My Annual Sock Exchange Party (Friends, Daughters & Cozy Food)

Every year during the holiday season, I host one of my favorite traditions, an annual Sock Exchange Party. It’s cozy, casual, and intentionally simple. I invite my friends and their daughters over for the evening to eat comfort food, laugh a lot, and leave with a new pair of socks and full hearts. This Christmas sock exchange party has become a festive tradition in my home and a fun way to slow down for one evening during the busy Christmas season. It’s not fancy. It’s not formal. And that’s exactly why everyone looks forward to it.

​Christmas Sock Exchange Party

​I’ve been a sock collector for years – and to date, have around 600 pairs of fun, unique cozy socks for just about every holiday and event you can imagine. I could almost wear a different pair every day of the year for two straight years (ridiculous, I know). 

Anyway, I don’t remember when I first had the idea to host a sock party, but back in 2022, I finally made it happen. I invited a handful of my friends and their daughters over, with a fun pair of socks in hand, to enjoy an evening of laughter and relaxation amid the Christmas rush.

That first party was such a hit that my friends insisted I host again the next year, and voila – a tradition was born. This past Christmas (2025) was my fourth annual sock party and it’s one of my most favorite holiday traditions.

The Food: Potato Soup & Easy Appetizers

As the party host, I love doing all the things, so I always handle all the cooking and prepping.

This makes me happy and allows my friends to truly come and relax without having to cook or bring food.

At the center of the night is a big pot of my “famous” potato soup. After making it that first year, friends have told me it’s a must-have every year. 

With the soup, I always have the following potato soup toppings:

• Crackers
• Chopped Bacon
• Crumbled Breakfast Sausage
• Shredded Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Green Onions

Alongside the soup, I serve a few easy appetizers and desserts. Here are some of the foods that I’ve served in the past four years:

• Marinated Cheese
• ​Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip
• ​Eclair Cake
• Petit Fours
• Saltine Cracker Toffee
• Peppermint Bark
• Chips and dip
• Crackers and flavored cream cheese

We usually have hot cocoa or hot apple cider, along with soft drinks and sweet tea.

This year, I also made a simple shower punch. It’s an easy recipe. Use a 1:1 ratio of ginger ale with white grape juice and frozen strawberries floating on top to keep it cold. My friends loved it!

The photo below is the only one I got, but I put it in a beautiful pink drink dispenser that Sarah gave me for my birthday, and it was perfect!

What Everyone Brings: Socks With a Surprise

Each guest is asked to bring one wrapped gift containing a new pair of socks. The socks can be fun socks, cute socks, funny socks, ugly Christmas socks, festive socks, or even crazy socks.

But they don’t have to be themed – super soft and cozy socks are also popular even without any specific designs (these World’s Softest Socks are some of my faves!!).

Christmas or holiday-themed socks are always welcome, but plain socks work too. Some of the most fought-over socks at my parties have been chicken socks and Disney socks.

Inside the socks, or in a bag with the socks, guests usually include a small holiday gift! I want this party to be affordable for everyone so I don’t make a big deal about the gifts that come with the socks.

Here are popular choices to stuff in the socks or in gift bags with the socks:

• Chocolate or Candy (candy bar, pack of gum, handful of Hershey Kisses, etc.)
• Nail Polish
• Nail Clippers or Manicure Tools
• Lip Gloss or Lip Balm
• Small Lotions or Hand Sanitizers
• $5 Gift Card
• Deck of Cards
• Stickers
• Mini Flash Lights or Lighters
• Pens
• Small Candles

 This extra step adds a personal touch to the sock exchange and gives everybody a little extra something special.

Because I never want anyone to feel left out or like they can’t come if they don’t have time or money to shop for socks, I always keep extra pairs of new socks wrapped and ready to go.

If someone forgets, doesn’t have time to shop, or can’t bring socks that year, they can grab one of my pre-made gifts and join the game. This has been a great way to keep the night welcoming and stress-free.

Tip: I love the way my party is set up because friends can buy socks at the dollar store or a specialty store and it doesn’t matter – all socks are welcome. But you could certainly plan a themed sock exchange where everyone brings Christmas socks or animal socks or any other playful design or party theme you can dream up.

The Sock Party Games We Play Every Year

We usually play three sock games, and they’ve become part of my Christmas Sock Exchange story. As I mentioned above, I have a lot of socks and since this is a Holiday Sock Swap, the games must be sock themed!

Guess How Many Socks Are in the Basket

First, I fill a laundry basket with dozens of pairs of socks and ask everyone to guess how many are inside. Guests write their guesses on slips of paper. Whoever guesses closest wins a door prize. 

Sock Matching Madness

For this game, I have to prepare ahead of time by unfolding (unpairing them) a whole pile of my socks. Then I place them all in a basket.

When it’s game time, I dump the basket onto my coffee table, mismatched and mixed together. Everyone gets on the floor and races to match as many pairs as possible. Whoever creates the most pairs wins another prize. This game is always so much fun and full of laughter.

I always (jokingly) tell my friends that they’re really at my home to help me catch up on laundry 😉

The Sock Exchange Game

The final game is a Christmas sock exchange game. I’ve played a few different games over the last few years, but you can choose any game you want. For these, each guests starts holding the gift the brought. Unless they chose from my stash.

We play a gift exchange game with dice. I have these jumbo light-up dice that work great. The prompts changed each year, but were similar to what you see here:

Everybody rolls the dice, follows the prompt, then passes to the next person. This continues until all gifts are open.

This past year, for a creative twist, I changed things up and had cards printed where each guest drew a prompt out of a bag, followed the instructions, then passed the bag to the next person. We had enough prompts to go around the room twice. 

I loved this new, fun game so much (thanks to my friend Charly for introducing it to me)! Some of the prompts were “guest with the most tattoos”, “guest with the oldest living relative”, “guest born the farthest North”, etc. This prompted interesting conversations, and it was really fun getting to know each other better while playing a happy sock game.

You could also play a more traditional game, like Dirty Santa or a White Elephant Gift Exchange. 

For these games, the standard rules involve everyone drawing numbers. The first player selects a wrapped gift and opens it. Each person after that can either open a new wrapped gift or steal from someone else. Each pair of Christmas socks can only be stolen a limited number of times before it’s “locked”. At the end of the game, the first player may be allowed one final swap and then everybody keeps what they have.

​We play this game with my extended family every Christmas, and it’s a little more vicious than the games I do at my sock party. 

Either way, a holiday sock exchange game is a great alternative to a traditional gift exchange, and I really think it’s a great addition to traditional holiday festivities.

How to Host a Christmas Sock Exchange (Simple Rules & Ideas)

If you want to host your own Christmas sock exchange party, here are some general guidelines to get you started.

• Invite your guests and set expectations! I always create a private Facebook group and then post this paragraph:
  • SOCK PARTY DETAILS 🧦  For those of you NEW to my sock party… here are a few details: First, I am a sock collector. I have hundreds of pairs of fun, quirky, cute socks for all occasions! So, to share my love of socks, I decided to host a sock exchange party in 2022 and it was so much fun – I made it an annual party for my girlfriends and their teen daughters!
  • DO NOT skip the party if you can’t bring socks!! I always have plenty of extras on hand!! Having said that, if you can, start keeping your eyes open for cute, fun, super ugly, or crazy pair of socks to exchange at the party!
  • Socks do NOT have to be holiday socks. Any fun design you love works!! And if you missed it when I said it before… if you can’t shop for socks, come without them – I have PLENTY!
  • Please stuff a treat (or three) in your socks… just something you LOVE (chocolate, lip balm, stickers, gum, nail polish, an ornament, etc.)
  • Wrap your socks (or stick them in a gift bag if that’s how you roll). I have a game planned and they need to be disguised in some way!
  • This is a GIRL party – I send all my boys away for the night! If you have a tween or teen daughter and want to, please bring her along! Questions – ask away!!
• Everyone brings a new pair of socks to exchange instead of larger presents. It’s a great idea when you want something affordable, creative, and full of holiday cheer.
• If you want guests to stick to a particular price range, set a clear price limit so everyone brings a comparable gift. Keeping the price limit low encourages playful designs over expensive items. I don’t usually mention a price range this because socks and a few things to stuff inside can easily be gotten for $10 or less, and the theme alone usually doesn’t inspire big spending.
• Playing holiday music or a holiday song in the background and decorating with festive decorations help set the mood.
• I love to cook everything, but you could ask guests to bring finger food or a bottle of wine if you want to spread the work around or host an adult-only party. My potato soup is cheap, easy, and delicious, so it’s my go-to recipe each year, and everybody raves over it! Then I add a dessert and some easy finger foods and call it good!

Want to Host Your Own Sock Party?

If you’ve ever thought about hosting a sock exchange, let this be your sign. You don’t need elaborate decorations or complicated rules and it’s a fantastic way to get together with friend groups or family members around the holidays!

A pot of soup, a living room full of friends, and a fun game of sock exchange are more than enough to create holiday cheer, memorable moments, and a festive tradition your guests will look forward to year after year.

If you host a sock exchange too, I’d love to hear how you do it. Traditions like this are a great way to celebrate the season and make lasting memories.