Secret Santa Generator

How to run a Secret Santa without e-mail addresses

1. Type everyone’s name, one per line, or use Add a name. Include yourself if you are joining in. Two people called Sam need to be told apart, for example “Sam K.” and “Sam P.”.
2. Tap two names to keep them apart. Each pair becomes a rule: couples, flatmates, or the two people who swapped gifts last year.
3. Add a budget, the exchange date and a note if you want them on every card, and, under Wish lists, up to three wishes per person.
4. Press Draw names. You get one row per person with Copy link and Share. The rows never show who drew whom.
5. Send each row to that person only, in the chat you already use with them. They open it, tap the card, and see who they are buying for.

Want answers before you draw? Under Print slips, the Questionnaire gives a Work, Family / adults or Kids question set. Print one sheet per person with their name on it, or press Copy as text and paste the numbered list into the group chat, so people reply there instead of by e-mail.

How to print the slips for a draw in person

1. Draw names as above, then pick A4 or US Letter under Print slips (it starts on Letter in a US or Canadian English browser, A4 everywhere else).
2. Download the PDF and print it at 100% (“Actual size”). Scaling it to fit the page shrinks the slips but nothing gets cut off: every line sits at least 8 mm inside the paper edge, beyond the 3 to 5 mm most home printers cannot reach.
3. Cut on the solid grey lines. Each page holds six slips, two across and three down, about 97 × 92 mm each on A4.
4. Fold the bottom flap up along the red dashed line so it lies over the middle panel. Only the top strip, “For Ana · Open me”, stays readable.
5. Hand each slip to the person named on its top strip. They lift the flap and read who they are buying for, with the budget, date and your note.

Questions

Do I need everyone’s e-mail address?

No. Most name-draw sites ask for an e-mail per person because that is how they deliver the result. Here the result is the link itself: the person’s pairing is packed into the part of the address after the #. You send that link however you like, and nobody signs up for anything.

Can couples be kept apart?

Yes. Tap two names and they become a couple rule: neither draws the other. Tap the ⇄ on a rule to turn it into one-way (“Ana never draws Ben” while Ben may still draw Ana), then again for the reverse. Before drawing, the generator checks that a valid draw exists at all. If it does not, it tells you which person or group is boxed in, for example “Ana cannot be given anyone: every other name is excluded for Ana”, rather than looping forever or quietly breaking a rule. With 2 people who exclude each other there is simply no draw; with 4 people, giving one person rules against all three others makes it impossible too.

How do I send the links on WhatsApp?

On a phone, tap Share on a person’s row and pick WhatsApp (or Messages, Messenger, Signal: whatever your phone offers), then pick that person’s chat. On a computer, or a browser without a share sheet, Share copies a short message plus the link; paste it into WhatsApp Web. Each row is ticked once you have copied or shared it, so you can see who still needs theirs. Do not post all the links in the group chat: anyone can open any link.

Can the organiser play too?

Yes, and that is the default. With I’m playing too ticked, the page never shows the pairings: you only see the names with their buttons, and you open your own link like everyone else. Strictly speaking you could still open somebody else’s link, so this works on trust, the same as a hat of paper slips. If you are not playing, untick the box and a Show all pairings button appears.

What if someone loses their link?

Come back to this page in the same browser: the group and the draw are kept on your device, so you can copy or share that one person’s row again, and it will match the original. Do not press Draw names again to fix it. A redraw gives everyone a new person, so you would have to re-send every link, and the old links still open the old draw.

Is it private?

The names, wishes and pairings are never uploaded. The page counts one anonymous “a draw happened” event so we know the tool gets used, and nothing you type goes with it. The list is saved in this browser’s local storage until you press Clear everything. The links are scrambled, not encrypted. A scrambled link does not read as text in a chat preview, but anyone who has the link, or reads this page’s code, can recover the name inside. Treat a link like a folded slip of paper: private by courtesy, not by lock.

Why a flap, not a slip folded in half?

A home printer prints one side of the paper. Fold a one-sided slip in half and both printed halves end up either inside, so nobody can see whose slip it is, or outside, so everyone can read the result. So each slip has three panels: the name on top stays out, the result sits in the middle, and the blank bottom flap folds up over it. The flap reads “Fold this flap up along the dashed line” on its printed side, which ends up face-down against the result. Thin printer paper (80 g/m²) can show dark text through a single layer under a bright light; fold the flap twice, or print on 120 g/m² card, if your group likes to peek.

Will printing spoil the surprise if I am playing too?

It can. The PDF and the PNG contain every pairing, so whoever opens the file, looks at the print preview or cuts the pages can read them. If you are playing, send the file to the printer from your downloads list without opening it, take the pages off face-down, and cut and fold one slip at a time, reading only the top strip. Better still, hand the file to someone who is not in the draw. Sending private links is the version where nobody, organiser included, sees the pairings.

What should I put on a Secret Santa questionnaire?

Ask what a stranger would need to pick something the person will use: favourite snacks and drinks, a colour, a hobby, sizes for clothes and shoes (family only), and a yes or no on scented things, since candles and hand cream are the most common gift and plenty of people cannot stand them. Always end with allergies and a “Please no” line for things people already have too many of. Ask before the draw: once names are drawn, a giver who asks “what do you like?” gives the game away, while a sheet everyone fills in keeps it anonymous. For coworkers, keep it to tastes and hobbies and leave out sizes, age, religion, diet reasons, health and money; the Work set here asks whether the gift should live on a desk or go home. To collect answers without e-mail, copy the list into your WhatsApp or Teams group and let people reply with the numbers, or print the sheets, hand them out, and collect them in an envelope before you draw. The Kids set uses tick boxes and small pictures, so a five-year-old can fill most of it in with a little help.

What is on the wish-list sheet?

A name line, My budget, numbered wish lines (five on a full page, three when you print two per page and cut the page in half), clothes and shoe sizes (plus ring, glove and hat on the full page), favourite colours, and No thanks to for allergies, things people already own, or the fifth scented candle. The blank sheet downloads without any draw, so you can hand it out weeks before the exchange. With slips, tick Add a wish-list sheet for each person and each sheet comes with that person’s name already filled in. If you would rather collect wishes on screen, type them under Wish lists and they appear on the giver’s card, and on the slips as one or two lines (cut short with “…” if they run long).

Can I add an Amazon or other online wish list?

Yes. Copy the share link of the wish list (Amazon, Etsy, a store registry, a shared Google Doc, any page that starts with https://) and paste it as one of the three wishes under that person’s name, on a line of its own. On the reveal card it becomes a tappable link showing the site and the start of the path, such as amazon.com/hz/wishlist/…, and it opens in a new tab. The link travels inside the private link of the one person who drew that name and nowhere else: it is not uploaded, not shortened and gets no tracking or affiliate tag. Only the person you drew sees it. Two honest limits: a list set to private on the shop’s side will not open for anyone else, so switch it to shared first; and a wish-list link of about 200 characters makes the private link longer, which is fine in WhatsApp, SMS and Messenger. On printed slips the full address is printed on the inside of the fold-over flap, for anyone who would rather type it in.

Which names print, and which letters?

The PDF uses the standard Helvetica and Times fonts built into every PDF reader, which cover English and Western European letters (é, ø, ß, ñ, ü and so on). Letters outside that set are simplified, so Łucja prints as Lucja and Őrs as Ors; Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic or Chinese names print as question marks, and emoji are left out. The page warns you which names are affected so you can write them on by hand. Long names shrink to fit their strip: a 40-letter name still prints whole, just smaller.

How do I label the presents without giving myself away?

Do not write the tag by hand: colleagues and family recognise handwriting faster than you expect. The free Gift Tag Maker has two Secret Santa designs that sign every tag “Your Secret Santa” and leave your name off. Type everyone in the group, one name per line, and one person can print and cut the whole set before the exchange, so each giver just takes the tag with their recipient's name.

Is the draw really random?

Each draw uses your browser’s cryptographic random generator (crypto.getRandomValues) to shuffle the order in which people and choices are tried, then searches for an assignment that gives every person exactly one other person to buy for and honours every rule. Nobody can draw themselves, and nobody is drawn twice.