Secret Santa generator

Draw Secret Santa names online in about a minute, free. Add everyone taking part, mark any pairs who shouldn't draw each other, and hit draw — each person gets their own private link that shows one name and nothing else. Nobody needs an account to open theirs, and neither the tool nor the organizer ever shows the full list of who has whom.

How it works

• Sign in with a one-click email link — no password. Only the organizer needs this.
• Create a list, choose "Secret Santa" as the occasion, and type everyone's name.
• Add exclusions for anyone who shouldn't draw each other — couples, siblings, whoever already swaps privately. Exclusions work both ways.
• Draw. Everyone gets a personal link; send them out however you like — chat, email, in person.
• Optionally add gift ideas to the group's wish list, so people are shopping for something actually wanted.

Why not just draw names from a hat?

A hat works fine when everyone is in the same room and nobody is excluded. It stops working the moment your group is remote, someone joins late, or two people can't draw each other — and it always has the same flaw: whoever runs the draw usually ends up seeing more than they should, or has to redo the whole thing when someone pulls their own name.

An online draw fixes all of that. Nobody can draw themselves, exclusions are respected automatically, and each result travels in its own private link. We deliberately never show the full assignment table to anyone — the organizer included, because the organizer is usually playing too.

When a draw is genuinely impossible

Exclusions can rule out every possible arrangement, and it happens sooner than most people expect. The classic case is three people with one excluded couple: with only three players there are just two ways to hand out names, and both of them route through the banned pair. No tool can solve that one — you either drop the exclusion for this round or find a fourth player.

The same is true when one person is excluded from everybody else. If your rules can't work, we say so plainly instead of quietly assigning something you asked us not to.

What it costs, and how we make money

The draw is free and there is no paid tier. If someone follows a gift link from a wish list and buys something, we may earn a commission as an Amazon Associate — that is what pays for this. It never changes what anything costs you. Full disclosure.

Once the names are drawn

Stuck on what to actually buy? Our Secret Santa gift ideas are organized by budget, and the Secret Santa questionnaire is the fastest way to find out what someone actually wants without asking outright.

Playing the stealing variant instead? The white elephant rules cover turn order and steal limits, and there are white elephant gift ideas to match — that game needs no draw at all.