The Invisible Man Brings Presents for All

The presents on display.Who is the invisible man… or woman? Is it you or me? ALL OF US and nobody knows it.

This activity may sound like a game, and, in fact, it is. Yet, it is one created and practised by a large family to treat every member with a present without breaking the bank account.

This family is a large one that proudly have four generations living  with them all. So, think of how many presents everyone of them have to buy for the rest on every occasion -Christmas, birthdays, special occasions in which one of them, if not some of them, are to be flattered and treated by the rest of them. Therefore, they created and practised this sort of game, so everyone has its present without spending a fortune, and being the times the way they are, I presume many of you would like to know, if it  doesn’t happen that any of you know it already.

They call it The Invisible Man Who Brings Presents For All. It goes like this:

They organise themselves into two groups -the elders and the young ones. They grant a maximum amount of money to spend. Say, it may be 20 Euro for the elders and 10 for young ones. This is to prevent that  no one spends too little or too much on a present.

Everyone writes its own name on a piece of paper, folds it and places it in a basket. Then, everybody picks one of these papers. When everyone has one of these pieces of paper, they will  be asked if the name written on this piece of paper is its own or someone else’s. If it happens that someone has picked its own name, they say it and they place all the pieces of paper in the basket to start all over again. When everyone has a piece of paper bearing someone else’s name. then, it has decided that every member has to buy a present for this person, not spending more than the money that has been assigned to the two groups.

So, a nice may have to buy a present for granny and so on.

On the day when they are going to have the party, gathering or whatever other event that brings them together, all the presents will be wrapped up and placed together bearing the person’s name who is going to receive it. That is why they they say it is the invisible man who brings presents for all. No one will be misjudged for having bought a cheap or horrible thing. In any case, it will be the Invisible Man to be blamed, but he or she, obviously, won’t be there. Or, will they?

Obviously, this activity works very well in large families, but if one happens to have a small one, one may even do it with friends or close neighbours.

This family has also the custom to put together all the celebrations (birthdays, anniversaries or whatever) Say that if a nice’s birthday is in October, and a brother’s in December. It is likely that they will get together on Christmas Day to celebrate it all. 

When I heard it first, I always thought it is a brilliant idea for several reasons: it saves them money, but they still treat each other. One won’t be placed in an embarrased position for not being able to buy as a good present as the rest, because she or he is passing through a bad patch. Children will learn about sharing and to accept well humouredly what they are given, and by linking several dates they have a lot more fun by being together, because there is more to celebrate.