Secret Santa Assigner

Written byOleh Soloninupdated 5 October 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 whom
Anna → Elena Ben → Daniel Chloe → Anna Daniel → Ben Elena → Chloe
People5
Excluded pairs1
Draw seedunitools
What matters
The 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 with no self-gifting and with exclusions

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 a practical flaw: the last person left often draws themselves and the whole thing restarts. This tool avoids self-draws and applies bans, though it shows the whole list to whoever runs it.

Here nobody can draw themselves and pairs you exclude never come up, and because the result depends only on the seed and the list, the draw can be reproduced. The organiser still sees the whole list, and the seed is only proof of fairness if it was agreed before the draw.

How to use

Enter the participants, one name per line.
Add exclusions — pairs who must not draw each other.
Redraw if you want a different arrangement: the draw is fair and gives a new one each time.
Check that nobody has drawn themselves — the calculator will not allow it.

How many valid draws exist

The figures in the table are derangements: permutations in which nobody ends up with themselves. The calculator tries random permutations until one fits and returns it.

The share of valid draws among all permutations settles quickly at around 36.8 percent — one divided by the base of the natural logarithm. A random permutation therefore works about one time in three, and the search takes a handful of attempts even in a large group.

Derangements: permutations in which nobody draws themselves.
Participants	All permutations	Valid draws	Share that work
4	24	9	37.5%
5	120	44	36.7%
6	720	265	36.8%
10	3,628,800	1,334,961	36.8%

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 reproducible: anyone with the seed and the list gets the same pairs. For that to prove fairness, agree the seed before the draw — one published afterwards could have been picked to suit.

Why not just shift the list round by one?

You could, and it gives a valid draw — but always the same one in structure, and people work it out quickly. A random permutation among all the derangements gives nothing away about who has whom.

What if there are too many exclusions?

The calculator will report that no valid draw exists. That happens in small groups with many bans — if one person is barred from giving to everyone else, for instance. Two banned couples among four people, A–B and C–D, are not enough on their own: the ring A → C → B → D → A works. Then either some bans go or more people join.

Worked example

Five people, one couple

Input: five names, with the first pair excluded

Output: a valid draw with no self-draws: a ring of three and a pair

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

Related tools

Team Randomizer

Random Picker

Flip a Coin: Heads or Tails

Useful links