Hi
Your Secret Santa is hidden until you press the button. Check nobody's looking at your screen.
You're buying a present for
Keep it to yourself. You can open this link again if you forget.
Not ? Close this page without revealing, and tell whoever sent the link.
Draw the names
The draw is done, and nobody has seen it, including you. Send each person their own link: by message, email or a note in their pigeonhole. Don't open anyone else's, because a link shows its pick to whoever opens it.
Nothing is saved, here or anywhere. Keep the links until everyone has theirs: if one goes missing, draw again and send the new links to everyone.
How to draw names
Type everyone's name, one per line. If partners or housemates shouldn't buy for each other, put each couple or household on a line of their own in the second box, like Ann & Bob. Add a budget, the date of the exchange and a note if you want them on everyone's link, then press Draw names.
You get one link per person. Send each link to its owner however you like: a text, an email, a direct message, or written on a card. Opening a link shows their name and the details, and a button. Pressing the button shows who they're buying for, and nobody else's pick.
Why there are no emails
Most Secret Santa sites ask the organiser for everyone's email address, then send the picks from their own server. Here, nothing is sent anywhere. Your browser makes the draw and writes the links, and each link carries its own pick after the # sign, a part of a web address that browsers never send to a server. We never see the names, the draw or who opened what.
Each pick is sealed inside its link with AES-GCM encryption, under a random key that travels in the same link. So a glance at the link, or the preview a chat app shows, doesn't give the name away. Be clear about what that means, though: whoever has a link can open it. You, as the organiser, could open everyone's, so don't, and only send each link to the person it's for.
How the draw works
Every person gets exactly one other person to buy for, and everyone receives exactly one present. Nobody draws themselves, and nobody draws someone on the same exclusions line. Picks come from your device's secure random number source, the one used for encryption keys, not a predictable shuffle.
Ticking No pairs stops two people drawing each other, so Ann never has Bob while Bob has Ann. With lots of exclusions some draws become impossible, for instance when one person is excluded from everyone, and the page tells you which line to change instead of failing quietly.
Questions
Can the organiser take part?
Yes. Put your own name in the list and keep your own link. The page doesn't show you the draw, so you find out your pick the same way everyone else does.
Someone lost their link. What now?
If you still have the list of links, send theirs again. Nothing is stored, so if the links are gone, press Draw again and send everyone a new link. The old links still open, so ask people to use the new ones.
Can I see the full list of who has whom?
No, on purpose. If you need someone to know the whole draw, for a party where the presents are handed out by name, ask one person to open the links.
How many people can take part?
From 3 to 100. Two people can't do a secret draw, because each knows who has the other.
Does it cost anything, or need an app?
No. It's free, it works in any up-to-date browser on a phone or computer, and nobody needs an account.
Can it do an office or classroom draw?
Yes. Paste the names from a spreadsheet column, one per line. For a class, Copy all links gives a list with each name and its link, ready to send to each family.
Sources
- RFC 3986: the fragment is not sent in requests (section 3.5)
- NIST SP 800-38D: Galois/Counter Mode (GCM)
- MDN: Crypto.getRandomValues()
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