Free tool
Secret Santa generator
Draw names for a gift exchange in one click. Keep couples apart, then send every person a private link that reveals only their own match. No sign-up, no email addresses, nothing stored.
0 people
Add a budget, a date or a note (optional)
How the draw works
Type everyone in, one name per line, and add a rule for any two people who should not draw each other — couples, usually, or the pair who somehow got each other three years running. Press draw and you get one link per person.
Send each person their own link, however you normally talk to them. Opening it shows them one name: who they are buying for. It shows nothing about anybody else, so a link forwarded to the wrong person still gives nothing away about the rest of the draw.
Why there is no sign-up and no email collection
Most Secret Santa sites ask for everybody's email address, then send the assignments themselves. That means handing over your whole team's contact details to run a party game, and it is why those draws so often end up in a spam folder on the one week they matter.
This one never sees any of it. The draw runs in your browser, and each result is packed into the part of the link after the # — which browsers, by design, never send to a server. There is no database here with your team in it, because there is no request that could have put them in one.
An honest note on the organizer
Because your own browser does the drawing, your browser necessarily knows every assignment while the page is open, and the links are readable by whoever holds them. The page never shows you the matches, and closing the tab discards them — but a determined organizer could decode a link they were not meant to open.
No tool that draws names on your device can honestly claim otherwise. If the organizer is also taking part and wants a genuine surprise, the usual fix is the old one: ask someone outside the exchange to run the draw and send the links out.
Running a gift exchange people actually enjoy
Set a budget and say it out loud, in the same message as the link. The most common way these go wrong is not a bad match, it is one person spending four times what everyone else did and making the whole room uncomfortable.
Agree a date and a handover method before you draw, especially with remote colleagues in the mix — someone posting a gift needs to know that a week earlier than someone walking it to a desk. Both go in the note field here, so they arrive attached to the link rather than buried in a thread.
Common questions
Is this Secret Santa generator free?
Yes, with no account, no email address and no limit on how many draws you run. There is nothing to pay for because there is no server doing the work — your browser draws the names.
Can I stop couples from drawing each other?
Yes. Add a rule for any two people and they will never be matched in either direction. You can add as many rules as you like; if they make a valid draw impossible, the tool says so rather than quietly producing something that breaks one of them.
Do I need everyone's email address?
No, and that is the main difference from most Secret Santa sites. You get one link per person and send them out yourself, through whatever your group already uses — Slack, WhatsApp, text, or in person. Nobody has to sign up or confirm anything.
Can the organizer see who everyone got?
The page never displays the matches to you, and closing the tab discards them. But the draw runs on your device and each link can be decoded by whoever holds it, so an organizer who is determined enough could look. If you are taking part and want a real surprise, have someone outside the exchange run the draw.
What happens if someone loses their link?
Send them the same link again — it works every time it is opened. If you no longer have it either, draw again and send out a fresh set of links, since nothing is stored anywhere for us to recover.
Why does my link say it is not complete?
The match lives in the part of the link after the # symbol, and a few apps trim that when they turn a link into a preview. Paste the link as plain text rather than letting it auto-link, or send it in a different app.
How many people can take part?
Between 3 and 100. Below three there is no draw worth making, and above a hundred a single gift exchange tends to work better split into teams anyway.
Doing a card as well as gifts?
Card Event collects messages, photos and voice notes from the whole team into one card. One link to sign, no app, and it reaches the people working from home too.
Start a cardFree to build and collect messages. You pay once, at delivery.