Secret Santa sign up sheet

Collect what people would like before you draw names, so the person holding your name has something to go on other than your job title.

Free, and no account needed to start. Send the link however you normally would: text, email, or a group chat. People fill it in on their phones. Sort the answers, search them, download them as a spreadsheet. 100 replies a month on the free plan.

Or download the printable PDF. Free, no email address, ready to print and pin up.

The form people fill in, and the list you get back

This is the real form, not a screenshot of one, and it works. Below it is what you see as the answers come in.

All 10 questions

Your name (required)
Email address (required)
Team or how people know you
Three things you would genuinely like (required)
Anything to avoid?
Anything else to avoid, in your own words
Anyone you should not be paired with?
How should your gift reach you?
Will you be there on the day?
Anything else the organiser should know?

You can reword any of these, or add your own, after you create it.

An example of what you see when answers come in, with three replies

26 Nov, 11:30	Sam Adeyemi	sam.a@example.com	Finance	Loose leaf tea, a plant that survives neglect, a puzzle	Nuts, Alcohol	Severe nut allergy, please nothing made in a nut kitchen		Posted to me	No, but I still want to take part	On parental leave from 1 Dec
24 Nov, 15:52	Marco Fischer	m.fischer@example.com	Support	Bike lights, hot sauce, a good pen	Nothing to avoid		Elena Fischer	In person on the day	Yes	Same household as Elena
24 Nov, 09:14	Elena Fischer	e.fischer@example.com	Design	A decent notebook, anything with sourdough in it, socks with a pattern	Strong scents, Candles	Perfume of any kind gives me a headache	Marco Fischer	In person on the day	Yes

Press any heading to sort by it. In your own form you can search the answers as well, and download them as a spreadsheet at any time.

Draw the names last, not first

The usual order is to draw names and then chase everybody for gift ideas, which produces two weeks of reminder messages and a handful of people who never reply. The person holding their name then buys a mug.

Reversing it fixes the whole thing. Collect the sign-ups with the ideas already attached, close the list, then draw. Everybody who is in the draw has already said what they want, because saying so was how you entered.

Ask for three things, not a wish list

"Anything really" is the most common answer and the least useful. So is a single item, because it is often out of stock or over budget by the time somebody looks.

Three specific things at roughly the right price is the shape that works. It leaves the buyer a choice, which is most of the fun, while ruling out the mug. If somebody genuinely cannot think of three, a category counts — a particular kind of tea, something for a bike, a book by anyone from a named list.

Exclusions are the part people forget, and the part that causes trouble

Couples drawing each other defeats the point. So does pairing two people who sit at the same desk, or the person who drew the same name last year, or two people in the middle of a disagreement the organiser knows about and the randomiser does not.

One free-text line asking who somebody should not be paired with collects all of that quietly, without anybody having to explain why in front of the group. Redraw if the randomiser lands on an excluded pair.

Secret Santa gifts are mostly food, drink and toiletries

Which makes it the one gift exchange where allergies and sensitivities matter. Chocolates, spirits, scented candles, bath products and hampers are the default at every price point, and all five are things somebody might not be able to accept.

A tick list covers the common ones and a free-text line covers the rest. It is a great deal easier than a colleague quietly binning a hamper.

Ask who is actually going to be there

Somebody on leave, working remotely that week, or leaving before the party still wants to take part and still needs their gift to reach them. If nobody asks, their present sits on a desk until January.

Two lines handle it: whether they will be there, and how the gift should reach them if not.

Questions people ask

What should be on a Secret Santa sign up sheet?

Name, a way to contact them, three things they would genuinely like, anything to avoid such as nuts or strong scents, and anyone they should not be paired with. Add a line for whether they will be there on the day, because a gift for somebody on leave has to reach them somehow.

Should I collect gift ideas before or after drawing names?

Before. If you draw first you spend a fortnight chasing people for ideas and several never reply, which is how the mugs happen. Make the ideas part of signing up, close the list, then draw from the people who completed it.

How do I stop couples drawing each other in Secret Santa?

Ask on the sign-up sheet who each person should not be paired with, then redraw if the randomiser lands on one of those pairs. Collecting it in writing means nobody has to explain the reason in front of the group.

Is this Secret Santa sign up sheet free to download?

Yes. The PDF downloads with no account and no email address. The shareable online version is free as well.

Ready to send it out?

Every question above is already written. Make it a form, get your link, and send it. Reword anything first if your group asks it differently.

Free, no account needed to start, and the printable PDF stays one click away.

Already have your own version of this form?

You build nothing. Upload the PDF, or photograph the printed copy, and the questions are read off it: no canvas, no dragging a box onto each field, no mapping step. The wording your organisation already approved stays exactly as it is, and you get a link that collects the answers back as a spreadsheet.

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Secret Santa sign up sheet

The form people fill in, and the list you get back