Draw names for your gift exchange
A free name drawing generator for families and offices. Keep couples apart, draw online, and send everyone a private link with only the name they drew. No sign-up.
No sign-up and no emails. Names are drawn on this device and never saved.
How to draw names online
List everyone taking part
Type the names one per line, 3 to 50 people. The whole family, the whole team, or just the cousins.
Keep couples apart
Pick any two people who shouldn't draw each other, like partners or siblings. Add a spending limit and the day you swap gifts, if you like.
Draw names
One tap. Everyone gives one gift and gets one gift, and nobody draws their own name.
Send each person their link
Text it, email it or post it in your family chat. Opening a link shows only the name that person drew.
For families and offices
Drawing names for a family
Keep partners, and anyone who lives together, from drawing each other, so nobody ends up buying for the person they shop for anyway. Whoever runs the draw never sees the matches, so they can draw a name too.
Drawing names at the office
No work email addresses to collect and nobody to sign up. Set the budget and the exchange date once, and they show on everyone's link. Send the links in your team chat or by email.
The names stay with you: the draw runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to Wishes or saved. Each person's match is written into their own link, after the # sign, which browsers keep to themselves.
After the draw
Each person's link also invites them to make a free wishlist and share it with the group, so whoever drew them can see what they'd like and book it.
Planning the rest? Hand out the Secret Santa questionnaire so everyone shares a few favorites, read how Secret Santa works, or swap the draw for a game of white elephant.
Questions, answered
How do I draw names online for a gift exchange?
Type everyone's names above, one per line. Add any pairs to keep apart, a budget and an exchange date if you like, and tap Draw names. You get one private link per person: send each link to its person, and opening it shows who they're buying for.
Can I keep couples from drawing each other?
Yes. Once the names are in, pick two people under Keep apart and add as many pairs as you need. Neither person in a pair will draw the other. If the pairs leave someone with no one to draw, the page tells you who, so you can remove a pair.
Does anyone see all the matches?
No. After the draw you see one link per person, labeled with their name, and never who drew who, so the person running the draw can take part. Each link shows only its own match, so everyone should open only their own. Nothing you type is sent to Wishes, so we never see the names either.
Is it free?
Yes. Drawing names is free for 3 to 50 people, with no sign-up, and you can draw again as often as you need.
Does everyone need an account?
No. Neither you nor anyone opening a link needs an account. Each link also offers to make a free Wishes wishlist, which is optional and asks for an Apple or Google sign-in.
Can we draw names by email or text?
Yes, you send the links yourself. The generator sends no emails or texts and never asks for an email address. After the draw, Share link opens your device's share menu where there is one, or copies the link, so you can send it by text, email, WhatsApp or your office chat.
How many people can draw names?
From 3 to 50. For a bigger group, split it into teams and draw names for each team separately.
What if someone joins or drops out after the draw?
Draw again with the new list of names and send everyone their new link. Links from the earlier draw keep showing the earlier match, so tell everyone to use the new one. The draw isn't saved anywhere, so it can't be edited later.
Want the draw and the wishlists in one place?
Run your gift exchange as a Secret Santa group on Wishes: share one link, everyone joins with an Apple or Google sign-in and makes a wishlist, and each person sees the list of the one they drew.
Secret Santa with wishlists