How to do Secret Santa
A week-by-week Secret Santa plan, messages you can copy into the group chat and a simple script for exchange day.
Secret Santa online. Free name draw, no sign-up: players join with a link and each sees only their own recipient.
The timing leaves room for online orders: December shipping is slower than usual.
The organizer’s plan, week by week
Announce the game
Exchange date, spending limit and sign-up deadline in one message. Only people who want to play sign up, so nobody ends up without a gift.
Close sign-ups and draw names
On the set day, stop taking players and draw the pairs. Latecomers can still join while the exchange is far away.
Collect wishes
Ask everyone what they love, what to skip and their clothing size. Wishes help Santa more than any hint.
Remind everyone three days out
Check that every gift is ready, and remind people about wrapping and the recipient’s name on the tag.
Group chat messages to copy
Copy them and change the dates and the limit for your group.
Announcement
Secret Santa time! We exchange gifts on December 18, spending limit up to $25. Reply “+” by December 1 if you’re in. Names are drawn on December 2.
Rules
Everyone gives one gift to one person on the list. Keep your recipient to yourself. Up to $25, wrapped, with the recipient’s name on the tag. Couples don’t draw each other.
Asking for wishes
Please write three to five wishes for your Santa: what you love, what to skip and your size if you’d like something to wear. Santa will pick from them.
Reminder
Three days to the exchange! Make sure your gift is wrapped and labeled with your recipient’s name. Running late? Message me and we’ll sort it out.
Work, friends, family, class: what changes
Work
$15–25 limit, exchange on the last workday before the holidays. Managers play like everyone else, and a manager and their report can be excluded from each other.
Friends
A higher limit, $25–50, and the exchange at a party. Couples who already buy for each other are best kept apart.
Family
Secret Santa replaces everyone buying for everyone. Kids and grandparents without a phone are played by an adult who writes their wishes and picks their gift.
School class
Around $10, agreed by the parents. Parents write the wishes for younger kids, and gifts are opened at the class party.
If players live in different cities
Join with a link
Everyone joins from their own phone and sees only their own recipient. The organizer doesn’t have to send names by hand.
Ship it straight there
The recipient adds a shipping address or a pickup point to their wishes, or passes it on through the organizer, and Santa orders the gift straight there.
Open gifts together
Book a 30-minute call: gifts are opened one by one while everyone else guesses the Santa.
Leave extra time
Shipping between cities can take a week in December. Draw names a week earlier than usual.
A simple script for exchange day
Gifts go into one place ahead of time — under the tree or into a shared box — so nobody sees who brought what.
- Handing out. The organizer pulls gifts one by one and reads the name on the tag.
- Opening in turn. Everyone opens their gift in front of the group: it’s more fun, and Santa sees the reaction.
- Guess your Santa. Each recipient guesses who their Santa was. Santa confesses or keeps the secret — as agreed.
- A group photo. One picture with all the gifts, for the chat and for next year.
Where Secret Santa usually goes wrong
What happens
- A limit of “about twenty-five”
- Names drawn two days before the party
- Half the players wrote no wishes
- Gifts without name tags
- The organizer knows every pair
What works
- One number: “up to $25”
- The draw two to three weeks ahead
- Wishes from everyone before the draw
- The recipient’s name on the wrapping
- A draw where each player sees only their own recipient
FAQ
Three weeks before the exchange. That leaves time to gather players, draw names two weeks out and order gifts without rushing.
One message in the group chat: exchange date, spending limit and sign-up deadline. A ready text is in the Messages section above.
Yes, as long as they don’t hand out the pairs themselves: use a hat, a colleague outside the game or an online draw.
With names from a hat, it’s easiest to redraw. An online draw passes the dropout’s recipient to their Santa automatically.
Keep one spare gift within the limit. The recipient opens it with everyone else, and the real gift comes later.
Keep the limit low and the rules simple: draw names from a box, parents write wishes for younger kids, and gifts are opened at the party.
More about Secret Santa
Updated October 7, 2026
Gift ideas for Secret Santa
Gifts for Coworkers: 16 Ideas for $20 and $40 Budgets (2026)
Sixteen gifts for a coworker you like but do not know that well: nothing too personal,…
White Elephant Gifts People Actually Want: 14 Ideas Under $50
Fourteen white elephant gifts that get stolen, sorted by the usual price limits: under…
Stocking Stuffers for Adults: 15 Small Gifts They’ll Actually Use
Fifteen small gifts for grown-up stockings: fun fillers under $20, pocket upgrades for…
Cozy Gifts for Homebodies: 18 Hygge Ideas
Eighteen gifts for the person whose ideal Friday is a blanket, a candle and nowhere to…
Everyone’s wishes in one link
Ask players to make a free GIFTbase wishlist with what they love, what to skip and their sizes. Santa just opens the link, and the app suggests gift ideas within the game budget.