across Christmas Game & Left Right ONLY Christmas Game Available!
Is your group too big for the across direction? Download the Left, Right Only Version! If your group is huge, skip the version with the across. It can get extra complicated when people need to leave their seat to switch gifts. The across part only works if you have a smaller group.
Tips for Success with the Left Right Christmas Game
- If you have a huge family group with both a ton of younger kids and adults, I suggest splitting your large group into 2 smaller groups based on age. It is much easier to buy a gift for a smaller age range (not sure how many 60 year olds want a Squishmallow or how many 5 year olds want a tumbler).
- If you are hosting the holiday party, I suggest having a couple of extra wrapped gifts on hand. This way if someone forgets their gift, everyone can still participate.
- Decide ahead of time if the gifts will be serious, normal gifts or joke gifts Like a white elephant game, you can go serious or funny.
- Set a budget ahead of time.
Color Coded for Easy Reading
The reader should emphasize the directional words when reading the Christmas story. The left right story is color coded to make it easier to read the directional words louder and with more emphasis.
Set Gift Rules Ahead of Time
The rules for the gifts depends on the crowd and what everyone is comfortable spending. My suggestions:
- set a budget
- make sure the budget fits the crowd. For example, the budget for a classroom party will most likely be less than family holiday gatherings
- decide if the gifts will be serious or funny ahead of time (if only person brings a joke gift, the person who receives it may not be happy)
- buy a gift that will fit the majority of your crowd
What Type of Gifts are Good for the Game?
It depends on the guests at the Christmas parties and the budget that you give guests. You’ll want them to general enough that they work for any guest that is present.
You want the right gift for the right type of crowd (i.e., young boys aren’t going to want make up but would love toy cars). When it doubt, go with gift cards or candy/snacks because they’re always a popular game prize.
Here are some suggestions. Keep in mind, the likes of your guests will mean not all of the ideas will work. They are just some general suggestions that could work for your group.
Left Right Across Party Gift Ideas for Little Kids
- Candy bars
- squishies
- Friendship bracelets
- Fidgets
- Mad libs
- Fun pencils, pens, etc.
- Sets of stickers
- Small stuffed animals
- Stress balls
- Barbie or doll accessories
- Small toy cars
- Small gift cards
- Fun socks
- Hair accessories
- Books
- Hot chocolate bombs
- Christmas time novelty toys like tiny reindeer toys, holiday stuffed animals, etc.
Left Right Across Party Gift Ideas for Tweens & Teens
- Tumblers or water bottles
- Mugs
- Hair accessories
- Make up
- Fun socks
- Candles
- Small gift cards
- Phone holders
- Pop sockets
- Bath bombs
- Tattoo markers
- Fidgets or stressballs
- Phone cable protectors
- Bags of snacks
- Candy
- Coloring books for teens/tweens/adults
- Books
- Hot sauce
- Hot chocolate bombs
Left Right Across Party Gift Ideas for Adults
- Gift cards
- Tumblers or water bottles
- Blue tooth speakers
- Phone accessories
- Candles
- Funny socks
- Mugs
- Scarfs
- Books
- Hair accessories
- Wine, alcohol, beer, etc.
- Fancy cocktail accessories
- Glassware
- Charcuterie board
- Fancy & scented soaps
- Lotions
- Hot sauces
- Fancy cooking oils
- Hot chocolate bombs
Left Right Across Party Gift Ideas for ANY Age
- Small gift cards
- Bags of snacks
- Candy
- Candy bars
- Fidgets
- Deck of cards
- Tumblers or water bottles
- Games (exploding kittens, card game sets, etc.)
- Scarf
- Mugs
What Type of Events are Good for the Christmas Left Right Game?
You can host the left-right Christmas game anytime during the holiday season. Here are some great places you could host the game:
- Classroom holiday parties
- Office parties
- Cookie decorating parties
- Gingerbread house decorating parties
- Neighborhood Christmas event
- Family game night
- Actual Christmas Eve or Christmas day with the whole family
- Volunteer or community event (where the “gifts” are provided as favors for the kids)=
Great Option to Pass Out Kids’ Party Favors
Instead of passing out party favors, make it a fun gift game. Wrap enough small party favors for the entire group and have them play the game.
Whatever party favor they end up with, they get to take home. It’s a fun way to pass out goodie bags or favors of any kind.
Write your Own Story!
Love the idea but don’t love the story? Or maybe you’ve used this one and want to change it up the next year. Just don’t forget the verbal cues for the directions – left, right, across are the easiest directional words to use.
Just use the same idea but write your own version of the story. I suggest using typical holiday themes to keep it a fun holiday activity. Some topics for your story could be:
- Nativity story
- St Nicholas, St. Nick, Santa, etc. as your main character
- Reindeer
- Elves
- Snow & winter
- Snow sports (ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, etc.)
These themes present lots of options for directional words – LEFT hoof, LEFT lawn, wink of his LEFT eye, snow fell RIGHT on the ground, bundle of toys fell RIGHT open, RIGHT on top of the roof, RIGHT window, LEFT window, LEFT of his nose, ACROSS the snowy field, to the LEFT of the skating rink, etc.
Create a Birthday Version of the Game – Use Any Story Theme You’d Like!
This fun method could be applied to any theme or occassion. Do it at Easter with some fun Easter candy and Easter themed story.
Do it at a birthday party as a fun way to give out party favors. Maybe you write the story using the birthday boy or girl as the main character.
What File Type are the Free printable Christmas Games?
The printable games come in 3 file types. The most common type would the PDF version. But, I included JPG and PNG versions for anyone that would prefer those file types.
Don’t Have a Printer? Save the Image to your Device
If you don’t have a printer but have a tablet or phone, just save the file on your device. The PNG or JPG version would work perfectly for that! Then the reader can just read it from the device.
Looking for More Free Christmas Printables?
You can find so many more free Christmas printables here at Mom Envy. Click to see all of our Christmas content.
Need another game? Click here to download free Christmas bingo.
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