Secret Santa organizer, run from your RSVPs

Add Secret Santa to your RSVPlinks event, let each guest opt in on the RSVP form, and press Draw. Every player gets a private email naming the person they give to, with that person's wishlist, the budget and the exchange date. Nobody can see the other matches, a host who plays included, and if someone drops out after the draw the matches are repaired for you.

Per event: $6 or 1 credit
Players: Up to 500
Guests need: A phone, no app

Create Free Event Watch the draw

The hat draw

Names drop into a top hat and come out as envelopes sealed with wax, one per player. It plays on the game page after the draw and never shows who has whom.

Sample names, drawn in your browser with the same rules as a real game. Nothing is saved.

How to run a Secret Santa online

1
Add Secret Santa to your event
Open Party Games on the event dashboard and pick Secret Santa, Gift exchange or Kris Kringle. Each starts with the usual settings.
2
Choose who plays
Guests opt in on the RSVP form ("Who's playing?" lists each person in a reply), everyone attending, or add players yourself by name.
3
Set the budget, date and exclusions
Keep partners and housemates apart, and add pairs who should never draw each other.
4
Draw
It needs at least 3 players. If your exclusions make a draw impossible, it says why and saves nothing.
5
Send
Each player gets their match by email, up to 4 sends in all. Rather hand out paper? Print folded slips.

What you set up

Budget: Printed in every match email and on each player's page.
Gift exchange date: The day gifts are swapped, shown to every player.
Wishlists: Players add what they'd love, with up to 5 links; their Santa sees it.
Keep parties apart: Nobody draws someone from their own reply, so couples and families don't buy for each other.
Never match these two: Pairs who should never draw each other, either way.
One big loop: Everyone gives along a single circle, so no two people just swap.
Late joins: Someone who joins after the draw is matched in for you.
Include Maybe replies: Maybe replies count as players. Kids can play or sit out.

The Secret Santa settings a host fills in on RSVPlinks — The host's Secret Santa settings on the event dashboard.

What guests see

A private email and game link: "You're Secret Santa for" their person, with the budget and the date.
Their person's wishlist and links, and a box for their own wishlist, which their Santa sees.
"Keep it a secret until the exchange." Their link is remembered on their phone, so they can come back to it.
If someone drops out, only the giver whose match changed gets a new email.

What a guest sees for a Secret Santa on their phone — A guest's view on a phone. Scroll it for the rest.

After the draw

Secret Santa has no live screen: the matches are private. After the draw the game page plays the hat draw, names in and sealed envelopes out, which shows nothing about who has whom.
A host who plays never sees a match. Looking at one match (to help a guest who lost their email) is logged on the game.
The print page makes a folded slip per player for a draw done by hand.

Secret Santa's hat draw on the game page, sealed envelopes only — The hat draw shows sealed envelopes, never a match.

Good for

Working from a list instead of an event? Try the free secret Santa generator, no sign-up.

Questions

Can the organizer play Secret Santa too?

Yes. When you or a co-host plays, your screens hide every match, and the hat draw shows only sealed envelopes. If a guest loses their email you can open that one match, and the game logs that you did.

What happens if someone drops out after names are drawn?

The draw is repaired automatically: the person who had them takes over their match, or a pair is rewired when that isn't allowed. Exclusions still hold, and only givers whose match changed get a new email.

Can I stop couples or housemates drawing each other?

Yes. Keep parties apart stops anyone drawing someone from their own RSVP, and Never match these two keeps any pair apart, either way.

How is this different from the free Secret Santa generator?

The free generator works from a pasted list and stores nothing, so you share each person's link yourself and it can't hold wishlists or fix a dropout. The game reads your RSVPs, emails each player, keeps wishlists and repairs the draw.

How much does it cost to run a Secret Santa with RSVPlinks?

$6 or 1 credit per event, paid once, for the Party Games add-on. It unlocks every game on that event (up to 12), and a free event can buy it: no paid plan needed. A free event's games hold up to 200 players; paid plans hold up to 500.

Do guests need an app or an account?

No. Guests play from your event page, a QR code or the private link in their email, on any phone or computer.

Setting one up? Read the Party Games guide.

Every game, one add-on

One purchase unlocks all of them on your event.

Run a Secret Santa at your next event

Make the event free, then add Party Games from the event dashboard for $6 or 1 credit.

Create Free Event

🎁 Secret Santa organizer, run from your RSVPs