Type the names, draw, and send one link to the group. Everyone taps their own name to see who they got. Free, no sign-up, no emails.
Here's what the group sees when they open the link:
The organizer gets a separate page with every person's private link (handy if someone would rather get theirs by text), a tally of who has looked and who has filled in a wish list, and buttons to unlock a name or redraw.
Names are drawn as a single loop: Grandma buys for Dan, Dan buys for Priya, and so on until the last person buys for Grandma. Nobody draws the person who drew them, so there are no gift swaps between two people, and if you open presents one at a time you can go around the loop and every gift leads to the next. With a lot of keep-apart pairs a single loop sometimes isn't possible; then you get the next best thing, a fair draw that still follows every rule.
The most common spending limits for family and office exchanges are $20 to $50. Pick one number rather than a range, and say whether it's a ceiling or a target. For a mixed group (kids, students, grandparents), lower is kinder: a thoughtful $20 gift beats a resented $75 one.
Two to three weeks between the draw and the exchange is enough for online orders to arrive. If people are mailing gifts across the country, give it four.
Every person's page has a short wish list form. It's what makes Secret Santa work for people who don't know each other well (coworkers, in-laws). If you want to see the questions first, or print a paper version, there's a Secret Santa questionnaire with versions for work, family and kids.
Start a new draw with the new list of names; it takes a minute, and the old one can be deleted from the organizer page. It's the only way to be sure nobody is left without a Santa.
Yes. Nobody makes an account or gives an email address or phone number, including the organizer. You get links; you share them however your group already talks (a family group chat, a work Slack channel, a text).
Yes. The organizer page shows who has looked at their name and who has filled in a wish list, never who drew whom. Unless you press the reveal button (meant for organizers who are not playing), you find out who you drew the same way everyone else does: by tapping your own name.
Add them under "Keep apart" before you draw. Each pair you add can never draw each other in either direction. Add as many pairs as you like; if the rules leave no possible draw (for example in a very small group), the generator tells you instead of quietly breaking a rule.
Each name locks to the first person who opens it, so the real owner will see "already opened". The organizer can unlock that name from the organizer page. If someone saw a name that was not theirs, redraw: everyone gets a new person, and wish lists are kept.
No. Your page shows only the person you are buying for. The group page only lists names and whether each one has been opened.
It works for 3 to 50 people. For a workplace exchange, post the group link in your team channel and set a budget and a date so everyone plays by the same rules.
Making Christmas lists for family instead? The Christmas list maker lets buyers claim gifts so nothing is bought twice, and keeps it a surprise.