Classroom Secret Santa: Draw Names for Your Class

1. Send a note home first. Tell families the budget, the exchange day and that taking part is optional. There's a letter you can copy further down this page.
2. Type the class list into the generator, one name per line, or paste it from your roster. If two students share a first name, the second one becomes "Sam (2)"; change them to "Sam P." and "Sam K." if that's clearer for the class.
3. Keep siblings apart if they're in the same class. Write them on one line as "Mia + Leo", or tap their two names under Keep people apart, and they won't draw each other.
4. Set the budget and the date. The date buttons offer the last Friday before Christmas Eve, December 24 and December 25. For a school day, choose Other… and type it in. Use Add a note or theme for practical details, such as "Bring your gift wrapped by Wednesday, with the name on it and nothing else."
5. Press Draw names. You land on the organizer page. Bookmark it or email the link to yourself: it's the only way back, because we never ask for your email address.
6. Print the slips. Under Send links, choose Letter or A4 and press Print slips (PDF). You get 10 slips per sheet. Fold each one so the QR code is inside and the name is outside, and hand it to that student.
7. Students or parents scan the code with a phone camera. The page asks "Hi! Is this Mia?" before it shows anything, then shows who Mia is buying for.

In a classroom Secret Santa with younger students, few of them have a phone of their own, and that's what the slips are for. Send the slip home in the student's bag and a parent scans the QR code in the evening. The same page lets the student add their own wishlist, likes and dislikes, so their Secret Santa has something to go on. If your class has already filled in the Secret Santa questionnaire on the same device, Use my questionnaire answers copies them into the wishlist.

In class, you can also press QR next to a student's name on the organizer page and let them scan it with a school tablet. Older students who do have phones can skip the paper: copy each link and send it privately, or let them scan their code from your screen one at a time.

For a college or university class, the sign-up link is easier still. Choose Send a sign-up link instead of typing names, post that one link in the class group chat, and everyone adds their own name and wishlist. When the list is complete, press Draw names now and everyone's own page shows their match.

In a classroom Secret Santa, the teacher sometimes needs to know who has whom: to help a student who is stuck for ideas, to chase a gift that hasn't arrived, or to give a spare to the right child on the day. On the organizer page, open Manage, then Teacher mode: show all pairs, type "show all pairs" and press Show. The page then lists every giver and recipient.

It isn't secret. Once you turn teacher mode on, every student's page shows a note saying when you looked, so nobody can say the teacher peeked without telling anyone. If you leave teacher mode off, the organizer page doesn't show who has whom; it shows who has opened their page, so you know who still needs a reminder. Either way, students only ever see their own match.

For a classroom Secret Santa, a paper draw sounds fair until a child pulls their own name. In any class of 6 or more, the chance that at least one student draws themselves is about 63.2%, and on average exactly one child does, whatever the size of the class. Then you redraw in front of everyone, or swap quietly, and part of the secret leaks.

The generator never pairs anyone with themselves, keeps siblings apart if you ask it to, and with a normal set of rules every valid set of pairs is equally likely. If you need to add a student who joins late, use Add people under Manage: with Minimal change, only one student's match changes, and you print a slip for the newcomer.

• One amount, not a range. Pick a small amount every family can manage and say it in the letter. A range quietly turns into the top of the range.
• Ask for gifts anyone can open in class. Food is best left out unless you've checked allergies, along with anything sharp, scented or messy.
• Keep one or two spare gifts in your desk. Someone is often absent or forgets. A spare means no child goes home empty-handed.
• Label gifts with the recipient's name only, so the giver stays secret until the class guesses.
• Make opting out easy. Some families don't exchange Christmas gifts. Only the names you type are drawn, so leave out anyone who has opted out, and call the event a winter gift exchange if that suits your class better.
• Set the drop-off day two days early, so there's time to sort out a missing gift before the party.

Copy this classroom Secret Santa letter, fill in the brackets and send it home with the slips, or a week before them:

Dear families,

Our class is having a Secret Santa gift exchange on [day and date]. Each child will bring one wrapped gift for one classmate. Please keep the gift to [budget] or less, and write only the classmate's name on it.

Your child will bring home a folded slip with a QR code. Scan it with your phone camera to see which classmate your child is buying for and that classmate's wishlist. Your child can add their own wishlist on the same page. You don't need an account or an email address.

Taking part is optional. If you'd rather your child sit this one out, please let me know by [date].

Thank you, [Your name]

Before you hand out the slips, read these classroom Secret Santa rules out or write them on the board:

1. Keep your slip folded, and keep the name you drew to yourself until the exchange.
2. Look at your classmate's wishlist and stay within the budget.
3. Bring your gift wrapped, with your classmate's name on it and nothing else, by the drop-off day.
4. Lost your slip? Tell the teacher, quietly. Nobody else needs to know.
5. Be kind: no joke gifts at someone's expense.

For a version you can print with your budget and date filled in, use the rules card on the Secret Santa rules page.

Type the class list into the generator, set a budget and the exchange day, and press Draw names. Then print the slips: each student gets a folded slip with their name outside and a QR code inside that shows who they are buying for.

No. The generator never asks for email addresses or phone numbers. Students without a phone take the slip home and a parent scans the QR code, or scan it in class on a school tablet.

Only if you turn on teacher mode under Manage and type "show all pairs" to confirm. Every student's page then says the organizer looked at all pairs, with the time. Without it, the organizer page lists who has opened their page but not the pairs.

Print the slips again, or copy that student's link from the organizer page. The draw doesn't change. If you think someone else saw the slip, press New link for that student and the old link stops working.

Open Manage, add the name under Add people and keep Minimal change selected. Only one student's match changes. The organizer page doesn't say whose, but it marks everyone who opened their page before the change: ask them to open it again, and print a slip for the newcomer.

From 3 to 200, so one draw covers a single class or a whole grade. For separate classes, run one draw per class so every child buys for someone they know.