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Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions
No. The organizer and participants can play the full game without a required account or email: create a game, join by link, add wishes, run the draw, and continue the gift exchange.
An account and email are optional — they are not required for a complete game.
An account and email are optional — they are not required for a complete game.
There is no email field on the card. If you need the link in your inbox, ask the organizer — they can send the invite to any address with “Invite by email.” The game also works without mail: a personal link is enough.
Email is not required. Ask the organizer to send the personal link to your card — you can open it without email or registration.
If you joined without email, save your recovery codes: without them you can lose access when the browser or device changes. If you signed in with email, you can recover through that inbox.
If you were still waiting for an email, check “spam” and “promotions” and look for postman@santa-secret.com.
If your question is about a specific game, not the website, write to the organizer in the chat on the game page. Examples of questions they can answer:
- When will we be giving gifts?
- Could you tell me how the gift presentation will take place? Will it be through internal mail between offices or with external delivery at our own expense?
- I won't be in the office on December 25th, where should I leave the gift?
- I changed my mind about participating in the game, please delete my card
- Hello, I want to cancel my participation in Secret Santa
- And when do we need to bring the gift or when is the presentation planned?)
You can change your card at any time — before or after the draw. If the draw has already run, your Secret Santa will see the change in chat.
Open “My exchange,” then your card, and tap edit (the pencil). There you can change the picture, wishes, and address.
Open “My exchange,” then your card, and tap edit (the pencil). There you can change the picture, wishes, and address.
Open “My exchange,” your card, and edit. Delete is at the bottom of that page — before or after the draw.
After the draw the pairs will break, and the organizer gets a chat message. If the game is already running, write to them first.
After the draw the pairs will break, and the organizer gets a chat message. If the game is already running, write to them first.
“Awaiting participation confirmation” means the person has not opened their invite and finished their card yet. That happens after an email invite or after you add someone in the table, if they have not followed the link.
If someone joined by the shared link and filled in their card, no extra confirmation is needed. The organizer cannot confirm for them, but you can still run the draw — unconfirmed cards are included and they can finish later.
If someone joined by the shared link and filled in their card, no extra confirmation is needed. The organizer cannot confirm for them, but you can still run the draw — unconfirmed cards are included and they can finish later.
Open “My exchange,” then your card, and tap edit. At the bottom you can delete the card — before or after the draw.
After the draw, deleting breaks the pairs: your Santa gets a new giftee, and the organizer gets a message in chat. If the game is already running, write to the organizer first.
After the draw, deleting breaks the pairs: your Santa gets a new giftee, and the organizer gets a message in chat. If the game is already running, write to the organizer first.
You may not see your recipient's address for two reasons:
- Your recipient has not yet filled out their card. In this case, the card will state that the address has not been filled in. You can hurry your recipient in the chat.
- The organizer did not turn on “Request contact details” in the game settings. Then your own card in “My exchange” will also have no address. Ask the organizer to enable it.
The organizer runs the draw, not the site. When they start it, your giftee will appear in the game. If you added an email, you may also get a notification — but you can see the result without one.
A participant can find out who their Secret Santa is only in two cases: if the organizer tells them or if the Secret Santa reveals themselves through chat (intentionally disclosing their identity) or in some other way.
Yes, the chat with the recipient is anonymous; they will not see your name or avatar.
Click on the paperclip icon to the left of the message field and select the desired file. After selecting the file, a message with a link to it will be sent in the chat.
Yes, a regular draw can produce that. To prevent it, the organizer can turn on “Circle draw” in the game settings — then people gift in a circle instead of drawing each other. For specific pairs (spouses, for example), set a mutual exclusion on the participants table beforehand.
Yes, it works! An odd number of participants does not differ from an even number in this case. Let's illustrate with three people. Suppose Masha, Vasya, and Petya participate in the draw, then one of the possible distributions after the draw could be: Masha gifts to Vasya, Vasya gifts to Petya, and Petya gifts to Masha. As you can see, everyone will have gifts!
Yes. If you only need the draw — without wish lists or chat — use Quick Draw: add names, set exclusions if you need them, and get a personal result link for each person. No registration or email: you can share the links in a messenger or group chat.
The full game also lets people write wishes, add an address, and use anonymous chat, while the organizer follows the exchange.
The full game also lets people write wishes, add an address, and use anonymous chat, while the organizer follows the exchange.
Quick Draw supports up to 100 people.
For the draw to be somewhat secretive, a minimum of three participants is required.
Yes, you can participate in an unlimited number of games, and you can be both a participant and an organizer in different boxes.
Yes, you can organize one game and participate in another game. Also, you can be both a participant and an organizer in a game simultaneously.
For organizers
There is no limit on the number of participants in the box draw
Email is not required. Copy the participant’s personal link from the table or their card and send it directly — in a messenger or chat. Registration and email are optional.
If they join without email, ask them to save their recovery codes. Without the codes they can lose access if the browser or device changes.
In organizer view, tap “Set exclusions” next to the person you want to adjust. Choose who they should not gift. For spouses or any other pair, turn on mutual exclusion so they will not draw each other. Everyone else is assigned at random.
You can also assign a giftee by hand from a participant’s actions (“Set giftee”) — usually after the draw, or if someone joined late.
To stop two people from simply drawing each other, turn on “Circle draw” in the game settings.
Participants will not know that you set up the draw in any particular way.
You can also assign a giftee by hand from a participant’s actions (“Set giftee”) — usually after the draw, or if someone joined late.
To stop two people from simply drawing each other, turn on “Circle draw” in the game settings.
Participants will not know that you set up the draw in any particular way.
No, participants will not know whether you set up the draw or if it was completely random.
If you need to change the organizer and you are the current one, write to postman@santa-secret.com with a link to the game and the name of the person who should take over.
Currently, you cannot add additional organizer to the box.
On the participants table, tap “+ Add participants” — you can invite by link or add people by hand.
Important: if the draw has already run, a new person will not get a giftee right away. Set a giftee from that participant’s actions, or select the new people in the table and run an additional draw among them.
Important: if the draw has already run, a new person will not get a giftee right away. Set a giftee from that participant’s actions, or select the new people in the table and run an additional draw among them.
After the draw, people can no longer join on their own with the shared link. The organizer adds newcomers with “+ Add participants” on the table. Then set a giftee from that participant’s actions — or select the new people in the table and run an additional draw among them only. Existing matches stay as they are.
In organizer view, open that participant’s actions and tap “Delete participant.”
Important: if the draw has already run, the Secret Santa of the deleted person will get a different giftee.
Important: if the draw has already run, the Secret Santa of the deleted person will get a different giftee.
In organizer view, open that participant’s actions. You can change the name, copy a link, send an invite to any email, send a reminder, set exclusions, and remove them from the exchange.
There is no email field on the card: “Invite by email” just sends the link to the address you type. Wishes, picture, and address are edited by the participant.
To remove them, choose “Delete participant” in the same menu.
There is no email field on the card: “Invite by email” just sends the link to the address you type. Wishes, picture, and address are edited by the participant.
To remove them, choose “Delete participant” in the same menu.
Yes, you can remove a participant even after the draw. In organizer view, open that row’s actions and tap “Delete participant.”
The Secret Santa of the deleted participant will receive their recipient, and in the case where the Secret Santa and the recipient give gifts to each other, a new recipient will be chosen randomly from the remaining participants. For example, if the draw looks like this: Vasya → Petya → Masha → Katya → Vasya, then if Petya decides not to participate, Vasya will get a new recipient — Masha. The Secret Santa of the deleted participant will receive a notification about the change of recipient.
The Secret Santa of the deleted participant will receive their recipient, and in the case where the Secret Santa and the recipient give gifts to each other, a new recipient will be chosen randomly from the remaining participants. For example, if the draw looks like this: Vasya → Petya → Masha → Katya → Vasya, then if Petya decides not to participate, Vasya will get a new recipient — Masha. The Secret Santa of the deleted participant will receive a notification about the change of recipient.
On the game page, switch to organizer view — the “Switch to organizer mode” banner. In the table, tap “Show” on a giftee or Santa and confirm “Reveal the secret.”
If you do not see organizer view, you are probably in another profile: use the profile switcher in the header.
If you do not see organizer view, you are probably in another profile: use the profile switcher in the header.
The draw starts from the “Draw” chip in the game header. If you do not see it, the game was probably opened in another profile: use the profile switcher and pick the profile that created the game — then organizer view and the draw action appear.
If you are a participant and want to reach the organizer, use the organizer chat on the game page.
Yes, you can be both the organizer and a participant.
In organizer view the pairs stay hidden until you tap “Show” on a giftee or Santa and confirm “Reveal the secret.” If you do not want to know the matches, do not reveal them.
In organizer view the pairs stay hidden until you tap “Show” on a giftee or Santa and confirm “Reveal the secret.” If you do not want to know the matches, do not reveal them.
About website
Secret Santa is a game with an anonymous gift exchange. Each person is randomly assigned someone to prepare a gift for, and who got whom stays secret until the draw.
Santa-Secret helps you organize the whole game online: invite people, collect wishes, run the draw, and follow the exchange.
Only need the draw? Use our free Secret Santa randomizer. Add names and randomly assign who gives a gift to whom.
Santa-Secret helps you organize the whole game online: invite people, collect wishes, run the draw, and follow the exchange.
Only need the draw? Use our free Secret Santa randomizer. Add names and randomly assign who gives a gift to whom.
Santa-Secret is for adults who want to run Secret Santa for friends, coworkers, family, or another group — without spending the holiday on organizing chaos.
Participants just join by link and share their wishes. The organizer can set up the draw, follow the game, and help if something does not go as planned.
Participants just join by link and share their wishes. The organizer can set up the draw, follow the game, and help if something does not go as planned.
Usually, for the "Secret Santa" draw, someone's hat, bag, or a box is used, into which all participants drop their names.
The box on this site represents a place where game participants "drop off" their cards with names for participation and where the draw takes place.
The box on this site represents a place where game participants "drop off" their cards with names for participation and where the draw takes place.
The organizer creates the game and helps it run smoothly. They invite people, set rules and exclusions, run the draw, and follow the exchange.
The organizer can see participant statuses, help in a special chat, and check who is whose Secret Santa if someone has a question or a problem with a gift.
The organizer can see participant statuses, help in a special chat, and check who is whose Secret Santa if someone has a question or a problem with a gift.
Step 1. Create a game: pick a name, set a gift budget, and adjust the rules if you need to.
Step 2. Send people a link. Registration and email are optional — everyone can join and write a letter to Santa with their wishes.
Step 3. When everyone is ready, set exclusions and run the draw. For example, you can keep certain people from drawing each other.
Step 4. Follow the game: check participant statuses, help in chat, and look up who is giving to whom if you need to.
Step 2. Send people a link. Registration and email are optional — everyone can join and write a letter to Santa with their wishes.
Step 3. When everyone is ready, set exclusions and run the draw. For example, you can keep certain people from drawing each other.
Step 4. Follow the game: check participant statuses, help in chat, and look up who is giving to whom if you need to.
The site is free for everyone, regardless of the number of participants.