How to Do Secret Santa Online for Free (No Sign-Up)

By Lucas S. · 2026-11-05

Draw Secret Santa names online for free: paste names, keep couples apart and send everyone a private link. No accounts, no emails, names stay private.

Why Draw Secret Santa Online?

Pulling names from a hat works when everyone is in the same room. It falls apart when half the family lives in another city, someone draws their own name, or two partners end up buying for each other. An online draw solves all three, and our Secret Santa generator does it for free with no sign-up.

Step 1: Add Your Group

Open the Secret Santa generator and paste everyone's names, one per line. You need at least three people; duplicate names are removed automatically. Optionally add:

• A budget, like "$20" or "20 €", so everyone spends about the same.
• An exchange date, so nobody forgets when the swap happens.
• "Can't draw each other" pairs, one per line, such as "Anna - Ben". Couples, housemates or siblings who already swap gifts can be kept apart. The rule works both ways.

Step 2: Spin and Draw

Press the draw button. The wheel spins for the show, and then the code matches everyone: nobody draws themselves, every exclusion is respected, and each person receives exactly one gift. If your rules make a fair draw impossible (for example, too many exclusions in a small group), you'll see a clear message so you can remove one.

Step 3: Send Private Links

Choose Private link for each person and every participant gets their own link. Tap Share to send it with your phone's share menu, use the WhatsApp button, or Copy it into an email or text. The link sits on its own line at the end of the message so messaging apps don't break it.

When someone opens their link, they see a short check first: "This link is for Anna. Are you Anna?" Only after tapping "Yes, reveal my match" does a small wheel spin and land on the person they're buying for, along with the budget and date. If they tap "No, this isn't me", the page asks them not to peek and tells them to get their own link from the organizer.

Lost a link? The organizer's last draw is saved on their own device, so they can open the page again and resend it.

Prefer to Do It in Person? Pass the Phone

For a draw at the dinner table, pick Pass the phone instead. Each person taps their name, sees their match, taps Hide, and passes the phone on. A small "seen" tick shows who has already looked.

Is It Private?

Yes, as private as a free tool can be. The draw happens in your browser. Each match is stored inside its own link, in the part after the # sign, which browsers never send to a server, and names are not sent to analytics. Be aware that the organizer could open the links and see the pairs, because the links are created on their device.

A Note on Redrawing

If you draw again, every pair changes. Links you already sent still show the old pairs, so the page warns you to resend everyone's new link. Each link also shows the date it was drawn, to help avoid mix-ups.

Ready? Start your free Secret Santa draw. It's also available in Spanish and Portuguese.