What is Secret Santa?

Secret Santa is a popular gift-exchange tradition where participants are randomly assigned another person to give a gift to, without revealing their identity until the gift is opened. The "secret" element adds excitement and mystery to holiday gatherings, office parties, and family celebrations. Each participant draws a name and becomes the Secret Santa for that person, typically with a set spending limit to keep things fair.

The draw is traditionally done by writing names on paper slips, folding them, and having each person pick one from a hat. This ensures random, anonymous assignments while keeping the process simple and fun.

How does a Secret Santa draw work?

In a typical Secret Santa draw:

  1. Names are collected - All participants' names are written on individual slips of paper
  2. Slips are folded - Each slip is folded to hide the name inside
  3. Random drawing - Participants take turns drawing a slip from a container
  4. Secrecy maintained - Each person keeps their drawn name secret until the gift exchange

The challenge with manual draws is ensuring no one draws their own name and that the slips are properly randomized. Printable draw lots solve this by providing pre-made, foldable slips ready for the draw.

Tool description

This Secret Santa Generator creates a printable HTML page with foldable name slips for your gift exchange draw. Simply enter participant names, customize the slip appearance, and print a ready-to-use page. Each slip is designed with fold lines, making it easy to conceal names during the draw. The tool supports both festive holiday designs and simple black-and-white styles for any occasion.

Features

  • Instant preview - See your draw lots page update in real-time as you add names and adjust settings
  • Two design styles - Choose between festive holiday decorations or clean black-and-white minimalist design
  • Customizable slip dimensions - Adjust width, height, and font size to fit your needs
  • Print-ready output - Generates properly formatted HTML optimized for printing with cut guidelines
  • No account required - Works entirely in your browser with no data stored or sent to servers

Use cases

  • Office holiday parties - Create professional-looking draw slips for workplace Secret Santa exchanges with the simple black-and-white style
  • Family Christmas gatherings - Generate festive name slips for extended family gift exchanges, easily accommodating large groups
  • Classroom gift exchanges - Teachers can quickly create draw lots for student holiday activities with appropriately sized slips
  • Friend group celebrations - Organize Secret Santa among friends with customized slip sizes that fit your preferred container