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
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.
Paste a whole list
Rows copied from a spreadsheet work too: each row becomes one person, first and last names are joined, and email addresses are left out. You check the names before anyone is added.
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.
2 Who shouldn't draw whom Optional
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.
3 Details Optional
Shown on everyone's card.
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.
How to Do Secret Santa on WhatsApp
Use the group chat for what everyone should know, and one-to-one chats for the links. In the group, agree on the budget and the 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 any group of three or more, groups of 3 or 5 included.
- Ask who's in. Then select the replies in the group, copy them, and paste them under Paste a whole list. Each sender is added once, and nothing they wrote.
- 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.
What you give up: there are no wish lists or anonymous questions inside the link, so the questionnaire does that job. 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.