Secret Santa generator, no sign-⁠up

1. Type the names. Put one name on each line, or paste a list from your group chat.
2. Add pairs who shouldn’t draw each other. Couples are the usual case.
3. Add the details, if you like. A spending limit, the exchange day and a short note travel with every link.
4. Tap Draw the names. Your phone shuffles the names until every rule holds, and each fair result has the same chance. How a fair draw works
5. Send each person their link. Use your phone’s share button, WhatsApp, a text message or email. Each link opens one name, for one person.

When someone opens their link, they tap a button before the match appears. A quick look at their phone, or a link preview in a chat, shows no name.

Want a louder game where gifts get stolen? Try the white elephant rules.

At the office, follow our office Secret Santa rules and send each person their link in a private message, not in the team channel.

• A lost link. Open your organizer link and send that person’s link again. If you checked “Keep on this device to resend links”, this page on the phone you drew on works too.
• Seeing your name again. Your link keeps working, so open it again whenever you want to look. Once opened, it is also kept on that phone, and you can remove it there any time.
• Next year. Open your organizer link and choose “Run it again next year”. “Don’t repeat last year’s matches” is already checked, so nobody draws the same person again. From the day after the exchange, your organizer link offers “No repeats next year”: add your email there for a reminder.
• Someone drops out. Open “Who’s in the draw?”, tap “Change” next to their name, then “Remove from draw”. The tool can reconnect their giver and recipient only if they are different people and all draw rules still hold. Otherwise, it asks for a new draw.
• After a repair. Only the changed giver needs a new link. The tool shows you who that is, so if you are playing, draw again instead. If gifts have been bought, check privately with those affected before changing matches.
• Someone joins late. Open your organizer link and tap “Add someone”. One person gets the new name instead, so nobody else’s match moves. Easiest: add everyone before you send the links.

Running the whole exchange, not just the draw? Our guide How to organize a Secret Santa walks you through it, from the first message to reveal day.

No. By default the app never shows the organizer who drew whom before the exchange day, whether you play or only organize. Need the list, for example to hand out gifts? Tick “I need to see who drew whom” under the names before you draw, and the group page tells everyone.

The draw is made on your device, so this is a promise the app keeps, not a lock: keep your organizer link to yourself. Room wishes are not encrypted for the giver alone.

Yes. Under “Keep these people apart”, add a pair and neither draws the other. For a whole household or team, tap “Add a household or team”, tap their names, then “Keep this group apart”: nobody draws someone from their own group. If the rules leave no possible draw, the tool tells you before drawing.

No. Nobody signs up and nothing gets installed: each person opens their own link in the browser, on a phone or a computer. Email is optional, for example to save your organizer link or to get a reminder.

Yes. After the draw, each person has their own Send button: share by WhatsApp, text or email, or copy the link. Send each link in a private chat, not the group chat, because the link opens that person’s match. With “Invite people” it’s the other way around: that one invite link is meant for the group chat.

Type an amount under “Spending limit” and pick the currency; it’s optional. Everyone sees it on their link, next to the exchange day. Pick an amount the whole group is comfortable with. At work, keep it small so nobody feels pushed: our office Secret Santa rules help.

Yes. Everything runs on links, so it works across offices, cities and countries. Choose “Invite people” and share one link; everyone adds their own name and what they’d like. Agree how the gifts travel, by mail or at your next get-together.

Yes, in groups of 4 or more. On your link, open the chat with your person and ask, say, their favorite color. They see the question from “your Secret Santa” and answer without knowing who asked. Your organizer holds the group’s data, so they could work it out.

Yes. Open your organizer link and tap “Draw again”: everyone gets a new match. In a group the links stay the same, so people just open theirs again. Best done before anyone buys a gift.