Secret Santa Name Generator: Draw Names Online, No Email
Type everyone's names, add anyone who shouldn't draw each other, press Draw. Each person gets a private link that shows only who they give to. No email, no sign-up, no names sent to our server.
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1 People Example
Use new lines or commas, or paste from a spreadsheet or chat. Review names before importing. Optional couples: Alice + Bob or Alice & Bob.
Nothing is added until you press Add. Change a name, remove anyone who shouldn't be here, and look under Left out for anything that should be a name.
No one yet.
Six made-up names and one couple. Nothing is saved.
Four steps
- Add namesType or paste them.
- Rules optionalKeep couples apart.
- Details optionalBudget, date and a note.
- Draw and sendEach person gets a private link.
First time? How to do Secret Santa online shows each step with screenshots.
2 Couples & exclusion rules Optional
Set rules for couples/exclusions below. If everyone can draw anyone else, continue to draw. You can add a budget and date first.
For couples, housemates, or last year's pairs.
Add at least two people in step 1 first. Then choose here who shouldn't draw whom.
Couples on one line with a plus sign, like Anna + Ben, are kept apart automatically.
Import last year's pairs
Paste one giver and recipient per line, like Anna -> Ben, or two columns copied from a spreadsheet. Review first, then import one-way exclusions. Pairs involving people outside this draw are left out.
3 Details Optional
Budget, date and the shared note appear on everyone's card.
Gift wishes for each person Optional
Collect wishes before drawing. Each person's wishes appear on their gift buyer's private card. Anyone holding that whole link, including the organizer, can read them. Keep addresses and private contact details out.
Saved on this organizer's device as you type. Changes after drawing need a new draw and new links; wishes on already-sent links do not update. A public draw shows pairs only, so share wishes separately.
This date won't be on the cards. Enter the whole date, with a year from 2000 on.
0 of 200 characters
Their cards will never show ads or shopping links.
4 Draw and send
Links for draw
Your rules allow only one possible draw, so anyone who knows the rules can work out every match. To keep it a surprise, remove a rule or add someone, then draw again.
Send each person only their own link. The pairs aren't shown anywhere on this page, but each link opens that person's match, so if you're taking part, open only your own. Don't show this page to anyone else, even in a screenshot or a screen share: a photo of a link is enough to open it.
Links are left off this printout. Send each person their link from this page.
All links in one message
For your notes, or to forward one at a time. If you post this in a group chat, anyone could open anyone's link.
After sending
This browser keeps the links, so anyone who uses it could open them here. Once everyone has theirs, remove them. You won't see them again; if someone loses theirs, you'll need to draw again.
Links removed from this device
The links for draw (code ) are no longer kept here. They still work for the people you sent them to. If someone lost theirs, draw again and send everyone a new link.
If you copied any of them, they can still be on this device's clipboard, or in its clipboard history if it keeps one. Copy something else to replace them, and delete them from the history.
| You want | How it works here |
|---|---|
| Keep couples apart | Put them on one line with a plus sign, like Anna + Ben. They won't draw each other. |
| Avoid last year's pairs | Import known pairs in step 2 as one-way exclusions, or add rules individually. |
| Gift wishes with no email | Add each person's wishes before drawing. Their gift buyer sees them on the private card. |
| No email addresses | Nobody signs up. You send each person their link by WhatsApp, text or email yourself. |
| Use a list you already have | Paste names from a spreadsheet, group chat or email. You check them before anyone is added. |
| The organizer takes part | The page shows links, never who drew whom, so you can draw too. |
| Rules that can't all work | The page names who is stuck before any link is made, so you know which rule to loosen. |
| A redraw | Draw again after a change. An older link says it is out of date on any phone that has opened a newer one. |
| A big group | Up to 200 people in one draw. |
Secret Santa With Exclusions, No Email Needed
Print folded slips with the Secret Santa name draw template for a hat draw. For families, follow family draw rules.
Every draw assigns each person one recipient, with nobody getting their own name. Each private link shows only that person's result; with a group of three, the participants can still work out who drew them. That is how Secret Santa works. Exclusions are the rules you add. Type a couple or a household on one line with plus signs, like Anna + Ben + Leo, and nobody on that line draws anyone else on it. For last year's pairs, or a rule that goes one way only, use step 2. There is a longer guide on how to keep couples and households apart.
Rules can make a draw impossible. With three people where two are a couple, both partners can only give to the third person, who can take only one gift. The page catches this before anyone gets a link and says who is stuck. An odd number of people is never a problem by itself: everyone gives one gift and gets one.
How to Use a Secret Santa Generator Without Email
Neither the organizer nor the participants enter an email address or create an account. Add the names, set any exclusions, then press Draw. You choose how to deliver the results yourself; the site does not send invitations or reminders.
Send each person only the link beside their own name. Text opens your messages app, and Copy link lets you paste it into a private chat. If your group uses WhatsApp, see Secret Santa on WhatsApp. The optional Email button opens your own email app: any address you enter there stays in that app. The draw runs in your browser and nothing is sent to our server: each person's card travels inside their own link.
For a family swap, use the gift exchange generator with no email required. Choose private links or a whole list to copy or print, with household exclusions in either mode. An open list helps when parents shop for younger children. Running a draw for the first time? The step-by-step walkthrough with screenshots shows every screen, including what to do when someone loses their link.
For a party where everyone brings a wrapped gift and players may steal, generate a White Elephant turn order. That game draws numbers for taking turns instead of assigning each person a recipient.
Secret Santa Generator With Wish List
Add gift wishes without email or an account. Before drawing, open Gift wishes for each person in step 3, choose a name, and enter up to 240 characters of things they would enjoy. When someone opens their private card, it shows their recipient's wishes alongside the budget, date and shared note. The Secret Santa questionnaire helps people decide what to ask for; copy a short summary of their answers into that person's wishes.
The organizer enters and holds these wishes; participants do not have a shared online list to edit. Anyone holding a whole card link can read the wishes on it, so leave out home addresses and private contact details. Editing wishes after drawing means drawing again and sending new links to everyone. An already-sent link keeps its original wishes.
Is Using a Secret Santa Generator Free?
Yes. No account, fee or ads. The about page explains who makes this generator. If ads are introduced, the privacy page will say so first. Cards for groups with children will never show ads or shopping links.
Secret Santa Name Generator for Kids
Tick This group includes children under 13 in step 3. The mark travels inside every link, and cards that carry it will never show ads or shopping links. A parent or teacher runs the draw and sends each child's link to a parent's phone. A child who can't read yet can have the card read aloud, or printed with its Print this card button. If adults and children should draw separately, each with their own budget, set up a family draw with children.
Secret Santa Generator for Large Groups
A draw holds up to 200 people. Use Paste Name List for a column from a spreadsheet: each row becomes one person, first and last names are joined, and email addresses are left out. Review the names, confirm the import, then set any couple or exclusion rules. A name typed twice is skipped. For budgets and ground rules in an office, see Secret Santa rules for work.
What Is the Best Secret Santa Generator?
The one that fits your group. Before you pick one, check five things:
- Does everyone have to sign up, or hand over an email address?
- Can you keep couples apart, and add a rule that goes one way only?
- Does each person get a private link, or is there one results page that anyone with the address can open?
- What is stored, and where: on the site's server, or only in your browser?
- Can the organizer take part without seeing the pairs?
This generator includes short gift wishes on private cards, but no automatic reminders or anonymous questions. The organizer collects and enters the wishes before drawing. The draw and its links stay on your device; no group data is kept on a server.
Virtual Secret Santa Generator
Draw from anywhere and send each person their own link. Agree the postage budget, send-by deadline and video-call time before people buy gifts. Collect mailing addresses privately and pass each address only to the gift buyer. Put shared dates in the card note, keeping addresses out of it.
Follow the complete virtual Secret Santa guide to plan the invitation, postage budget, time zones, private address sharing and gift opening. It also covers late parcels and people who cannot join the call.
Send Secret Santa Names by Text Message
Every link has a Text button. On a phone, it opens your messages app with the text written: "Hi Anna, here is your Secret Santa link. Open it to see who you are giving a gift to," followed by the link. You pick Anna as the recipient and press send. The message names only the person it's for, never their match. On a computer, if no messages app opens, press Copy link and paste the link wherever you chat.
Send Secret Santa Names by Email
The Email button opens your own email app with the subject "Your Secret Santa link" and the same short message. Add the person's address and send it. The email comes from you, so people know who sent it, and there is no sign-up email to confirm first. The addresses never reach this site: they stay between your email app and theirs.
How to Draw Names for Secret Santa From a Hat Online
With a real hat, everyone draws a folded slip, and anyone who draws their own name puts it back and draws again. The trouble comes at the end: the last person can be left holding their own name, and then everyone starts over. A hat can't keep couples apart either, and anyone who isn't in the room needs someone to draw for them.
Online, nobody gets their own name, and successful draws follow your rules. If a draw is impossible, no links are made. People far away get their link wherever they are. The organizer's page shows links instead of pairs; to take part without learning other people's matches, open only your own link.
Is There a Secret Santa Name Generator Wheel?
There are name wheels, but a spinning wheel shows every result to everyone watching, so the whole room knows who got whom. That suits picking a turn order, not a secret draw. This page gives each person a private link instead.
How to Redraw Secret Santa Names
Someone joins, someone drops out, or a rule was missed: change the list and press Draw again. Everyone gets a new link, and the message with it says which draw it is, such as "draw 2". Send every new link, even to people you expect to keep the same match. A new draw is as random as the first, so some people may get the same person again.
There is no server to switch old links off, so an old link shows as out of date only on a phone or computer that has already opened a newer link from the same group. Tell everyone to open their newest link and ignore any earlier one. If you only mistyped the budget or date, don't draw again: change it back to keep the links, and tell the group the right detail yourself.
Can a Secret Santa Generator Be Rigged?
Not by chance. The shuffle uses your browser's cryptographic random numbers, and among all the draws your rules allow, each one is equally likely. The one exception, very dense rules in a group of more than 16, is described on the privacy page. Nobody can draw themselves, and every rule is checked again before a link is made.
A person could still try. The organizer holds every link and could open any of them, or keep drawing again until their own link shows the name they want. Every card shows its draw number, so a card that says draw 6 tells the group there were five before it. If nobody should hold all the links, ask someone who isn't taking part to run the draw.