An online Secret Santa, no names in a hat

It’s a gift exchange where each person in the group draws someone else at random and gives them a present in secret, often with a shared budget. On Wishivo, the draw happens online: each person finds out who they’re giving to, and can look at that person’s wish list.

Create a group event, turn on the Secret Santa and send the link to the group. Everyone joins the event and picks their list. When everyone is in, press “Draw names”: you need at least 3 people. Each person then gets an email to find out who they drew.

Yes: everyone joins the draw with a free Wishivo account, no password needed. To reserve a gift on one of the event’s lists that isn’t part of the draw, no account is needed.

No. Nobody sees who drew whom, not even the organisers: each person only finds out their own draw, on their own screen. On the list of the person drawn, the names of people who reserve are never shown, even after the draw.

Before the draw, add both people under “Pairs to keep apart”: they won’t draw each other. Everyone taking part can see the pairs. If the pairs make the draw impossible, Wishivo tells you before you draw.

You can draw anyway: the list can still be filled in after the draw. Until then, whoever drew that name sees the suggested budget, and gets an email when the list has ideas. As long as nobody has looked at their draw, you can redo it without notifying anyone. If someone steps out after the draw, it has to be redone, and everyone taking part is notified by email.