How the online Secret Santa draw works

Nobody sees the pairs

When the organiser runs the draw, the app matches everyone at random on its server. Each Santa then sees only their own person, in the app. Nobody else in the group can see who drew whom: not the other participants, and not the organiser or the group's admins.

The full list of pairs appears only at the reveal, usually at the party. An admin starts it, and it happens only once a majority of the people taking part approve it, or the number the admin set for the event. So no single person, the admin included, can reveal the draw alone.

The rules every draw follows

• Nobody draws themselves.
• Everyone gives exactly one gift and receives exactly one.
• Pairs marked "never draw each other" are kept apart, in both directions.
• With "Avoid last year's pairs" on, nobody gets the person they had in the group's previous draw.
• In Santa by Colour, colours are handed out at random and only repeat when there are more Santas than colours.

Couples and others who must not draw each other

In the group settings an admin can list pairs who should never be each other's Santa: couples, siblings, people who live together. The rule works both ways and applies every year, so you set it up once.

Avoiding last year's pairs

When you create an event you can tick "Avoid last year's pairs". The draw then makes sure nobody gets the person they had in the group's previous draw, so everyone shops for someone new.

When no draw is possible

With many rules in a small group, sometimes no valid draw exists. In a group of three where two people may not draw each other, for example, both of them would have to give to the third person. The app never quietly bends a rule: it stops, tells the organiser what is in the way and stores nothing, so they can remove a pair or turn off "Avoid last year's pairs" and try again.

What's in the e-mail

After the draw everyone taking part gets the same e-mail: the draw is done, this year's twist with a link to how it works, the budget, the party date and a button to see who you got in the app. It never says who you drew or who drew whom: you see your person only in the app, once you sign in.

When an admin starts the reveal, everyone else taking part gets one more e-mail asking them to approve it in the app.

Why not a hat or a spreadsheet?

Names from a hat need everyone in one room, and someone always draws themselves. With a spreadsheet, or an organiser who draws for everyone, one person knows all the pairs and can't really take part. An online draw lets everyone play, the organiser included, wherever they are.