Secret Santa rules and how the game works

Rules that live only in the group chat get lost between photos and date polls. Wichtlify asks for the budget and the date when you create the group and shows both in each person's link. The draw keeps every exclusion you have saved.

For a plain draw with names and exclusions, the Secret Santa generator is the quickest start; how a whole Secret Santa with wish lists runs is on Secret Santa online.

You send the links yourself, by WhatsApp or text, or Wichtlify emails them when you have entered an address. You see who has opened their link and whose wish list is still empty, but never who drew whom. A free reminder nudges people who have not added a wish.

In Secret Santa everyone draws one name and buys a present for that person in secret; in Ireland the game is often called Kris Kringle.

Last year in a flat-share in Galway, Declan spent £40, Cormac regifted a candle, and the evening felt lopsided. Cormac had also drawn his girlfriend Róisín, who would have bought him something anyway.

This time Aisling sends three lines to the housemates' chat on Sunday 8 November: £15 (or €15) a present, new presents only, swap on Thursday 17 December before everyone goes home. Cormac and Róisín do not draw each other. She enters the same values when she creates the group.

These seven lines are for whoever organises. They cover the budget, the swap date and the handover. They also say what kind of present is fine, who must not draw whom, whether wishes are required, and that everyone opens only their own link. Name the budget with its currency: £15 (or €15) is clearer than "not too much".

Add only what your group needs, such as postage or a limit on jokes. Once the budget is fixed, the ideas are left: gifts under £10 for small budgets, and gift ideas by person and occasion for anything above.

Whoever only takes part needs less than you: five short rules so the surprise lasts until the swap. Paste them under the rules template, in the same chat.

The fourth rule below sounds minor but saves the swap: with only the receiver's name on the parcel, every present finds its place. For people without a phone, Wichtlify Pro prints cards for them; whoever prints the cards sees the names. You need none of it for an ordinary Secret Santa. Pro is optional, €4.99 a year, renews automatically, is bought in the app and covers every group on your account.

If couples, siblings or people who share a room should not draw each other, decide that before anyone draws. Save those pairings to rule out in the group, and the draw always keeps to them. If they leave no possible draw, Wichtlify tells you before drawing.

A fair draw keeps three promises: nobody draws themselves, every name is drawn exactly once, and nobody sees the other pairs. Two people can still draw each other by chance; only an exclusion prevents it. The detail of what the draw does has its own page.

In White Elephant everyone brings a joke or odd present instead of a useful one, and some groups add it to the swap. If you switch on the second draw when you create the group, each person draws a second slip, always for a different person than the first.

If you then roll dice or swap presents, write a rule for that too. What happens on each number is in the White Elephant dice rules. You play the dice round at the table: who swaps and who takes what is not something Wichtlify controls.