Secret Santa Generator (No Email)

About the Secret Santa Generator (No Email)

Type everyone’s name, add the rules — partners and families who should not draw each other, last year’s matches — and press Draw names. Nobody draws themselves, every rule is kept, and when the rules allow it every possible draw is equally likely.

Then each person needs to find out who they are buying for, without anyone else knowing. Send each one their private link by chat, SMS or email: it opens a page that greets them and shows their match, budget and exchange date. The assignment travels inside the link (after the #), which browsers never send to a server, so there are no accounts, no email addresses and nothing stored online. Prefer paper? Print fold-up slips instead.

Common uses

• Christmas Secret Santa at home, at work or among friends who live apart.
• Kris Kringle, Chris Mom and Chris Child, and Secret Friend games in offices, colleges and housing societies.
• Diwali, Eid or New Year gift exchanges, and classroom gift swaps (printed slips work without phones).

How the draw stays fair

The draw tries random orderings of everyone, made with your browser’s cryptographically secure generator (crypto.getRandomValues), until one fits every rule: nobody draws themselves, nobody draws someone on their Don’t pair line, and no Not this year rule is broken. Because every ordering is equally likely to be tried, every valid draw is equally likely to be the result. If the rules are so tight that valid draws are rare, a randomised matching search finds one instead (still random, though no longer exactly equally likely), and if no draw is possible at all the page explains which rule to remove.

With One circle, the draw is a single chain — Asha gives to Ravi, Ravi to Meera, and so on back to Asha — which is handy when presents are handed over one at a time; every single chain that fits the rules is equally likely in the same way. When the rules make such chains rare, the page joins the circles of a random valid draw into one by swapping matches (each swap keeps every rule). Without One circle, the draw may form several smaller circles, including two people who draw each other.

What is in a private link

A link looks like …/secret-santa-generator/#reveal=eyJ2Ijox…. Everything after the # is the event name, the person’s name, their match, the budget, the date and your message, written in a URL-safe code (base64 of a short JSON text). Browsers do not send the part after # to the website, so the match never reaches any server, including MySmartCoPilot’s.

The code is not encryption: anyone who has someone’s link can open it and see that person’s match. So send each link only to its owner, in a private message — not to a group chat. If you are taking part yourself, don’t open other people’s links or the Show everyone’s match list.

Printing fold-up slips

Each slip has three panels: the top shows who the slip is for, the middle is a patterned cover, and the bottom says who they are buying for. Cut along the dashed outline, fold the bottom panel up over the patterned one so the name is hidden inside, and seal it with tape. Hand out the slips by the names on the top panels.

Limitations

• Up to 200 people, names up to 40 characters.
• Links are encoded, not encrypted (see above); keep each link private. Messages are limited to 300 characters.
• Wish lists, anonymous chat and reminders are not included — they would need a server to store them.
• The draw is saved only in the browser where you made it. To change it, press Draw again and send everyone their new link.

Privacy

The draw happens in your browser and is saved only there. Reveal links carry each match inside the link itself (after #), which is never sent to a server.