Gift exchange draw

Draw who gives a gift to whom

A gift exchange works like Secret Santa: each person buys for one other. Wichtlify is a free website and app for it: you add the names, it draws in secret, and each link shows only who that person buys for.

Draw in secret who buys for whom
Exclusions for couples who buy for each other anyway
For birthdays and meet-ups, not just Christmas

Each result stays personal – in the iPhone app

How it works

A gift exchange in four steps

Create the groupChoose birthdays or another occasion, then add a date and the budget in £ or €.
Add the namesA couple who buy for each other anyway get an exclusion, so neither draws the other.
Draw in secretNobody draws themselves, and nobody sees the whole list, not even you.
Send the linksYou send each person their own link, by WhatsApp or e-mail. In it they add wishes and, after the draw, see who they buy for.

Gift exchange with Wichtlify

Each person buys for exactly one other, and nobody knows the whole list

A gift exchange here is Secret Santa for any occasion in the year. Instead of everyone buying for everyone, each person draws one other in secret and buys them a present.

This isn’t a prize draw. Wichtlify decides who buys for whom, not which present anyone gets: it never raffles off items, prizes or winners.

Only the organiser needs an account. Everyone else opens their link in the browser, with no account and no app; the app is there for iPhone and Android. The draw and the links are free.

A member's personal page – in the browser

Birthday swap in York

In Nadia’s book club, each person now buys one birthday present a year instead of seven

Nadia’s book club of eight meets once a month in a café in York. Until now every birthday went the same way: everyone put £5 in, Nadia bought a voucher, and the fourth birthday person got the same bookshop voucher as the first.

At the next meeting Nadia suggests a birthday gift exchange: each member draws one birthday person in secret and buys them a present for about £20. Nobody else buys anything. That evening she creates the group for birthdays and types in the eight first names. Anyone short of ideas for £20 finds gift ideas by budget. By Friday 27 November every wish list is filled, and Nadia runs the draw. The first present is due on 9 January, for Owen.

Nadia’s book club

8 members, each buys for one birthday person
£20 a present, no more collection

The organiser is surprised too

Nadia knows who she buys for, but not who buys for her

Nadia set up the group and still knows only her own person. Her link shows who she buys for, and on her birthday she is as surprised as everyone else. Dan and Lucy are a couple and buy for each other anyway, so before the draw Nadia adds an exclusion both ways: neither can draw the other.

A year is a long time. If Freya moves away in spring and drops out, the free emergency repair steps in: only the people affected get a new name, and everyone else keeps theirs.

Before the draw Nadia can see who has opened their link and whose wish list is still empty, but never who drew whom. Wichtlify reminds people about missing wishes by itself: in their link, by push in the app and by e-mail once they have confirmed their address.

Next year Nadia repeats the group, and the draw avoids this year’s pairs by itself.

Wishes next to the draw – in the iPhone app

A message to copy

Suggest a birthday gift exchange to your group with this message

The hard part is rarely the draw. It is the suggestion, because nobody wants to scrap the joint present. This message gives the budget and the plan in one go: replace the brackets and post it in the group chat.

If you have no e-mail address for some of them, you send their link yourself, for example on WhatsApp. Secret Santa without e-mail addresses shows how, step by step.

Message to the group

Hi everyone,
How about a birthday gift exchange instead of a collection and a voucher?
Each of us draws one birthday person in secret and buys them something for about [£20]. Nobody else buys presents.
I’ll send you each a link. Add your wishes there by [27 November], and then I’ll draw.
Only you will see who you’ve got.
[Nadia]

One evening instead of a year

The same draw works for a single games night

Not every gift exchange lasts a year. If everyone brings one parcel for one other person to a games night, you set up the group the same way, with one date for everyone. The same draw works for a birthday weekend, a team leaving do or a New Year’s Eve party. One organiser wrote down how a gift exchange among friends went, from the first message to the opening.

If only the birthday person receives presents, you don’t need a draw but a birthday wish list that guests reserve from. That is what Wantivo, our wish-list app, is for.

You need nothing more for an ordinary gift exchange. If you want more, add Wichtlify Pro with wish images and your own reminder dates: €4.99 a year, renews automatically, bought in the app and valid for all the groups on your account.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Does it work with just two of us?

No. A draw needs at least three people, and up to 100 on the web. Nobody draws themselves.

What if someone wants to join after the draw?

Then you add them and draw again, ideally before anyone has looked at their result.

Next steps

Create your gift exchange

Name the group tonight and draw once the wishes are in.

Start the gift exchange – free

Draw who gives a gift to whom

A gift exchange in four steps

Each person buys for exactly one other, and nobody knows the whole list