Secret Santa sign-up sheet

What goes on the sheet

The main line is "I'm in for Secret Santa x30". Each person who claims it is one Santa. Set the number to the size of your group so you can see at a glance how many have joined, or write "(unlimited)" instead of a number if you don't want a cap. If you cap it and the line fills, latecomers join the waitlist and move up if someone drops out before the draw.

Put the rules in the sheet description, where nobody can miss them:

• The price limit, and whether shipping and wrap count
• The sign-up deadline and the draw date
• The exchange date, time and place
• Whether gifts are wrapped and labeled with the recipient's name

The other lines are optional. If the exchange happens at a party, snacks, drinks, wrapping supplies and setting up the gift table give people something to do besides buy.

Questions to ask

Questions turn a list of names into a list of people you can shop for. Add these to the whole sheet:

• "Three gift ideas" as a short answer. Three is enough to choose from and few enough that people actually write them.
• "Anything to avoid?" as a short answer: allergies, scents, alcohol, or "please, no more mugs".
• "Shirt or sock size" as a short answer, only if your group gives clothes.
• "Anyone you shouldn't draw?" for families and friend groups, so couples and roommates don't draw each other.
• "Mailing address" only if people are mailing gifts to each other.

The answers are only visible to you and your co-organizers, on the dashboard and in the CSV export. They never appear on the sheet, so a wish list stays a surprise to everyone but the Santa you send it to.

Setting the price limit

Write one number, not a range. "$20 to $30" turns into $30 for the careful people and $20 for everyone else, and the gifts look uneven next to each other. "$25 limit" is clear.

It helps to do the sum. Twelve people at $25 is $300 of gifts, and each person spends $25. If your group mixes salaries, students or retirees, pick the number the tightest budget in the room is comfortable with. For a family exchange with children, many families run a separate kids' exchange with a lower limit.

How to draw names

Dibs stops at the list. Here are three ways to do the draw.

From a hat. Write each name on a slip, and everyone draws one at the party or on a video call. If you draw your own name, put it back and draw again. It is fun in person and awkward over email.

With a shuffled list. Export the CSV, paste the names into a spreadsheet, add a column of =RAND(), and sort by it. Each person buys for the name below theirs, and the last person buys for the first. Nobody can draw themselves, and everyone is in one loop. If a couple ends up next to each other, sort again. The catch is that you now know every pairing, so this suits a group where the organizer isn't playing, or doesn't mind knowing.

With a name-drawing site. DrawNames and Elfster draw the names and email each person their match privately, with exclusions for couples. Paste in the names from your CSV. Use this when the organizer wants to play too.

Then send each Santa their person's answers: the three ideas, the things to avoid and the size. Send these one by one from your own email. Messages from Dibs go to everyone on the sheet, so they are the place for "the draw is done, check your inbox" and the party details, never for who has whom.

When someone drops out

Before the draw, they cancel from the link in their confirmation and their place opens up. After the draw, give their recipient to whoever was buying for them. If Ana had Ben and Ben had Cleo, and Ben drops out, Ana now buys for Cleo. Tell Ana first, because she may already have Ben's gift. Keep it, since it will do for next year.

White elephant instead

A white elephant exchange needs the same sheet with no draw. Everyone brings one wrapped gift under the limit, people draw numbers at the party, and each turn you open a new gift or steal one already opened. A common house rule is that a gift is frozen after its third steal, which keeps the game from running all night.

On the sheet, the "I'm in" line becomes your gift count, because one player means one gift. Skip the wish-list questions, and put the stealing rules and the limit in the description. If the swap is one part of a bigger holiday meal, a line like "White elephant gift, about $15 (unlimited)" on the Christmas sign-up sheet does the same job.

Office, family and classroom exchanges

• At work, make it opt-in, and say so in the first line of the description. Show first name and initial on the sheet, or just "taken", so nobody feels watched for not joining. The office holiday party sheet can sit alongside it for the food.
• In a family, settle the hard rules in writing before the draw: do the kids take part, do couples buy one gift or two, and is a gift card allowed.
• In a classroom, parents sign up for their child. Paste the class list into the roster to see who hasn't joined yet (up to 50 people on the free plan), and keep the limit low, such as $10, so no family feels pushed.

A 2026 timeline

For an exchange on Friday, December 18:

• Monday, November 16: share the link with the rules in the description.
• Monday, November 23: before Thanksgiving, nudge anyone on your list who hasn't joined.
• Tuesday, December 1: close sign-ups.
• Wednesday, December 2: draw names and send each Santa their person's answers.
• Wednesday, December 16: Dibs sends the two-day reminder for the exchange on its own.
• Friday, December 18: the morning reminder goes out. Follow it with a message to everyone: the time, the place and "label your gift with the name".

A ready list

The starter list above is a Secret Santa for up to 30, with a few lines for the party. Paste it into Dibs, change x30 to the size of your group, add your questions and share the link. People join with a name and email, no account and no ads, and each one gets a link to change their answers or drop out before the draw.