How to Do Secret Santa Online: Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Add everyone's names, keep couples apart if you like, press Draw names, then send each person their own private link. Here is each step as it looks on the page, and what to do when plans change.

The short version
Step	On the page	What people receive
Add names	Type them, or paste a list from a spreadsheet, a group chat or an email.	Nothing: no emails or invites go out
Check the list	Fix spellings, remove anyone who shouldn't be there, then add them.	Nothing yet
Keep people apart	Optional: couples, housemates, last year's pairs.	Nothing yet
Budget, date, note	Optional: written on every card.	Nothing yet
Draw	Press Draw names. You get one link per person, never a list of pairs.	Nothing yet
Send	WhatsApp, Text or Email next to each name, one person at a time.	A private link each
Open	Each person opens their own link.	A tag with their name, then who they give to

Nobody needs an account, an app or an email address. Keep this page open next to the Secret Santa generator and follow along. It covers the draw page only; for what to buy, when to swap and how the reveal goes, see the rules of the game.

Any group from 3 people up works, odd or even, with up to 200 in one draw; there is a page on odd numbers and groups of three. With only three people, everyone can work out who drew them. Links go out by WhatsApp, text or email, and for sending on WhatsApp to one person after another there is a page that marks who is done.

How Does a Secret Santa Generator Work?

It does what a hat full of paper slips does, without the slips. Everyone gives one gift and receives one, nobody draws their own name, and nobody draws someone you've asked it to keep apart. Out of all the draws that follow those rules, it picks one at random.

Then it does what a hat can't: it seals each person's match inside a link of their own. The page shows you the links, not the pairs, so even the organizer doesn't know who has whom. All of this happens in your browser; the privacy page sets out what stays on your device.

Step 1 on the page: People

Add Names

Type a name under Add a person and press Enter, then the next. You can type several at once with commas between them: Maria Santos, Tom Becker, Aisha Khan.

If the names are already written down, open Paste a whole list and paste them in:

From a spreadsheet, each row becomes one person, first and last name columns are joined, and email addresses are left out.
From a group chat, copy the replies to “who's in?”: each sender is added once, and nothing they wrote.
From an email, copy the To line: the names are kept and the addresses left out.

Paste a whole list, opened. Under Names, one per line, and a note that spreadsheet rows work too, the box holds rows copied from a spreadsheet: a header row, then first names, last names and email addresses. Below the box is the Check these names button. — Rows from a spreadsheet, with name and email columns, pasted under Paste a whole list.

Step 1, continued

Check the List

Press Check these names. Nothing is added yet: the page lists what it found, one name per row, and says how it read your paste.

Fix a name by typing in its row, or remove it with the ×.
A name that appears twice is flagged and added once. If they really are two people, add a surname or an initial.
Anything that wasn't read as a name, such as a header row, waits under Left out, with a button to add it after all.

When the list looks right, press Add these 8 people, or however many you have.

A box headed We found 9 names. It says the paste was read as a table, with First name and Last name joined into one name, and that email addresses were left out. Nine rows follow, each an editable name with a remove button. The second Lena Fischer is marked as the same as the one above, so it won't be added twice. At the bottom are Add another name, Left out (12), Add these 8 people, and Cancel. — Nine rows, eight people: the second Lena Fischer is flagged and won't be added twice.

Step 2 on the page: Who shouldn't draw whom

Keep People Apart

A couple typed on one line with a plus sign in step 1, Maria Santos + Tom Becker, is kept apart automatically. For anyone else, choose a person, then who they shouldn't give to, and press Add rule. Both ways, so neither draws the other is ticked to start with, which suits couples and housemates; untick it for a one-way rule, such as last year's pairs. For households, and for rules that make a draw impossible, see keeping couples apart.

Each rule is listed in plain words, with Remove next to it. If your rules make a draw impossible, the page says who is stuck and creates no links.

The Who shouldn't draw whom step, marked optional, for couples, housemates, or last year's pairs. Lena Fischer is chosen as the person and James O'Neill as who she shouldn't give to, with Both ways unticked, above the Add rule button. The hint under it reads: Lena Fischer won't give to James O'Neill. James O'Neill can still draw Lena Fischer. Two rules are already listed, each with Remove: Maria Santos and Tom Becker won't draw each other, and Aisha Khan and Omar Haddad won't draw each other. — A couple and two housemates kept apart both ways, and last year's pair about to be added one way.

Step 3 on the page: Details

Budget, Date and Note

What you put here is printed on every card, under the match. All of it is optional.

Budget: a short amount, such as $30.
Exchange date: written out in full on the card, with the day of the week.
Note to everyone: up to 200 characters, for the place and time, a theme, or “wrapped, please”.
This group includes children under 13: tick it for a family or class draw. Their cards will never show ads or shopping links.

The Details step, marked optional, with the line Shown on everyone's card. The budget is $30, the exchange date is December 18, 2026, and the note to everyone reads: Dinner at Grace's at 7. Bring it wrapped, with your name off the tag. Below it, an unticked box: This group includes children under 13. Their cards will never show ads or shopping links. — A budget, a date and a note. All three appear on every card.

Step 4 on the page: Draw and send

Draw

Press Draw names. Instead of a list of pairs, you get the links for draw 1: one link per person, labelled with their name. Who drew whom isn't shown anywhere on the page.

Don't show the page to anyone, not even in a screenshot or a screen share: a photo of a link is enough to open it. The short code next to the draw number is printed on every card from that draw, so if you ever draw again, everyone can tell the two apart.

The Draw and send step after drawing, with 8 people ready and a Draw again button. Under the heading Links for draw 1, with a four-letter code and 8 people, a paragraph asks you to send each person only their own link. Below it, rows for Maria Santos, Tom Becker, Aisha Khan and more, each with a Copy link button, the start of a link to secretsantanamegenerator.com/r/, and Send by WhatsApp, Text or Email. On the phone there is a Share button too. — After the draw: links, not pairs. Each link opens one person's match.

Step 4, continued

Send Each Link Privately

One private message per person. Next to each name are WhatsApp, Text and Email: each opens that app with a short greeting and the link already written, and you choose the one person to send it to.

Sending by	What to do
WhatsApp	Press WhatsApp, pick that person's chat and send.
Text message	Press Text, add that one person and send.
Email	Press Email and send it to that person alone, with nobody in Cc.
Slack or Teams	Press Copy link and paste it into a direct message, not a channel.

Don't post all the links in the group chat: anyone there could open anyone's link, and one curious tap spoils it. The group chat is still the place for the budget, the date, and a heads-up that links are coming. If people live far apart, the draw works the same way; the giver will need a postal address, which you can pass on privately.

Once everyone has their link, press Remove links from this device. Until you do, the links stay in this browser, so anyone using it could open them.

Two parts of the draw page. All links in one message, with the note: For your notes, or to forward one at a time. If you post this in a group chat, anyone could open anyone's link. Then a box with each name and its link, and a Copy all links button. Below, After sending, with a note that this browser keeps the links and a Remove links from this device button. — The page's own warning about group chats, and the button to use once the links are sent.

On each person's phone

What Does Each Person See?

A gift tag with only their own name on it, “This link is for Tom Becker”, and a button, I am Tom Becker, show me. Their match isn't on the page yet, not even hidden, so a link that reaches the wrong person shows a name they already know and the line “Not you? Close this page.”

A gift tag hanging from a red ribbon, sealed with red wax. It reads Secret Santa, This link is for Tom Becker, It shows who you're giving a gift to, then a green button, I am Tom Becker, show me, and below it, Not you? Close this page. At the foot: Draw 1 and the draw's code. — Before: the link says whose it is, and nothing more.

When they press the button, the tag turns over: “You're giving a gift to Aisha Khan”, with the budget, date and note underneath. It opens in any web browser, with no app and no account. Print this card prints just the tag, and Hide the name turns it back over.

The same tag, turned over. This link is for Tom Becker. You're giving a gift to Aisha Khan, in large red letters. Budget: $30. Exchange date: Friday, December 18, 2026. Note from the organizer: Dinner at Grace's at 7. Bring it wrapped, with your name off the tag. Then Keep it to yourself, two buttons, Print this card and Hide the name, and a line suggesting the group fill in the Secret Santa questionnaire. — After pressing the button: the match, with the budget, date and note.

Behind the page

Are the Names Sent to a Server?

No. The draw happens in your browser, and the names, pairs, budget, date and note are never sent to our server. Each person's card travels inside their own link, after the # sign, a part of a link that browsers don't send to websites.

Two things to know. The app you send a link with can see it, as it sees any message you send. And the card inside a link is scrambled, not locked with a password, so anyone with the whole link can open it. That's why each link goes to one person only.

Can the Organizer Take Part in Secret Santa?

Yes. The draw page shows links, not pairs, so you learn your match the same way everyone else does: by opening your own link. Copy your own link into a new tab, or send it to yourself like the others, and don't open anyone else's.

What If a Secret Santa Link Is Lost or Doesn't Work?

If you haven't removed the links from your device, open the draw page and send that person their link again. If you have, press Draw again and send everyone a new link: the page keeps no copy anywhere else, so there is nothing to look up.

Opened by someone else

What If Someone Opens the Wrong Link?

Nothing is given away unless they press the button. The link first shows only whose it is, with I am Tom Becker, show me and “Not you? Close this page.” If someone did press it and saw another person's match, draw again and send everyone their new link.

Cut short

What If a Link Says It Doesn't Work?

Part of it was lost on the way, which happens when only some of a long link gets copied. Ask the organizer to send it again, and open the whole link. A cut-off link never shows the wrong name: it is refused.

After the draw

What If Someone Drops Out After the Draw?

Remove them with the × next to their name in step 1, or add a newcomer the same way. As soon as the list changes, the links from the last draw are hidden and marked out of date.

Press Draw again. The page asks first, because a new draw is a new random match for everyone, not the old matches with one change; some people may get the same person as before. Then send everyone their new link, and say that it replaces the old one.

The Draw and send step with 7 people ready and a note: You changed the list or details after draw 1, so those links are out of date. Drawing again gives everyone a new match. If you've already sent the links, change it back to keep them, and tell people about a new budget, date or note yourself. Below it is the Draw again button. — One person removed after the draw: the old links are out of date until you draw again.

On any phone or computer that has opened a new link, the old one now says “This link is out of date” and shows no name. A phone that has never opened a new link can't know there is one, because no account or server keeps track, so your message matters.

A tag headed This link is out of date. It reads: It's from draw 1, and the organizer has made draw 2 since, so this match no longer counts. Open the newest link the organizer sent you. If you didn't get one, ask them. — An old link, opened on a phone that has already seen the new one.

Only changing the budget, date or note marks the links out of date too. If you've already sent them, change the detail back so they count again, and tell everyone the new detail yourself.

Ready? Draw names for your Secret Santa.