The interest in participating in a yearly Secret Santa has been growing every year. More and more companies throw Secret Santa parties and more and more people are familiarized with the fun exchange every year. For some it’s the first time playing while others may be put in a position of organizing an event, so it is not uncommon to be seeking tips and advice.
If you are new to Secret Santa and have never played before you might have some questions and you are not alone, in fact, every year we receive questions regarding the tradition, origins, rules and best practices for running the Secret Santa exchange. Since lot of these questions come up often, we’ve decided to put together this page that contains some of the most frequent inquiries followed by answers.
- What Is Secret Santa?
- What Is Secret Santa Gift Exchange?
- What is Secret Santa Party?
- Can I Find Out Who Is My Secret Santa?
- Should I Tell Anyone Who’s Secret Santa I Am?
- Can More Than One Gift be Given?
- How Many People Can Play Secret Santa?
- How Can I Assign Secret Santas Anonymously?
- Should The Organizer Also Not Know Who The Secret Santas Are?
- What Are Secret Santa Rules?
- What Is A Secret Santa Generator?
- Is Email Mandatory For A Secret Santa Generator?
- What Are Secret Santa Exclusions?
- What Is A Secret Santa Questionnaire?
- Where Can I Buy Secret Santa Gifts?
- What Is Secret Santa?
- Secret Santa is actually four things in one. First it’s a yearly tradition over the Christmas holidays where friends and family exchange gifts. Second, it’s a party to celebrate holidays. Third it’s a gift exchange event and last but not least, everyone at the Secret Santa gift exchange party has a Secret Santa, or an anonymous person who will be getting a gift for them.
- What Is Secret Santa Gift Exchange?
- Secret Santa Gift Exchange is an event hosted at family and corporate parties where everyone brings a gift to give someone anonymously. Usually each persons Secret Santa is determined in advance through a draw, results of which are not supposed to be known to anyone, hence the name “Secret” Santa.
- What is Secret Santa Party?
- Secret Santa Party is a Christmas party event that includes Secret Santa gift exchange. If you have been invited to one, you will be anonymously assigned to be someone’s Secret Santa and will have to get them a secret gift. Similarly, someone else will be assigned to you as your Secret Santa and they will be buying you a present. The party is full of fun, joy and laughter and is one of the highlights of corporate or family events world wide.
- Can I Find Out Who Is My Secret Santa?
- No. Even if you are tempted to find out who your Secret Santa is, or have an opportunity to find out, you should not. The whole point of Secret Santa gift exchange is to remain Secret and anonymous. This is one of the most important rules of Secret Santa and it can not be broken, even by the organizer of the event.
- Should I Tell Anyone Who’s Secret Santa I Am?
- No. You should never tell anyone who’s Secret Santa you are, this includes the person who’s Secret Santa you are obviously, but also anyone else that may compromise your secret. This includes the organizer of the party. There is no need for even the organizer to know who is who’s Secret Santa.
- Can More Than One Gift be Given?
- Although it’s typical for everyone to exchange a single gift, it is in fact allowed to do a multi gift Secret Santa. The only rules in that case is that everyone adheres to the same amount of gifts. If the number of gifts for example is set to two, everyone will be bringing two gifts each for the person who’s Santa they are. One common tradition in many families is to give one gift + a home backed treat like cookies or biscuits.
- How Many People Can Play Secret Santa?
- You can have as few as 3 people participate in a Secret Santa, but generally, the more the better. Secret Santa is known to be very popular with large families or businesses and corporate groups that have many employees where it makes sense for everyone to just have to buy one gift.
- How Can I Assign Secret Santas Anonymously?
- If you are running a Secret Santa event and planning a party you will need to assign everyone their Secret Santa and do so anonymously. To do this you will need to randomly draw names. There are three methods to draw names anonymously, each with it’s own advantages. First you can write every name on pieces of paper, drop them in a bowl and have everyone draw one. This is the simplest of all methods. Second and third methods require email or printing. Have a detailed look on all options on our Secret Santa Generator page.
- Should The Organizer Also Not Know Who The Secret Santas Are?
- Yes. No one should know who the Secret Santas are, including the organizer.
- What Are Secret Santa Rules?
- There are many rules and variations when it comes to Secret Santa, which you can read in detail here, but the main three that you should have on your mind are these: 1. Secret Santas must remain secret. No one should know who is who’s Secret Santa. 2. Everyone must give equal amount of gifts. So if it’s agreed that it’s one gift per person, everyone gets one gift from their Secret Santa. 3. You should now exceed maximum spending limit when buying a gift. This is why it’s important for an organizer to set a maximum spending limit.
- What Is A Secret Santa Generator?
- Secret Santa generator is a service that allows you to draw names anonymously. There are several types of generators depending on your needs. For more information click here
- Is Email Mandatory For A Secret Santa Generator?
- No. You don’t have to assign or draw names using email. There are ways to do anonymous Secret Santa name drawing without the use of emails. Visit our generator page for more details and options.
- What Are Secret Santa Exclusions?
- Exclusions allow to set the rules in the generator that will prevent certain people being each other’s Secret Santa. Why is this useful? Imagine three couples who are friends running a Secret Santa gift exchange. In order to make sure each person ends up being a Secret Santa for a person other than their significant other, they would have to set exclusions. Fortunately setting exclusions is easy using the generator.
- What Is A Secret Santa Questionnaire?
- Secret Santa Questionnaire is a helpful list of questions that each participant will answer. These questions may be generic or very specific down to asking someone what items they would like to receive for a gift. The purpose of the questionnaire is to help the Secret Santa buy the right gift. have a look at some of the best questionnaire examples to get an idea.
- Where Can I Buy Secret Santa Gifts?
- Although that would depend on the type of gift you are looking for, most people these days shop online. Due to convenience and comfort of online shopping, a lot more great secret Santa appropriate gifts have become available on the internet. We have a list of some of the best ones, including prices on our gifts page.
