Left Right Gift Game

Set up

Ask every guest to bring one wrapped gift, with a spending limit and a rough size so the gifts can be passed easily. Seat everyone in a circle, or around a table, each holding one gift. Pick a reader who sits out or reads while holding their own gift.

Practice once before you start: say “left” and have everyone pass one place to their left, then “right” and pass back.

How to play

1. The reader reads the story aloud at a steady pace.
2. Every time the reader says left, everyone passes the gift they are holding one place to their left.
3. Every time the reader says right, everyone passes one place to their right.
4. Words like “Wright” or “leftover” count only if you agree they do before you start. Many groups count them, because the confusion is half the fun.
5. When the story ends, everyone keeps the gift they are holding and opens it.

A story to read aloud

Here is a short one to use as it is or change. The reader should pause slightly after each left and right.

On Christmas Eve, Mrs. Wright left the house in a hurry. She had left her list on the kitchen table, right next to the cookies. “Right,” she said, “I’ll turn left at the corner and go right to the store.” But the store on the left was closed, so she turned right, then left, then right again, until she was right back where she started. “That’s not right,” she said. She looked left. She looked right. There, on the left side of the porch, was her neighbor with the list. “You left this,” he said. “Right you are,” said Mrs. Wright, and she gave him the last cookie that was left. The two of them laughed all the way to the store, which was on the right after all.

Ways to change it

• Write your own: a story about your family, class or office, using people’s names, makes the game feel made for the room.
• Speed round: the reader goes faster in the last few lines.
• Kids’ version: use small wrapped treats instead of gifts, so everyone gets the same kind of thing.
• Two-round version: after the first story, open the gifts, then read a second story and pass the opened gifts again.

Who it suits, and who it doesn’t

The Left Right game suits any group of about five to twenty-five who can sit in a circle, from a family on Christmas Eve to a school class or an office team. It takes about ten minutes and needs no skill. It does not suit a group that wants people to choose their own gift: where you end up is pure chance. Very young children may need help passing in the right direction.