Secret Santa Assigner

Written byOleh Soloninupdated 4 August 2026

Seed

The same seed reproduces the draw, which is what makes it checkable.

People, one a line

Excluded pairs

One pair a line, separated by a dash: these two will not give to each other.

Result

Who gives to whomAnna → Elena Ben → Daniel Chloe → Anna Daniel → Ben Elena → Chloe
People5
Excluded pairs1
Draw seedunitools
What mattersThe result depends only on the seed and the list, so the same seed reproduces the draw — which lets the organiser verify it without having peeked in advance.

A draw the organiser can prove they did not rig

Draws Secret Santa pairs so that nobody gets themselves, with excluded pairs for couples and colleagues who already swap.

Drawing names from a hat has one flaw: the organiser sees everything, and the last person left often draws themselves and the whole thing restarts.

Doing it here fixes both. Nobody can draw themselves, pairs you exclude never come up, and because the result depends only on the seed and the list, everyone can reproduce the draw afterwards and see it was not adjusted.

What this calculator shows

Who gives to whom, in one list
How many people and how many excluded pairs there are
The seed the draw came from

What to keep in mind

Names have to be distinct. Two people called Anna need a surname or an initial.
Exclusions work both ways: writing a pair stops each of them drawing the other.

FAQs

Why exclude pairs?

Usually couples: two people who live together giving to each other defeats the point. The same goes for colleagues who already have a separate arrangement.

What if no draw is possible?

With enough exclusions in a small group there is genuinely no valid arrangement. Remove a pair or add a person.

Can the organiser take part?

Yes, but they will see their own result along with everyone else's. If that matters, have someone outside the group run the draw.

Why does the seed matter here?

It makes the draw checkable. Publish the seed and the list afterwards and anyone can confirm the pairs were not chosen by hand.

Worked example

Five people, one couple

Input: five names, with the first pair excluded

Output: a full cycle with no self-draws

Note: The draw is retried until every constraint holds. With many exclusions and few people there may be no valid draw at all, and the tool says so rather than quietly breaking a rule.

Useful links

All tools in Random Choice

Secret Santa Assigner

Result

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Useful links