The Ornament Swap

Yesterday the children and I hosted about 70 children and some of their mamas for an ornament swap. Yes, 70 children! It was a little crowded! My children had a super time, and I hope that their friends did too.
Each child brings a snack/dessert/appetizer to share and a wrapped ornament. I keep the boys' and girls' ornaments on separate tables, and I number each ornament as they bring them. I also write the same number on a piece of paper--one page for girls and one page for boys. When all of the ornaments are numbered, I cut the numbers apart on the paper and put them into a 2 baskets (boys and girls). I put the girls in one room, and the boys in another. We passed around the basket with the paper numbers inside, and everyone drew a number. Next, we started with number one and let that child open the ornament numbered #1, then number 2 opened the gift numbered #2, and so on. It was a little chaotic with so many children, but in the end, everyone had a pretty new ornament to take home.
We enjoyed lots of delicious food and the children and the adults both enjoyed each other's company.
After the last guest departed, my three older children and I cleaned up. We worked very hard, and we accomplished it in about 30-40 minutes. We vacuumed, cleaned the kitchen, took the trash to the road, and put away all of the folding tables and the two card tables. By the time I was ready to cook supper, you couldn't even tell that we had hosted a party. Like I always tell my children, "Many hands make the work light!"