The number of players is up to you. It can be small or large. We usually play it at reunions.

Tell each guest to bring two wrapped gifts. Set a price. We limit it to between five to ten dollars. Gag gifts are fun but so are some nice ones.

You’ll need two standard decks of cards. Jokers removed.

All gifts are placed together in one pile on a table, on the floor, or in cardboard boxes.

Count how many people you have and divide that number into 52. This will give you the number of cards each person receives. If you have leftover cards, feel free to give an extra one to the younger ones of the crowd or the guest(s) of honor.

One person is chosen to call out the cards with the other deck, usually the host of the party. This person will either pass the boxes of gifts around for the players to choose two, or each person can pick from the pile on a table or the floor. It’s best if each person grabs two gifts individually to dispense from any riots.

The host shuffles the second deck of cards and picks a card. They call it out. The person with the matching card will exchange one of their gifts with someone else.

This is repeated until all the host’s cards have been called. Everyone will still be in possession of two gifts.

We make sure there are gifts for kids so that they can be exchanged at the end, but have fun with that, because most of them do not want to trade any gifts at all. I always wondered what my nephews were going to do with gardening gloves and Lilly of the Valley hand cream.