December 16th 2009 Good Ol Fashion Yankee Swap!
Growing up in New England, the Yankee Swap is a holiday staple. I couldn’t imagine a holiday without participating in at least one swap! I found it fascinating that the Yankee Swap’s origin dates back to the Civil War. Legend has it the Yankees & Confederates ’swapped’ prisoners as a game to ease the overall mood, leading to the phrase ‘Yankee Swap’! Now how it translated to gifts is still I’ll never know!
Yankee Swaps are very popular at office parties and they usually come with a dollar limit. After purchasing one or two Yankee Swap gifts its easy to run out of ideas! Fear not friends I’m hear with a fresh new list! Each one of these gifts you should be able to complete for $10 to $15 ……………
~Deck of playing cards, bag of microwave popcorn, instant hot cocoa all inside a fun holiday bowl! Lable it 
“Emergency Snow Day Fun!”
~Chia Pet…..this one may put you a touch over $15.00 but its a great throw back to your childhood! It will clearly get a good chuckle!
~Daily quote calendar…..take a red sharpie and highlight your birthday, along with a list gifts you would like to receive! Who knows, maybe when the recipient comes upon your birth date they’ll remember you!
~Large measuring cup, fill it with a few of your favorite recipes and a few non-perishable baking/cooking needs (vanilla, cinnamon, or other spices) if budget allows throw in some measuring spoons.
~ Refrigerator magnets and local take out menus! All hidden in a recipe box! (get it?)
~ Photo frame, finish it off by inserting a funny holiday cartoon, again…great gift with a little laugh.
~Box full of canned sardines, pickled herring, garlic stuffed peppers …….. and a box of Altoid Mints (peppermint flavor!)
How you wrap your gifts is really important, it can take the fun to the next level! You can have the silliest, more ridiculous gift, but if you’ve wrapped it to the nines, people will be fighting over it! It really is a lot of fun watching people battle over your gift!
In the Davenport house we participate in two annual Yankee Swaps each year with our families, one on my side the other on Joe’s. A few years ago we put a spin on our Swap…..the White Elephant Yankee Swap. This swap requires NO shopping, the challenge is to find something to re-gift! We’ve gotten some real beauts, and have had great laughs. Here’s some of the classics.
~mismatched coffee mugs (clean of course) 
~4′ light up santa clause (honest to God it had to be from 1950!) This one keeps popping up every few years.
~A box of souvenirs! Gosh, these were funny…coasters, mini statues, shot glasses, snow globes…….the tackiest stuff you can think of!
I’m already digging around the garage, storage closets, and the basement for my white elephant gifts! I wonder what I did with those plastic place mats my great aunt gave me a few years ago…….oh and there’s that tuxedo apron my husband got as a grab bag gift……….wonder what else is kicking around!
