How to run a Secret Santa for a remote team

Make it opt-in

A team Secret Santa only works if the people in it want to play. Ask in a channel or a quick poll, give a date to reply by, and draw only the names of the people who said yes. Nobody should have to explain why they're sitting it out, and nobody's manager should be keeping track.

Set one budget that works everywhere

On a team spread across countries, the same limit buys very different things. Pick a limit in one currency, then turn it into everyone else's with a currency converter and round each one to a friendly number. Put every version in the note so nobody has to work it out.

Decide up front whether shipping counts toward the limit. For international teams it's simpler if it doesn't, and if people are told to choose something that ships locally in the recipient's country.

Pick dates that allow for shipping

Work backward from the day you'll open gifts together:

• Reveal call: the date everyone opens their gift on camera.
• Ship-by date: at least 10 days before the call for international parcels, and longer in December, when post slows down.
• Draw date: about four weeks before the call, so people have two weeks to choose.

Put all three in the note on the draw, so they appear on everyone's page.

Decide how gifts get there

Home addresses are personal, so don't collect them in a spreadsheet. A few ways round it:

• Digital gifts: an e-book, a subscription, a donation, a gift card for a local shop. Nothing to ship and nobody's address involved.
• Order online, deliver direct. Each person adds a delivery address to their wishlist only if they're happy to. A wishlist is seen only by that person's Secret Santa.
• Office delivery for people who go in now and then.

Whichever you choose, say so in the note, so everyone knows what's expected.

Keep gifts easy to receive

Some people don't drink, some have allergies, and some don't want anything with a slogan on it. Ask everyone to write at least three ideas in their wishlist, plus anything to avoid. A gift that matches a wishlist beats a clever guess.

Run the draw

1. Open the Secret Santa Generator and list everyone who opted in under Who's taking part. Use the names people go by at work, with an initial where two people share one.
2. Under Who shouldn't draw each other, add anyone who'd better not draw each other. On a team that might be two people who live together. It's optional.
3. Set the Spending limit, the Exchange date (your reveal call) and a Note for everyone with the ship-by date, how gifts get delivered, and the limit in each currency.
4. Press Draw names, and bookmark the organizer page before you do anything else.

Send the links in Slack or Teams

Send each person their link as a direct message, never in a channel. On the organizer page, Copy message copies a short note with that person's link, ready to paste into a DM. Anyone who opens a link can reveal that person's match, so a channel post would give everything away.

After a few days, check the organizer page. It ticks off everyone who has revealed their match and written a wishlist, without showing who has whom. Nudge anyone who hasn't revealed yet.

The reveal call

Keep it short: 30 minutes is plenty for a team of 10 to 15. Go around the call and have each person open their gift on camera and guess who sent it before the sender owns up. If gifts got stuck in the post, open those at the next team meeting rather than holding everyone up.

A worked example

A 12-person team spans New York, London and Bengaluru. The organizer runs a poll on November 3 and 11 people opt in. The draw goes out on November 17 with a $25 limit, converted and rounded for the London and Bengaluru players in the note. The note also says to ship by December 5, to pick digital gifts or ship within the recipient's country, and that the reveal call is on December 17. Everyone gets their link by DM that afternoon, and by November 21 the organizer page shows all 11 revealed and 9 wishlists written. Two friendly reminders later, everyone has a wishlist.