Secret Santa Generator

How to use the secret santa generator

1. Type everyone's name, one per line. Names must be different, so add an initial if two people share one.
2. Optional: add rules. Write Alex + Blake to stop two people drawing each other, such as partners, or Casey > Dana to stop only Casey from drawing Dana. Tick Avoid swaps if you do not want A to give to B while B gives to A.
3. Press Draw names. The draw runs on your device using your browser's secure random source.
4. Pass the device around: tap a name to see that person's match, read it, then press Hide. Or set a budget, date and note, and print the slips, eight to a page.
5. Change any name or rule and you need to draw again, so an old result never goes out of date without you noticing.

How the draw works

Everyone must give one gift and receive one gift, and nobody may draw themselves. In math this is a derangement: a shuffle in which no item stays in its own place. For four people there are 24 possible shuffles and 9 of them are derangements. For ten people about 36.8 percent of all shuffles (1,334,961 of 3,628,800) are derangements, which is why random shuffling and rejecting bad ones is quick.

The tool shuffles the names with a Fisher-Yates shuffle driven by secure random numbers, checks the result against your rules and starts again if it breaks one. Because bad shuffles are simply thrown away, every valid draw has exactly the same chance of coming up. This is fairer than a common shortcut where each person picks a name from a hat in turn, which can leave the last person with only themselves.

Before drawing, the tool checks that at least one valid draw exists, using a matching test. If your rules leave none, for example two people who can both only give to the same third person, it tells you so rather than looping forever. When the rules are so tight that random shuffling rarely succeeds, a systematic search finds a valid draw instead.

Rules, couples and swaps

Use Name + Name for pairs who should never draw each other, such as couples or siblings who already exchange gifts. Use Name > Name when only one direction needs blocking. Names in rules are matched ignoring capital letters, and a rule that names someone not in the list is reported instead of silently skipped.

Avoid swaps stops direct trades where two people give to each other. It needs at least three people. With three people the only valid draw is a single circle of gifts, which is exactly what you want from a swap-free draw.

Why there are no share links

Some sites email or link each person their match. That needs a server or encodes the answer in a web address, and anyone who gets the address can read it, or the full list can be recovered from it. This tool sends nothing, so it offers two safe options instead: reveal matches one at a time on your own screen, or print slips and fold them. The slips contain the matches in plain text, so keep them folded and hand them out yourself. The organizer key page is off by default so you can stay surprised too.

Assumptions and limits

• The result lives only in this browser tab. Reloading or closing the page erases it, so print or download the slips before you leave if you need them later.
• Reveal buttons keep the matches out of the page text until a name is tapped, but anyone looking at your screen can see a match while it is shown.
• The tool does not email, text or post anything. It cannot remind people of a budget or date beyond what you print on the slips.
• Up to 50 names are supported. Exclusion rules can make a draw impossible, in which case the tool says so.
• Only characters the built-in print font can draw appear on the slips. Emoji and non-Latin scripts print as a question mark.

Formulas reviewed October 10, 2026. See the calculation methodology for how SumPanda rounds, tests and sources its formulas.

Frequently asked questions