The Swap

I've been kicking around this idea for a party for a while and one of these days I'd like to try it out. This would work best around the holidays but it could work anytime as a just for fun event.

The Rules:

Everyone must bring 1 "gift" item to the party. This item must be either:

a.) Used. (Either something you found at Value Village, etc or possibly something you had and no longer need. If buying from a thrift store we'd agree upon a spending limit of $5 or something like that.)

OR

b.) Something you made. (For example it could be a CD, a pie you baked, a drawing, etc, etc.)

The overall rule is that whatever you bring, it must be something "cool". (This is not an opportunity to get rid of old junk from your basement!)

From there I figure it could work one of two ways: either a straight-up gift exchange (people drawing names beforehand), or perhaps more interestingly as a "Yankee swap". The swap idea adds the extra fun of people fighting over items that are particularly cool. The drawing of names is fun too because it would be neat to see what you could find at Value Village with someone else in mind.

I just think it would be interesting to see what people would find/bring. Also, I hate the expense of the holidays and this would be a fun alternative to the traditional gift giving.

So, what do you think?

(Yes, I know this post isn't exactly topical. Just throwin' it out there while I think of it!)