Draw names without the hat
Put everybody’s name in the box, one per line, and press DRAW. The page works out who buys for whom, then shows one closed card per person. Hand the screen round: each person presses Open my card, reads the name, and presses Hide it again.
Nobody draws themselves – that is the one rule the hat gets wrong when somebody puts their own slip back.
Couples who should not draw each other
Write them into Who must not draw each other, one pair a line, as Anna + Ben. The draw then keeps them apart, which is what most families want: two people who live together and would buy the present together.
Add as many pairs as you like. If the pairs make a draw impossible – somebody left with nobody to buy for – the page says so instead of quietly breaking a rule, and you take one pair out.
Nobody sees the whole draw, not even you
The draw is made in your browser and stays there. Nothing is sent anywhere, there is no account and no e-mail address – which is the point: an organiser who can see the list is an organiser who has to keep a secret all December.
The cards are marked once they have been opened, so the room can see whose turn has been, without showing what was in them.
Doing it apart
- One person types the names and presses draw.
- They hand the phone or laptop round the room.
- Everybody opens their own card, reads it and hides it.
- If somebody is not there, screenshot their card and send it to them – and close it straight afterwards.
Rules people add
- A spending limit, agreed before the draw.
- One present each, opened together on the day.
- A theme: something homemade, something second-hand, something under a kilo.
- A clue on the label instead of a name, so the giver stays secret to the last minute.
Draw again makes a fresh draw if somebody joins late, and Start over clears everything, names and all.