Secret Santa generator.

How to draw Secret Santa names online

1. Add everyone’s names, one per line. You need at least three people.
2. Add exclusions if you need them, such as couples who shouldn’t draw each other. Then add a budget and the exchange date, so everyone sees them with their match.
3. Press Draw names. You get one private link per person.
4. Copy each link and send it to that person by chat or email. When they open it, they see only who they are buying for.

Is it fair, and is it private?

The draw uses your browser’s cryptographic random source, the same one websites use to make security keys. Every possible draw where nobody gets themselves or an excluded person is equally likely.

The names stay in your browser. Each person’s match lives inside their own link, after the # sign, and browsers never send that part to a server. We don’t store the draw, we don’t send emails, and nothing about the names reaches our analytics.

One thing to know: whoever creates the links could open them. If the organiser is in the draw too, they should send the links without opening them, which the tool makes easy because the list shows names, never matches.

Secret Santa ideas for work, family and friends

• Set a budget everyone can afford. A small, fixed budget keeps things fair. Many offices pick £10 to £20, or $15 to $25.
• Pick a theme. Something handmade, a favourite book, something local or a winter warmer makes shopping easier.
• Keep it optional at work. Let people opt in, and offer a wish list or "no food gifts" line for anyone with allergies.
• Plan the reveal. Open gifts together at the party, then run a quiz or a prize draw on the big screen.