Secret Santa timeline: when to start and what to do each week

Start from the party date

Fix the day the gifts are opened first, because every other date depends on it. For an office that is usually the last working week before the holidays; for friends, a weekend in mid-December; for a family, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Then count back.

Five weeks before: invite

• Decide the budget range and the currency.
• Choose the format: classic, or a twist.
• Create the group and send the invite link.
• Give a date to join by, about one week later.

Four weeks before: draw

• Check who has joined, and nudge the people who said they would.
• Add the pairs who should not draw each other, such as couples.
• Collect what the format needs: wishlists are optional, challenges must be in before the draw.
• Run the draw. From this moment the list of participants is fixed.

Three weeks to one week before: shop

• Everyone has at least two weekends to find a gift.
• If gifts travel by post, set the posting date now: one week ahead inside a country, two to three across borders.
• Send one reminder in the middle. One is enough.

The last week

• Ask people to mark their gift as ready, so you can see how many are missing without knowing whose.
• Buy one or two spare gifts within the budget, in case someone falls ill.
• Decide how the reveal will go: the order, and whether people guess their Santa.
• Tell everyone where to leave the gifts and how to label them: only the name of the person receiving it.

On the day

1. Collect the gifts in one place before people sit down.
2. Open them one at a time.
3. Let each person guess their Santa.
4. Reveal the names.
5. Take a picture of the group, and ask who wants to do it again next year.

If you are already late

Two weeks before the party is still fine: invite today, draw in three days, and skip anything that needs posting. One week before, keep it very simple: a low budget, the classic format, and a draw the same evening. Less than that, and it is kinder to move the exchange to the first week of January.

Next year is easier

In Secret Santa Twist the group stays. Next year you create a new event in the same group, the members are already there, and the draw can avoid giving anyone the same person as last year.