How to Run a Secret Santa Online (No Hat, No Peeking)
How to organise a Secret Santa for a team, family or friend group when you're not all in one room, including couples, budgets and wish lists.
The hat method breaks down the moment people aren't in the same place. Somebody has to draw the names and then be trusted not to look, someone always picks themselves, and the couple who were never supposed to draw each other end up with each other's name. Here's how to run it online instead, and how to avoid the usual problems.
Decide the rules first
- Budget. Pick a number and say it up front. The most common complaint about Secret Santa is one person spending much more than another.
- Deadline. Fix a date for the gifts to arrive, and allow for shipping if people are in different places.
- Who's in. Collect everyone's name and an email address they actually check. You need at least three people.
- Who shouldn't draw each other. Couples and siblings usually buy for each other anyway, so it's more fun to keep them apart.
Draw the names without anyone seeing
The Secret Santa generator does the draw for you. You enter each person's name and email, any pairs who shouldn't be matched, and an optional budget. It draws the names so that nobody gets themselves and no excluded pair gets each other, then emails each person a private link. Each link shows only that person's match, so the organiser can join in and be as surprised as everyone else. If the exclusions make a draw impossible, you're told before anything is sent.
Each person can also leave a few gift ideas that only their Santa sees. That saves a lot of "what do they like?" messages to the group chat, which would give the game away.
Keep it fun until the gifts arrive
- Set up a group chat for the exchange (without the matches in it) so people can share shipping dates and cheer each other on.
- Agree how to reveal. A video call where everyone opens their gift together works better than an unwrapping in a chat.
- Play something while you're all on the call. Bomb Pass works with a big group, and Imposter suits a smaller one. Both run on everyone's own phone.
If something goes wrong
If somebody doesn't get their email, ask them to check their spam folder, then run the draw again with the right address. If somebody drops out, do the same: a fresh draw with the people who are left is quicker than patching the old one. And if you just need to pick a team captain or decide who goes first, the generator's quick draw does that too, with nothing stored. See also our Christmas games for the day itself.