Keeping couples apart in Secret Santa

Partners usually buy each other a gift anyway. If they draw each other in Secret Santa, one of them gets two gifts from the same person and the point of the exchange is lost. Most groups would rather mix things up.

1. Everyone draws a name privately, the usual way.
2. Each person checks their own slip. If it is their partner (or themselves), they say "redraw", without saying who they got.
3. If anyone says it, everyone puts their slip back and draws again.

It can take two or three rounds in a small group. That is fine: every round is as fair as the first, and nobody learns anything about anyone else's pick.

It is tempting to fix one bad pair by swapping two people's slips. But the two people who swap now know something about each other's picks, and so does anyone who watched. Redrawing everything keeps every pick secret.

If one person runs the draw and is not in the exchange, two hats make it quick:

1. Write every name twice, on two sets of slips. One set goes in a "gives" hat, the other in a "receives" hat.
2. The organizer takes one slip from each hat. If the receiver is the giver or the giver's partner, the receiver slip goes back and they draw another.
3. They write the pair on a card, fold it with the giver's name outside, and repeat.
4. If the last names left can only make a bad pair, start over with all the slips.

The organizer knows every pair this way, which is why this method is for an organizer who is not taking part.

The free Secret Santa draw makes sure nobody draws themselves, but it doesn't know who is a couple. If a couple draws each other, start a new draw: picks shown once can't be shown again, so a fresh draw is the only fair fix.

Pick Reveal, our app on its way to the App Store, has a Keep apart rule that does it for you, for any two people you choose: couples, siblings, or a manager and their report. Add the pairs once, and every draw respects them.

The free draw works in any browser, on any phone. No email, no sign-ups, and the names stay in the tab.

• The free Secret Santa drawDraw names on one phone, in any browser.
• Secret Santa without emailOne room, one phone, nobody types an address.
• Office Secret SantaBudget, date, opt-in, and a fair draw at work.
• Family Secret Santa with kidsOne draw at the table, kids included.