Christmas Gift Giving and Your Campaign Group

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

So, with the holiday season just around the corner, I was wondering: How do y'all handle gift giving with your group?

I know that many of you are not close friends with your groups... but, for those of you that do socialize outside of the game-room, do you all get each other gifts? Do you do a name exchange? Do you do "secret santa" type things?

If you don't do anything, what do you think would work best?

 

[Crothian]

I havea small group so I'll probably get something for each of them. I've found that people who want to buy giufts do, and people who don't, well don't. Like with all things Christmas, its about the giving not the getting so I don't expect any presents from my players.

 

[Stormborn]

well, we were all friends BEFORE we started playing together, and currently consist of 2 couples (small group) and all of us tend to go overboard on the gift giving in any sitch. So we are n't likely a good model, however if you have a large group secret santa works well, or a price limit on gifts, say $5, $10, or $20...enough maybe for a new set of dice or a mini if the goal is just to say "hey, you are my friend, have a present!"

 

[ledded]

<waves at Stormborn, who apparently also hails from the 'Ham (Birmingham, AL)>

Most of the guys in our group were friends before we started playing together, and have all become very good friends. Usually the group kicks in on a Bday present for whoever's birthday comes up, most of the time game-related (or suitibly geeky, like last year they got me The Tick live action series on DVD).

For Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza/Ramadan/Festivus, to head off any flurry of gift buying, we usually just all kick in $15-$20 each for a 'group gift', i.e. a game-related gift for the entire group to enjoy. One year it was a Dwarven Forge room set, one year it was several Hirst Arts molds which two guys in the group have used to make some incredible terrain, last year it was a new set of gaming tables for the basement we play in. Usually, we come up with a few ideas and then vote on what we'd like most to see.

This always works out well for us, because we get something that we all need/want for our game night but would be a bit much for one person just to go out and buy themselves.

 

[diaglo]

i got my friends dice last year.

in the past: dice, minis, pens, pencils, graph paper, moldy wheel of cheese (oops thinking of B2 Ogre Cave too much ) , coffee mugs, dice cups, dice bags (check out http://www.thegamersbag.com/ ) etc...

 

[Henry]

We give as we can. In the past three years, I took everyone to see the Lord of the Rings films as a group, including families; I'm kinda sorry to see the LOTR films ending for this reason as much as anything else, because it was a lot of fun. Not sure what I'm doing this year, but for some reason the "Secret Elminster" approach has some merit for me.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I am usually able to give my players gifts but this has more to do with the fact that I would be giving them all gifts anyway since they are good friends.

 

[jerichothebard]

Well, except for me, almost my entire gaming group is Jewish, so Christmas isn't a particularly big deal for us...

We make a bigger deal of birthdays, which have been pretty cool. Lots of dice and such.

jtb

 

[The_Universe]

<waves at Stormborn, who apparently also hails from the 'Ham (Birmingham, AL)>

Most of the guys in our group were friends before we started playing together, and have all become very good friends. Usually the group kicks in on a Bday present for whoever's birthday comes up, most of the time game-related (or suitibly geeky, like last year they got me The Tick live action series on DVD).

For Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza/Ramadan/Festivus, to head off any flurry of gift buying, we usually just all kick in $15-$20 each for a 'group gift', i.e. a game-related gift for the entire group to enjoy. One year it was a Dwarven Forge room set, one year it was several Hirst Arts molds which two guys in the group have used to make some incredible terrain, last year it was a new set of gaming tables for the basement we play in. Usually, we come up with a few ideas and then vote on what we'd like most to see.

This always works out well for us, because we get something that we all need/want for our game night but would be a bit much for one person just to go out and buy themselves.

That's a great idea! Now to convince my group...

 

[Psion]

Last year I did green ronin character folders.

This year... I'm not sure. One player may get her own copy of the book of mine that she built her character with that she doesn't own. What else to get, doesn't occur to me.