Christmas Parties, Gifts and Big Families

I often get asked about the content, logistics and craziness of my family gatherings when people find out my immediate family has now hit 80 people (2 parents, 8 kids, 39 grandkids, 15 great-grandkids and all the spouses). In fact just the other day, my neighbor asked my specifically about what we do about gift-giving during the holidays. Personally, I love my big family's gift giving tradition so I thought I would share it with everyone.

First of all, our Christmas Party usually happens on the Saturday after Christmas. It is just one day of festivities and you make it if you can. No guilt, no pressure (but honestly, no one really likes to miss it). We have lots of good food, the cousins all play together (this year the hosts are organizing some double elimination tournaments of Pounce, Dance Dance Revolution and Boggle because we have found from past experience that my family is highly competitive - with brackets and everything!). We have a short talent show, family updates and the kids act out the nativity in full costume (I loved the year we had a white tiger at manger scene).

Then the gifts begin.

-My mom always gets a gift for every single person and many of them are homemade. I still don't know how she does it. It's completely crazy. But she loves it (and so do we).
-The children under the age of 12 all pick names. These gifts are supposed to be homemade or a "hand-me-down" toy.
-Kids age 12-18 have a white elephant gift exchange. These white elephant gifts are supposed to be things they already have or something under $10.
-All the adults have their own white elephant gift exchange. Again, thee gifts are supposed to be things we already have around, or something fairly cheap.

The adult white elephant gift exchange has always been quite the scene. With gifts ranging from live guinea pigs, to a real sword, to precious family heirlooms, it is always an exciting game. And I will never forget the year someone brought a "teddy" (and not of the bear variety) and we all watched in horror as my dad stole it from my brother. Double yuck.

In dh's family, we all pick names (kids and adults) which I think is pretty standard with a medium sized family. But my favorite tradition is that we fill each other's stockings. It's really fun as an adult to get a full stocking of goodies and then try to guess who was responsible for what.

I also love hearing about the families who forgo gift giving all together and instead adopt a family in need for the holidays, or donate to a favorite charity. Such a great idea.

What are your family's gift giving traditions?