C'est la C

So, do you ever feel like the gift card thing is just too impersonal at Christmas? Especially for your kiddos in their twenties? Well, I decided that we needed to give it a twist a few years ago for my beautiful stepdaughter, Katie.

Can I tell you how priceless her face was when we explained that she’d receive the given prize for every trivia question she provided the correct answer for and for every incorrect answer that same prize would go to charity? (what she didn’t know was that the ‘charity’ was actually a savings account for her unborn child 🙂  But you could definitely choose incredible charities to actually include).

I know it looks involved, but I think it took me a few hours all in to prep this one. And the result was so worth it. We all still talk about “the trivia Christmas” and her older brother was actually jealous that HE didn’t get a trivia game. Stepmom considers that a win!

First, choose your trivia amounts (keep an eye on how much those totals add up to – can get high fast!), categories, then questions.

The question list is for your reference only. As the recipient chooses his/her amount/category, you’ll know which question to reference.

Now, to make it look fun, you’ll want to add pics for each category. Have fun with it and let it reflect your loved one’s personality (e.g. Katie loved Barney when she was little).

Now, the not-as-fun part. Time to spend money and measure/cut those little trivia squares. Here are the supplies I used:

The ‘trivia grid’ (Jeopardy style…sort of) is actually a Classroom Calendar Pocket Chart from Oriental Trading Co.

Then, I used those fun Target tokens for the $5 amounts. I used a blend of gift cards from Katie’s favorite stores for the other amounts mixed with cash. Those are stashed behind the little category snapshots so that she doesn’t know if she’s pulling cash or gift cards out each time she ‘wins’.

Each time she gave an incorrect answer, we had her put the ‘winnings’ in the Katie’s donation to charity pocket. We also gave her two phone-a-friend options which she readily used. Those family members got quite a kick out of it.

End result? Family bonding and a very happy twenty-something!