When it comes to Christmas traditions, there are many beautiful and contemplative, but also crazy and funny ones! After all, when would it be better to plan extraordinary events, if not on the most beautiful of all celebrations: Christmas?! That’s what the inventor of the so-called “Schrottwichteln”, also known as Scrape Secret Santa, thought, one quite famous German Christmas traditions in which junk gifts are given to a beloved person (not in a mean way – it’s acutally a thing).

The idea is not to give away something particularly pretty or expensive. It’s about making the other person laugh with giving a gift that suits their personal quirks. “Schrottwichteln” is also suitable when you give presents to people you don’t actually know or when looking for an opportunity to get rid of old odds that have been in closets and drawers for far too long.

There are two types of “Schrottwichteln”:

Usually you don’t just give a gift to one person, but the whole thing is seen as a kind of social game with a group.

Dice game: The “Schrottwichtel” gifts are collected in a central place at the beginning of the party. When the time comes to distribute the gifts, everyone summons in a circle and one after the other each participant can roll the dice for their gift. And here are the rules: Whoever rolls the dice and gets a six gets to choose a package. If you roll a one, you get to open the selected package and if you roll a five, you get to exchange the gift with another player.

The funniest thing is when not only the selection of the gift but also the exchange take place “blindly”, i.e. the package is still wrapped and not opened or the player is literally blindfolded. The presents will only be unwrapped when every player has rolled a six. Thus, you will see only at the end, what you have constantly exchanged back and forth and which scrap gift ends up with you.

Raffle game: If the “Schrottwichtel” gifts are distributed via raffle, each guest draws a lot about one week before the party. For the person who is written in the lot, a gift must be selected, wrapped and labeled with the name of the recipient.

At the party, all the gifts are now placed on one table. Everyone grabs the gift with their name on it and unwraps it. The funny thing is that no one knows from whom they received the junk gift! So let yourself be surprised!

Our favorite “Schrottwichtel” gifts for programmers!

Gift from the 90s

Everyone has something to remeber from the 90s (unless you are still young). How about a gift of your favorite 90s character?

Statement candle

All of us know that every programmer loves a good candle, right 😉 Perfect when it points out the quirks of the recipient.

Fancy glasses

For those who need a fashion update, a trendy fashin item is a funny idea!

Christmas decorations

You can never have enough home decore, and at this time of the year: Christmas decorations! So it’s the perfect gift for all the Christmas grumpies among us.

Do you have more ideas? Then let us know in the comments below. We hope you enjoyed reading this article and have fun at your next Christmas party! Always remember, fun should not fall by the wayside during “Schrottwichteln”, because a fun Christmas, is a perfect Christmas! In this sense: Ho Ho Ho!

The whole PLCnext Technology team wishes you a Merry Christmas, relaxing holidays and a good start into a new year 2022!