Secret Santa Drawer

about this tool

A hat that cannot go wrong

Put everyone's names in, add any couples who should not get each other, and draw. Then pass the phone round: each person taps their own name, reads who they are buying for, hides it and hands it on.

Nobody can get themselves

Not by luck, and not by checking afterwards. The names are shuffled into a single ring and each person gives to the next one along, so nobody is ever standing next to themselves. It is impossible by construction.

The same ring solves the other thing a hat does badly. Drawing from a hat produces pairs who simply swap with each other all the time, which people find flat. In one ring the chain has to pass through everybody before it comes back, so closed pairs cannot happen at all. With exactly two people it is the only arrangement there is, and the page says so rather than pretending otherwise.

Keeping people apart

One couple or household per line, separated by commas. A line of two is a couple; a line of three or more keeps everyone on it apart from everyone else on it, which is what you want for a family attending the same party.

The exclusions are honoured by drawing a fresh ring until one fits, rather than by drawing a ring and repairing it. Repairing is faster and quietly biased: fixing a clash by swapping two people makes some arrangements far likelier than others, and in a small group that is noticeable.

With heavy exclusions no ring may fit. After 500 tries the page says it could not find one, rather than hanging or quietly dropping a rule. Three people with one couple among them is the smallest case that genuinely cannot be drawn, and it is named as impossible rather than attempted.

What it will not do

It cannot email anyone. There is no server here, so nothing is sent and nothing is stored, and a refresh loses the draw entirely. Either pass the phone round in one sitting, or open the organiser list, take a photo, and accept that you now know what everyone is getting.

It also does not track wish lists, budgets or who had whom last year. It draws names, which is the part that is easy to get wrong.

For a plain draw without the rule that nobody may be given themselves, the random picker is the simpler tool.

questions

Can someone draw their own name?

Never. The names are shuffled into a single ring and each person gives to the next one along, so nobody is ever next to themselves. It is impossible by construction rather than corrected afterwards.

Can I stop a couple getting each other?

Yes. Put them on one line in the keep-apart box, separated by a comma. A line of three or more works as a household, where nobody on the line is given anyone else on it.

Will two people just swap with each other?

No. One ring means the chain passes through everyone before it comes back, so pairs that simply exchange cannot happen. Drawing from a hat produces them constantly.

How does drawing on one phone work?

Hand it round. Each person taps their own name, reads who they are buying for, hides it and passes it on. The organiser list that shows everything stays shut behind a switch.

Can I email everyone their name instead?

No. There is no server here, so nothing can be sent and nothing is stored. That is also why a refresh loses the draw: pass the phone round in one sitting, or take a photo of the organiser list and accept that you will know.