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A preschool “Bear” opens a gift from a classmate. -
An upper-school student beams as she opens the handmade gift from her secret giver. -
Well School students receive gifts from their secret gift-givers in the school’s Verney Theater building. -
An upper-school student shares a handmade Taylor Swift collage. -
Preschoolers in Sarah Daume’s “Bears” class expresses delight over a handmade hobby horse. -
A preschool “Cub” eagerly waits as her classmate opens the gift she made. -
Preschool “Bears” wait anxiously for the gift exchange to begin. -
A preschool “Cub” is thrilled by the handmade horse made by a classmate. -
Preschool “Bears” wait patiently as classmates open gifts one at a time. -
Preschoolers are delighted to give and receive. -
Secret gift partners exchange a hug. -
Lower-school students watch a classmate open his gift. -
Well School lower school students watching the all-school gift exchange in the Verney Theater. -
Students finally get to meet their secret givers on the last day before winter break. -
Prechool “Bears” admire a hand sewed mat created for a lover of toy cars.
Every year, right before Thanksgiving, excitement builds at The Well School as students start to wonder whose name they will draw in the annual Secret Winter Gift Exchange.
The whole school participates in the annual tradition, which has been happening since the early 1970s.
“There is not a sweeter day of the year at The Well School,” said Holly Horgan, the school’s director of admissions and marketing.
At the school’s last all-school meeting before Thanksgiving break, every student from kindergarten through eighth grade draw names from a hat to find out who they would making a gift for. The rules are simple – names must be kept secret, and the gifts must be handmade by the giver. The tradition fosters problem-solving, creativity and gratitude – as well as possibly learning to cope with disappointment.
“This tradition is all about children taking the time to create something by hand for a friend, and it’s also about learning to accept a gift respectfully,” said Sarah Daume, who has been the preschool teacher at The Well School since 2006.
The gift exchange starts with each student creating a handmade card for their secret recipient. The cards are then delivered by eighth-grade messenger elves on the Wednesday before winter break. At the Friday all-school meeting, every Well School student goes to the Verney Theater with their hand-wrapped gift. Excitement builds as the eighth-graders select a class from the hat, and whatever class is drawn takes the first turn on stage, receiving their gifts.
Sarah “Ra” Eldredge, who was in one of The Well School’s first graduating classes, recalls making gifts for other students as a child. Eldredge is the longtime art teacher at The Well School.
“One of my favorite parts of this beloved tradition is that it facilitates the passing of creative knowledge from older people, usually the parents, to younger people. It helps us carve out the time to teach children to sew, to bake, to work with wood, or any of a myriad of creative skills. The range of gifts is wonderful. It also gives students a chance to learn how to give, and receive, gifts graciously,” Eldredge said.
Every student receives some information about their recipient’s interests to help them create a meaningful gift. The December school newsletter includes suggestions for handmade gifts for different age groups.
“The creativity that comes through is unbelievable. Every year, I am just amazed by what I see. This year, I had a student who created a fabric floor mat for his classmate to drive his toy cars around on. It was a whole town sewn on there, and the recipient was just thrilled! Another one of my students made a beautiful hobby horse for their classmate. Seeing their faces every year is just the most beautiful thing,” Daume said.
As part of the gift exchange every year, the eighth-graders, whose responsibilities including running the weekly all-school meeting, perform skits the week before the gift exchange, illustrating how to receive a gift gracefully.
“The eighth-graders will act out things like opening a gift and just tossing it aside. Then they will ask the younger children: ‘What was wrong with this picture?’ What did we do wrong when we received that gift? Then the younger students tell them what they did wrong, and they’ll come back out and act it out the right way, and show the respectful thing to do,” Daume said.
The preschool classes at the Well, the 3-year-old “Cubs” and the 4-year-old “Bears,” have their own gift exchange within their classrooms.
Parents are permitted to help younger children make gifts, but the children must do most of the work with their own hands.
“This is a time just for the children; the parents aren’t present. It’s all about experiencing the joy of seeing other children receive these gifts they have worked so hard on,” Daume said. “I genuinely believe the children get more joy from giving. They spend so much time thinking about what their classmate might like, and then they spend time making the gift, and they just can’t wait to see their classmate open it up.”