Secret Santa Generator

Secret Santa is a gift exchange in which everyone buys a present for one person drawn at random, without knowing who is buying for them. This Secret Santa generator is a name picker built for exactly that: type the names, set your rules and the draw pairs everyone up.

No email addresses to collect, no accounts to create. Each participant gets a personal link holding only their own assignment: who they buy for, plus the budget, the date and your message. Send it on WhatsApp, show it as a QR code or hand it over on a printed card.

1. Enter the participants, one name per line, from 3 to 100 people. Optionally add an event name, a “Budget”, an “Exchange date” and a “Message to participants”.
2. Under “Exclusions”, list the pairs who should not draw each other, and leave “Avoid two-way pairs” switched on.
3. Press “Draw names”: nobody draws themselves.
4. Send each person their link with “Copy link”, “WhatsApp” or “QR code”, or use “Print cards”.
5. Each participant opens their link and taps “Reveal my person” for a small celebration.

Exclusions prevent the draws nobody enjoys: partners who already swap gifts, siblings, housemates. Write one pair per line, such as Aisha + Omar, and those two will not draw each other in either direction.

“Avoid two-way pairs”, on by default, stops Emma buying for Liam while Liam buys for Emma, so every gift circle includes at least three people.

If your rules can’t all be met, the generator tells you instead of quietly breaking one. With three people including an excluded couple, for example, both partners would have to buy for the same person. Remove an exclusion, add someone or switch the option off.

“Copy link” lets you paste a link into a text or team chat, “WhatsApp” sends it into a conversation, and “QR code” shows it on screen to scan face to face. Tick “Sent” as you go. For a phone-free party, “Print cards” makes fold-over cards: name outside, person to buy for inside.

As the organizer, you don’t see who drew whom, so you can join in if you only open your own link. “Show all assignments” reveals everything after a warning, for an organizer who isn’t playing. If you play, use links rather than printed cards, which you might read while folding.

The draw is saved in your browser, so you can resend a link later from the same device. A new draw creates new links (old ones keep showing the old draw), so resend them all.

Pick an amount everyone can spend comfortably, for example $15 to $25 among colleagues. The “Budget” field is free text (“$20”, “£15”, “handmade”) and appears in every link.

• Under $10: fun socks, a mug, a deck of cards, chocolates, a small succulent.
• Around $20: a paperback or comic, a party card game, a scented candle, a tea sampler.
• Around $50: a Bluetooth speaker, a cosy blanket, a gourmet hamper, a bigger board game.

At the office

Keep the budget small and equal, set the date before the holidays and share links in your team chat. If someone must buy the coffee round, let the who pays wheel decide.

With family

Exclude partners and anyone under the same roof, print cards for grandparents without a smartphone, and let the what to eat wheel pick the menu.

With friends

Show QR codes at a get-together or send each link privately on WhatsApp. Add a theme in the message: handmade, a favourite book or everything red.

In the classroom

Set a tiny budget or ask for handmade gifts, print the cards, then use the random name picker to choose who opens a gift first.

Remote teams

Send links by chat, allow time for delivery, say whether shipping counts toward the budget, and open gifts together on a video call.

Yes. Assignments are drawn on your device with the browser’s cryptographic random generator (crypto.getRandomValues). Nobody draws themselves, every rule is respected and no pair is picked by hand. Nothing is sent to our server, and each link contains only its owner’s assignment. Our page on how we keep every draw fair explains the method. To pick winners rather than pairs, use the raffle generator.