Club Secret Santa
Organise Secret Santa for your club
Wichtlify is a free website and app for Secret Santa: you add the members, it draws them in secret, and each member sees through their own link only who they’re buying for. Nobody has to be in the same place.
- Free for the whole club
- Members don’t need to be in one place or one chat
- If someone drops out, nobody has to draw again
How it works
Club Secret Santa in four steps
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Create the groupSet the occasion, such as the Christmas social, and the date and budget (£ or €).
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Add the membersAnyone who must not draw someone, such as a couple, you set as an exclusion.
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Draw in secretNobody draws themselves, and nobody sees the whole list, not even you.
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Send the linksYou send each member their own link, in your club chat or by email. In it they add wishes and, after the draw, see who they are buying for.
Christmas social at the clubhouse
Gill draws names for 30 runners who are never all in one place
Gill is club secretary of the Hillside Harriers, a running club in Sheffield. 30 members want to do Secret Santa at the Christmas social on Saturday 12 December, and the limit is £10 (or €10). Everyone is hunting for Secret Santa gifts under £10. But the juniors’ coaches only come on Tuesdays, the veterans only on Thursday club nights, and just 22 of the 30 are in the club’s WhatsApp group.
It used to be a bobble hat full of slips on the clubhouse bar, and whoever wasn’t there got whatever name was left. This year only Gill needs a Wichtlify account. She adds the 30 names, keeps the Walkers (a married couple) apart, and runs the draw on Saturday 21 November.
Everyone else opens their link in the browser, with no account and no app, and writes their wish list there; the app is there for iPhone and Android. The 22 in the chat get their link as a message.
If someone drops out
One drop-out, and only one person gets a new name
A week before the social, Dave pulls a hamstring and won’t be coming. With slips, all 30 would have to draw again, and anyone who has already bought a present would be fed up. In Wichtlify Gill removes Dave, Wichtlify asks who steps into his place, and only that gap is joined up again. This is the emergency repair, and it is free.
Only the member who had drawn Dave gets a new person; everyone else keeps the person they’ve already shopped for.
Ready to copy
A notice for the newsletter, the noticeboard or the chat
Secret Santa for a club has to reach people who never read the same messages. Fill in the brackets.
Club Secret Santa notice
Secret Santa at the Christmas social on [12 December]! Want to join in? Tell [Gill] by [20 November]. Budget: [£10 (or €10)]. The names are drawn on [21 November]. Once you’ve told us, you’ll get your own link. Open it in your browser, no account or app needed, and add your wishes there. The other members won’t be told who you drew. Can’t make it after all? Just let us know. Nobody else has to draw again.
Not in the chat, no problem
Printed cards for the members who aren’t in the chat
For the eight who aren’t in the chat, Gill uses printed cards, a feature of Wichtlify Pro: a folded card per person with their name on the front. Inside are the person they drew, the budget, the date and a QR code to their own page with the wish list. She hands them out sealed at Thursday club night on 26 November.
Pro is optional: €4.99 a year, it renews automatically, it is bought in the iOS or Android app, and it covers every group on your account. The draw, the links and the emergency repair stay free. To tell members about the cards, add a line to the notice: “No phone? You’ll get a card at club night after the draw.”
Whoever prints the cards can see the names inside, so this year Gill isn’t taking part herself; she just runs it. If you’d rather be surprised as well, send everyone their link instead, because when you run the whole Secret Santa online with Wichtlify, there’s no list of pairs anywhere.
Also with Pro
- reminders on dates you choose
- pictures on wish lists
- anonymous questions to the person you give to
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What if someone asks to join after the draw?
If nobody has looked at their link or card yet, add them and draw again. After that, the emergency repair only replaces a member who drops out, so a latecomer can take that free place.
Next steps
Explore Wichtlify
White Elephant
For a club social where joke presents are swapped and the daftest gets the biggest cheer.
Plan a White ElephantSecret Santa rules
Budget, deadline and what counts as a present, ready for the committee.
Agree the rulesSecret Santa gifts under £10
For anyone who has drawn someone they only know from training.
See ideas under £10Add the members before the notice goes out
Set up the club group and add whoever tells you they’re in. You draw once the deadline has passed.
Set up club Secret Santa – free