Inside: Tired of Yankee Swap gift guides full of crap destined for the dumpster? This list of minimalist Yankee Swap gift ideas is for you! Full of mostly consumables and experience gifts, you won’t feel like you’re contributing to America’s consumerism problem by showing up with one of these gifts.
My favorite thing about attending Christmas parties way back when – before I had five kids and there was a pandemic – was the Yankee Swap Gift Exchange.
Well, AND the Christmas party food. Appetizers and dips you probably wouldn’t make for anything except a party. Yummmm.
Am I drooling right now? Yes. But back to the gift exchanges…
White Elephant exchanges annoyed me because who wants cheap crap, even if it’s funny at the time?
Secret Santa I just didn’t get because…I could just buy myself the things I put on the list I filled out, right?
But Yankee Swap? Gifts you might actually be excited to go home with PLUS the thrill of playing the game!
That being said, when I went looking for Yankee gifts via Google…YIKES. Who the heck is thinking up these gift ideas?!
Laptop stickers and decals? WHY. Santa’s stocking flask? Really??
And that last one was in a post titled “Yankee Swap Gifts Everyone Wants to Steal”. Mmmmm k.
The minimalist in me knew I had to send out into the internet a list of clutter-free options because my goodness, it surely needs one.
(You can find my Yankee Swap house rules at the end of the post.)
31 Minimalist Yankee Swap Gift Ideas
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Because minimalism has been my saving grace, I’m super sensitive to giving gifts others will see as clutter.
So unless I know for sure that someone wants or needs a specific gift, I try to give consumables, experiences or practical gifts everyone needs.
Here are 31 gifts I wouldn’t be sad to go home with.
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1. Coffee Beans & Coffee Grinder
A bag of your favorite coffee beans always makes a great gift! Include a coffee grinder (THIS one has lasted me four years!) because not everyone has one.
Don’t forget to include a gift receipt for the grinder so whoever ends up with it can return it if they already have one.
2. High Quality Olive Oil
Have a high quality olive oil brand you love?
Buy a couple bottles for a fantastic Yankee Swap gift!
(Another fun idea along these lines would be homemade or high quality vanilla extract!)
3. Charcuterie Board Ingredients
Charcuterie boards are all the rage these days.
Skip the board (you can use a cutting board), and instead, put together a basket with cheeses, salami, spreads or dips, candied nuts, mini pickles and olives, and crackers.
4. Fancy Chocolate
Easy peasy: pick up an assortment of fancy chocolates bars, all flavors.
5. Instacart Gift Card
If you’re a Costco member, you can get these at a 20% discount!
6. An Easy-to-Keep-Alive Plant
Go with something easy like a Pothos or Aloe plant.
Propagate it yourself or buy from Etsy. Repot it into a pretty planter, and include a mini watering can if you like!
7. Lottery Tickets
Even if you don’t agree with the lottery or buy tickets typically, you just might want to steal this Yankee Swap gift!
8. Car Cleaning Kit
Maybe not quite as minimalist as the rest, but hey, keeping your car clean and tidy is seriously hard, especially when you have kids!
You could include…
- a cordless handheld vacuum,
- car wipes,
- car air fresheners,and/or
- a mini trash can with a brick in the bottom (to keep it from tipping over).
9. Candle & Matches
I’ve tried giving up candles, but there’s just something magical and calming about candles. They are also an integral part of my bathroom cleaning ritual – I light one after I’m finished cleaning.
If you don’t want to give Yankee Candles or Target candles, find some non-toxic ones on Etsy. Don’t forget the matches!
10. Wool Dryer Balls with Essential Oils
We gave up dryer sheets a decade ago and switched to dryer balls.
Grab THESE dryer balls and pair with classic essential oils like vanilla, lavender and/or orange for applying to the balls before each load.
11. Chapstick & Lotion
If it’s Christmas, odds are it’s cold and hydrating products are in full swing. It’s always nice to have extras for your car or purse.
Grab a pack of Burt’s Bees chapstick in a standard flavor like Vanilla and pair it with a couple lotions you love for hands and feet.
12. Spices with a Favorite Recipe
Do you love your grilled chicken rub or fajita spice combination?
Gift all the necessary spices (and maybe shelf stable ingredients, too) with the recipe attached.
For example, I would give THIS chicken tortilla soup recipe with all the canned goods, spices and limes. All they would need to buy is rotisserie chicken and heavy cream.
13. Dish Washing Supplies
Dish towels definitely wear out over time, and I guarantee someone at the party will need replacements.
(I’ve always had good luck with Threshold dish towels from Target).
You could include a scrub brush or two (we love the bamboo ones from Grove Collaborative).
Include some seasonal dish soap, too.
14. Batteries
Everyone wants them – no one wants to pay for them.
Get a combination of AA, AAA and those fire alarm batteries you never have around when the alarm starts chirping in the middle of the night.
15. Phone Chargers
At this point, these feel like a consumable item to me because we go through so many chargers at home because kids be kids and they don’t make them like they used to.
If you get Apple product chargers, we’ve had good success with THIS pack. Or you could get a charging pad, instead.
16. Gas Gift Card
Have you seen the price of gas these days?! Definitely will be fought over!
17. Grocery Gift Card
Not as fun, but definitely needed! No one will be sad to go home with this one.
18. Coffee Shop Gift Card
I’m pretty sure that coffee is the second most popular drink in the US besides water.
The only question now is which one coffee shop is best: Starbucks, Dunkin, Wawa, Local Coffee Place?
19. Amazon or Target Gift Card
Sigh. Yes, Amazon is a necessary feature of my rural life. 75% of the United States shops on Amazon, too, so there’s that.
Alternatively, I’m pretty sure Target would be voted America Moms’ favorite store. It’s a one stop shop for just about everything.
Either of these will be a win!
20. Power Outage Kit
It might not be glamorous, but everyone needs one and so few have it ready to go.
You could include…
- Flashlight(s)
- Lantern
- Candles & Matches
- Gallon of Water
- Puzzle Books
- Paper Plates
Go as all out or as minimal as you want.
21. Giant Pack of Nice Toilet Paper
I’m talkin’ Charmin Soft or Charmin Strong.
Practical, plus it would be hilarious if this is the star gift of the exchange!
22. S’mores Kit
All the s’more fixin’s: graham crackers (the good ones), chocolate bars, and marshmallows.
You can include marshmallow roasters OR a tabletop firepit. These may or may not fit your definition of a minimalist gift idea!
23. Beef Jerky
It’s a stereotype, I know, but someone said all the dudes fought over this Yankee Swap gift? So unless your party is full of vegetarians, this should make a good gift…
24. Movie at Home Basket OR Gift Card
You could give the homebody movie night option: popcorn, assortment of movie theater candy boxes, and an iTunes gift card to rent a movie.
Or, instead of a movie at home, how about a movie in the theater? With a gift card, they can save it until something they actually want to see comes to the theaters.
25. Restaurant Gift Card
Grab a gift card to a favorite or popular restaurant in the area.
26. Book You Loved with Money Inside
Pass along a book you loved and include cash inside.
The recipient may or may not realize there’s cash, so if they keep it and don’t love the book, they’ll at least have a great gift anyway.
Make sure to tell them at the end if they don’t realize there’s money! You don’t want it to fall out and get lost.
27. Alcohol or Local Brewery Gift Card*
*This is a potentially controversial gift depending on the guest list, so make sure to read the room – I would save this for a group of close friends/family who you know well.
You could give something yummy like Kahlua, a quality bottle of wine or fun wine coolers like Mike’s Hard Lemonade.
28. An Assortment of Teas (and/or Hot Chocolates)
This is at the end of the list because I’m not a tea drinker myself.
Barnes and Nobles has a great assortment of teas with beautiful tins. You could give local, high quality honey with it.
Bonus: Throw in a tin of Starbucks hot chocolate mix for good measure.
29. Jigsaw Puzzle
The nice new ones are usually $25-30.
Here’s why I consider these clutter-free gifts: these are easy for the recipient to pass along (libraries, thrift stores, friends) when they’re finished.
30. DoorDash Gift Card
I don’t know about you but with the cost of eating out these days, we aren’t doing much of it. And I can’t imagine paying the delivery costs plus fees and a tip.
But on someone else’s dime? That’s a treat worth stealing!
31. Home Depot or Lowe’s Gift Card
Home improvements or repairs are never cheap. Someone is sure to appreciate a gift card to either store.
Related: Ridiculously Easy Ways to Cut Back on Waste at Home (for Families)
Yankee Swap Rules (According to Me)
This is just how I played the game at countless Christmas parties. Take it or leave it – for alternative rules see THESE Yankee Swap Rules.
Everyone brings a wrapped nice gift under a certain spending threshold. Make sure to clarify it’s a “nice” gift exchange, NOT a gag gift exchange.
The host prepares a bowl full of papers with a number on each one. There should be one slip of paper for each person.
Guests choose one slip of paper each. This is the order in which they will select gifts.
The guest with slip #1 chooses first. Depending on the house rules, they can pick up, feel and gently shake the gifts.
Once they open the first gift, the person with slip #2 can either 1) steal gift #1 or 2) choose a new gift.
Typically, steals per gift are limited to 3, but you can choose to have no limit on steals or set a different limit if you like. Make sure to keep track!
If someone steals a gift, the person who was stolen from gets to choose a new gift OR steal from someone else (that person then chooses a new gift from the pile or steals).
The person who went first gets one more chance at the end to swap their gift, and that ends the game.
Did I miss any fantastic minimalist Yankee Swap gifts? Share in the comments!
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