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How the Name Drawing Works
- 1
Add everyone
Type names or paste a list. An organizer who is only running the exchange can stay out of the hat entirely.
- 2
Set the rules
Mark who should not draw whom, such as partners, housemates, or whoever swapped last year, and the draw works around it.
- 3
Everyone draws
Each person opens their own link and draws from the virtual hat, on their own time. No passing a phone around the room.
- 4
Add wishlists
After drawing, everyone can list what they would like, with photos, so their gifter has something to work from.
- 5
Or answer four questions
Sweet or savory, coffee or tea, anything to avoid, and a shop they like. Three taps and a line, for the people who will never build a list.
Where Gift Exchanges Go Wrong, Handled
Almost every gift exchange falls apart in the same four places. There is a feature for each one.
Somebody draws their own name
Impossible here. The generator never assigns anyone to themselves, and it tells you up front if your rules leave no valid solution at all.
Two people who should not match, match
Conflict rules cover it. Mark a pair and the draw routes around them automatically, however many pairs you add.
Nobody knows what to buy
Wishlists. Everyone can add items with photos, or share a product page straight from a shopping app into their own list.
Half the group never fills one in
A list is real work. Four short questions are not, and three of them are a single tap. Whoever drew that person reads the answers where the list would have been, so an empty list is no longer nothing at all.
Half the group forgets
Send everyone their link by email at no cost, and resend later without typing the address again.
Gift Exchange Questions
Yes. You can share one link instead of entering everybody yourself, and each person adds their own name and email address. You set how many can join and when the link closes, and you draw names when you are ready.
No. Nobody needs an account, a password or an email address to take part. Each person gets their own link and that is the whole thing. An account is available free if someone wants their groups kept in one place.
There is no limit. Groups run on Secret Santa Hat have gone past 280 people, and small groups of three or four work exactly the same way.
Yes. Birthdays, Galentines Day, a New Year exchange, an office party and a family gathering are all event types you can pick, and the generator does not care what the occasion is.
Most groups have somebody who does not. An exchange can ask four short questions instead: sweet or savory, coffee or tea, anything to avoid, and a shop they would happily get something from. Three are a single tap, and whoever drew that person reads the answers next to the list. A wishlist is still there for anybody who wants one.
Add or remove them and reset the draw. If a change leaves the draw broken, the organizer gets a banner explaining exactly what is wrong along with a one-click reset.