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Setting Up the Swap
- 1
Name it and pick the type
Choose Yankee Swap as the event type, which sets the group up to draw a numbered order rather than pairing people off.
- 2
Set the spending limit
One limit for everyone, shown on every page. A swap falls apart fastest when half the pile cost twice the rest.
- 3
Add everyone bringing a gift
Type names or paste a list. Anyone organizing without taking part can stay out of the order.
- 4
Send out the numbers
Each person opens their own link and sees the number they drew, and nothing about anyone else. Email invites are free.
What the Generator Does, and What You Still Do
A Yankee Swap needs one thing decided before anyone sits down: the order. Everything after that is played in the room, and this is deliberately clear about which is which.
It draws the order
A random position from one to however many of you are playing, with each person shown only their own. No slips of paper, no numbers in a bowl, no arguing about who pulled what.
You call the house rules
Steal limits, whether a gift freezes after three, whether number one gets a final swap at the end - every group plays these differently and we do not enforce any of them. Announce yours before you start.
It keeps track of the list and the limit
Who is in, who dropped out, and what everyone is spending. Add or remove someone and the order is drawn again so nobody is left without a turn.
It does not need anyone to sign up
No accounts, no app, no passwords. Each person gets a link, opens it, and sees their number. That is the whole thing.
Yankee Swap Questions
Close enough that the setup is identical here. Both have everyone bring one wrapped gift and take turns picking or stealing, and both need a running order rather than assigned recipients. The names tend to be regional - Yankee Swap in New England, White Elephant more widely, Dirty Santa across much of the South, each of which has a page of its own below - and Yankee Swap gifts are more often things people genuinely want rather than gags.
No, and it will not pretend to. The generator draws the order; the game itself is played in the room by whatever rules you announce. If your group caps steals at three or lets the first player swap at the end, that is for you to call - we would rather say so than have you find out mid-party.
It works from two upward, though a swap gets much better from about six, when there are enough gifts open for stealing to be worth doing. There is no upper limit.
Across all the exchanges run on Secret Santa Hat the median limit is a little under thirty dollars. Whatever you pick, set it in the app so it shows on every page rather than living in one email nobody can find.
Yes. Unlimited groups and participants, the order, the guest list, the spending limit and email invites all cost nothing and need no account. Text message and WhatsApp are an optional paid upgrade.