Virtual Secret Santa, step by step
- Start a list. A name and a gift budget that includes shipping, e.g. “$25 including shipping”, which everyone on the list sees. No account and no e-mail.
- Share the join link. In the team chat, the family chat or a text message. Everyone joins with just their name, from any city or country; a list holds up to 100 people.
- The draw: pick “On a chosen day”. You pick the day and time, and the draw happens by itself then: nobody has to click anything. It needs at least 3 people; with fewer by then, it waits for the third one.
- Keep “Name and letter”. It is already picked: every Santa sees the name and the letter of the person they drew right away, so they know whom the parcel goes to.
Our tip for people far apart: on a chosen day
You choose it when you set up the list.
When is the draw?
When you click “Draw the letters”
Only you have the button. Click it once everyone has joined.
When the majority decides
Everyone can vote. With 3 votes of 5, the draw happens by itself.
On a chosen day
The draw happens by itself on the day and at the hour you pick. Nobody clicks anything.
The address for the parcel
Your Santa can learn it in two ways, and you still don't learn who your Santa is.
- In the letter. Write the address in your letter to Santa right away: only the person who draws it will see it. Once saved, a letter can be changed for 2 minutes only, so put the address in before you save it.
- In a message after the draw. Your Santa asks in “Ask your nice child”, and you answer below your letter, in “Your Santa”, without knowing who asks. Messages come only after the draw, and not on “Only me” lists, where every letter goes to the organizer.
A digital gift
Too far for a parcel? Send a code or a link instead: an e-book or a voucher. Write it in a message in “Ask your nice child” (up to 500 characters): it arrives signed “Your Santa”, without your name.
Opening together
Agree on a video call and open the parcels together, each in front of their own camera. Until the day of the draw, everyone's list page has a “Calendar reminder” block: “Add to calendar” puts the draw in their calendar, with a reminder ahead. And with “Phone notifications” turned on, the phone tells you when the draw is done and when your Santa or your nice child writes to you.
Gifts ready? Secret Santa games and reveal ideas.
Most of your friends meet in person and only someone lives far away? See Secret Santa with friends.
Gifts that are easy to post
Easy to post means flat and light: it is cheaper to send and arrives whole. See Secret Santa gift ideas by budget and pick something that fits in an envelope or a small box.
Something for a shared screen or the TV: Christmas emoji quiz: guess the film, the song and the tradition.