Secret Santa Generator for WhatsApp: One Private Link Each
Draw names, then send each person a private link on WhatsApp, one chat at a time. No app or email, and the group chat never sees who drew whom.
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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.
Jordan (you, the organizer)
Your private link
Open it to see who you are giving a gift to. Only the person it was sent to should open it.
secretsantanamegenerator.com
Hi Maria Santos, here is your Secret Santa link. Open it to see who you are giving a gift to.
https://secretsantanamegenerator.com/r/#XKva1ePQhsuCMn9BE53rKJ7vJjtzixtfjVqerKsihYQxRA2OHc9jtRkgo3Pk7
7:42 PM
The preview is the same for every link. It shows the link page's fixed title and description, and that page keeps the match covered until the person presses the button. Here is what the link carries, and what each person sees when they open their link.
Secret Santa : tirage au sort sur WhatsApp
Ce générateur permet de tirer les noms sans adresse e-mail ni inscription, puis d'envoyer un lien privé à chaque participant sur WhatsApp. Les boutons restent en anglais. Utilisez Paste Name List pour coller la liste, puis vérifiez les noms avant de confirmer.
Ajoutez les exclusions dans Couples & exclusion rules, indiquez le budget et la date, puis cliquez sur Draw names. Le bouton WhatsApp ouvre un message préparé : choisissez la conversation privée de la personne et envoyez-le vous-même. Ne partagez pas les liens dans le groupe.
La mention Sent signifie que vous avez cliqué sur le bouton, pas que WhatsApp a confirmé l'envoi. L'organisateur conserve tous les liens et peut ouvrir les résultats : gardez ceux des autres fermés si vous participez aussi. Les noms restent dans votre navigateur et dans les liens que vous envoyez.
How to Do Secret Santa on WhatsApp
Use the group chat for what everyone should know, and one-to-one chats for the links. Start with the Secret Santa invitation message for WhatsApp, agree on the budget and date, and post the questionnaire in the group first so whoever draws each person has something to go on. The draw on this page is the same as on the name generator; this page puts WhatsApp first and keeps track of whom you have sent to. It works for groups of three or more when the exclusions allow a draw, including 3, 5 or 7 people. See how a seven-person Secret Santa draw works.
If you collect names in person, use a printable Secret Santa sign-up sheet, then enter those names here. Keep it to the confirmed participants and send each result in its own private chat.
- Ask who's in. Then copy the participant list or replies with sender names and times into Paste Name List. Review the detected names before importing. Recognized chat replies add each sender once, without their messages.
- Keep couples apart: put them on one line with a plus sign, like Anna + Ben, or add a rule in step 2. Add the budget and date in step 3; they go on every card.
- Press Draw names.
- Press WhatsApp on the first row. WhatsApp opens with the message written. Choose that person's own chat, not the group, and send it.
- Come back to this page. The row now says Sent, and the next person is picked out. Repeat until every row is done.
- Press Remove links from this device at the end.
The page marks a row Sent when you press its button. It can't see whether you pressed send in WhatsApp, so if you backed out, press the button again. On a computer, the button opens WhatsApp's own page, which hands the message to WhatsApp Web or the desktop app, where you pick the chat the same way.
Never paste the links into the group chat: anyone there could open anyone's link. The same links work in any private message. Press Copy link and paste it into Messenger, a Discord direct message, Signal or iMessage, or use the Text and Email buttons under each name.
Secret Santa App for WhatsApp, No Download
You don't need an app, and nobody in your group signs up for anything. This page runs in your browser and the draw happens on your phone or computer: the names aren't sent to any server. Each person taps their link and it opens in their own browser, showing only whom they're giving to, with the budget, date and note you added.
Some Secret Santa apps have everyone join first. DrawNames' WhatsApp page, for example, sends an invitation that each person accepts before they draw a name (checked September 27, 2026). Here only the organizer does anything. The pairs aren't shown on this page either, so you can run the draw and still be surprised, as long as you open only your own link.
Is the Secret Santa Draw Anonymous to the Organizer?
The organizer's page shows a link for each giver, without showing their match. That lets the organizer take part by opening only their own link. It relies on trust: the organizer holds everyone's links and could open them, and anyone who receives a forwarded link could open that card too.
The link is not password-protected, and the opening button does not check anyone's identity. In a three-person draw, knowing your own match is enough to work out the other two; tight exclusions can also make matches predictable. Send each whole link in its own private chat and ask people not to forward it.
Add each person's gift wishes in step 3 before drawing; the right gift buyer sees them on their card. There are no anonymous questions or participant-edited online wish lists. The browser you drew in keeps the links until you remove them, so a lost link can be sent again from there. After you remove them, the only fix is a new draw, with a new link for everyone.