Draw names for Secret Santa without anyone signing up
The Quicklyzer Secret Santa Generator draws names for your gift exchange in seconds and gives every person a private link that shows only their own match. Nobody needs an account, you don't have to collect email addresses, and the draw happens on your own device, so the list is never uploaded. It works for family Christmas, office gift swaps, classrooms, friend groups and long-distance exchanges, and for any holiday you celebrate.
Most name generators either show the organizer every match or ask the whole group to register. This tool keeps the surprise for everyone, the organizer included, and still gives you three ways to deliver the results: links, one shared phone, or printed slips.
How to organize a Secret Santa in 3 steps
- Set up the exchange. Add a name, the date, the budget per gift, where the gifts are exchanged and a short message for everyone. All of it is optional and appears on each person's reveal page.
- Add the people. Paste a list with one name per line, or type them in. After a name you can add an email address or phone number and a household or group, separated by commas. Open More on a person to add their wishlist or a “never pair with” rule.
- Draw and tell everyone. Press Draw names, then send each person their link by WhatsApp, email or text, pass one phone around the room, or print fold-over slips.
Draw rules that keep it fair
- Nobody draws themselves, every time.
- Households and groups: people with the same household or group name never draw each other, ideal for couples and families who would otherwise shop for someone in their own home.
- Never pair with: block any two people from being matched, in both directions.
- No swaps (on by default): two people never give to each other, so the exchange doesn't split into little pairs.
- One big circle: link everyone in a single chain. At the party, the first person gives a gift, the receiver gives next, and so on until the chain is complete.
- Avoid last round's matches: press Start next year's exchange and the tool remembers who had whom, so nobody gets the same person again.
If your rules make a draw impossible, for example when one person is blocked from everyone, the tool tells you who is stuck instead of failing silently. Names are drawn with your browser's secure random generator, so nobody can predict or influence the result.
Three ways to share the results
Private links
Each person gets their own link with a ready-made message, sent through WhatsApp, email, a text message, your phone's share menu, or copied by hand. When they open it, they see “Hi Emma!”, tap a wrapped gift and find out who they are buying for, together with that person's wishlist, the budget, the date with a countdown, the place and your note. A tick next to each name shows which links you have already sent.
Pass the phone
Everyone in the same room? Hand one phone or tablet around. Each person taps their own name, confirms it's really them, unwraps their match privately and hides it again before passing the device on.
Printed slips
Print six slips per page on US Letter or A4, cut them out and fold each one in three. The “For Emma” label ends up on the outside and the match stays hidden inside. It's the classic name-from-a-hat feeling, with no chance of someone drawing their own name.
Wishlists that make shopping easier
Add a few lines for each person: hobbies, sizes, favorite colors, things to avoid, or a link to an online wishlist. The text appears on the reveal page of whoever draws that person, and links are clickable. Collect ideas from everyone before you draw, since each person's wishlist travels inside the link of the person who buys for them.
Private by design
The match is stored in the part of the link after the “#” sign, which browsers never send to a website's server. The names inside are scrambled, so you won't read them by accident while sending, and the secret part is removed from the address bar as soon as the page opens. Your exchange is saved only in your own browser. Use Save project file to keep a copy or continue on another computer.
Handy tools for the organizer
- See all matches after a warning, for organizers who aren't taking part or need to sort out a problem. In one-big-circle mode the list follows the chain, ready to read out as the gift-opening order.
- Download CSV with every match and each private link, for your own records.
- Draw again if you change your mind before sending the links.
- Start next year's exchange to keep the same group and avoid repeat matches.
Secret Santa tips for a smoother exchange
- Agree on a budget everyone is comfortable with and put it in the exchange details; it shows up on every reveal page.
- Draw two to four weeks before the exchange so people have time to shop or order online.
- Ask for wishlists before the draw. A few words such as “size M, loves tea, no candles” make a big difference.
- Remind everyone not to forward their link and to keep their match a secret until the big day.