Secret Santa with friends, step by step
- Start a list. A name, e.g. “Friends – Christmas 2026”, and a gift budget, e.g. “up to $30”, which everyone on the list sees. Whoever starts the list is the first one on it and draws along with everyone else. No account and no e-mail.
- Send the link to your friends' chat. Everyone joins with just their name and writes their letter to Santa; a list holds up to 100 people. Not sure what to write? Ready-made invitation texts.
- The draw: pick “When the majority decides”. Everyone gets an “I vote for the draw” button, and the draw happens by itself once more than half of the people on the list vote, e.g. 3 of 5. Nobody has to be in charge. Rather a set date? There is “On a chosen day” too.
- What the draw shows: pick “A number instead of the name”. Every Santa writes the number from the drawn letter on the parcel, not a name, and brings it to the party. For the day the gift sack opens, give the evening you meet: then everyone gets the number of their own parcel. Only its Santa knows who a gift is from. If the majority votes only after that evening, the gift sack opens with the draw and every Santa sees the name of the person they give a gift to right away, so vote before you meet.
A number instead of the name
You write the number on the parcel. When the gift sack opens, everyone gets the number of their own parcel.
At the party: guess who your Santa was
Once everyone has opened their parcel, take turns guessing who each gift is from. The page won't tell: a Santa can own up or stay a secret.
Gifts ready? Secret Santa games and reveal ideas.
Couples among friends
A couple buys each other gifts anyway, so keep them from drawing each other. Once the list is set up, your page has a “Who doesn't draw whom” block until the draw: pick the pairs there who will not draw each other.
A question for the person you drew
After the draw, write in “Ask your nice child”: the answer comes in the same place, under the letter you drew, and the person you drew won't find out who's asking. There are no messages on “Only me” lists.
Someone lives in another city?
They join from the same link, and the gift can go by post. The address for the parcel and a digital gift: Virtual Secret Santa.
Gifts for friends
Ideas by budget: Secret Santa gift ideas; a gift for a laugh and the dice game: Funny Secret Santa: joke gifts; and when someone doesn't know what to write in their letter: Secret Santa questionnaire.