How do I run Secret Santa without anyone drawing themselves?

The wheel handles this automatically. In multi-pick mode, each pick removes the name from the wheel before the next pick — so the same person can't be drawn twice. To avoid self-pairing (Alice drawing Alice), run a 'givers' wheel and a separate 'receivers' wheel, spin both, and re-spin the rare cases where they match. Or use the simpler rule: spin everyone in a circle (Alice gives to whoever is next), removing the 'I drew myself' edge case entirely.

Can I keep the assignments secret from the organizer?

The wheel shows results to whoever is running it. For a truly blind organizer setup, ask each participant to spin their own assignment on their own device (using a shared wheel URL with 'Remove after pick' on, and trust each player to not screenshot). For most family/office swaps, the organizer-knows-all model is fine — the wheel just speeds it up.

How do I share the result with absent participants?

Use the 'share wheel' link in the toolbar — it encodes the wheel state in the URL. Anyone who opens the link sees the same wheel and can replay the spin animation. For real-time shared spinning across a video call, use Host Room mode — everyone joins via a 6-character code and watches the same live spin.

What about a White Elephant 'steal' rule?

The wheel handles the pick order; the 'steal' rule is up to you. Standard setup: spin to set order (use Remove-after-pick so the wheel deals out 1, 2, 3, … in one cycle). On their turn, each person can either open a wrapped gift or steal someone else's. The wheel doesn't enforce this — you do — but it removes the 'who's up next' confusion that usually slows White Elephant down.

Can I weight the draw (a coworker gets multiple chances)?

Use the Name*N syntax for weighted slots. 'Alice*3' gives Alice three slices on the wheel — three times the chance of being drawn. For Secret Santa pairings, weighting is usually unnecessary, but for raffle-style gift-card draws it's the standard approach.

Is the draw truly random?

Yes. The wheel uses crypto.getRandomValues() — the browser's cryptographically secure RNG — for every spin. The result is decided up front from operating-system entropy; the visible animation is purely cosmetic. There's no way to bias the draw without editing the wheel beforehand.

Holiday Gift Exchange Wheel

Run Secret Santa, White Elephant, or any gift swap without spreadsheets and 'did anyone get themselves?' panic. Drop the participants on the wheel, spin to pair them, or spin to set the pick order. Multi-pick mode generates Secret Santa assignments in one go; the wheel auto-excludes already-picked names so no one is paired twice. Share the resulting list via link so everyone sees the same draw.

Built for office holiday-party organizers, extended-family Secret Santa coordinators, friend-group gift swaps, and anyone running a White Elephant where 'who picks next' needs to be visibly fair.

Open the wheel →

Sample entries — Office Secret Santa

Alice
Ben
Carlos
Diya
Eva
Farid
Gemma
Hassan
Isabel
Jorge

Copy these into the Entries tab on the main wheel.

Why use this wheel

Multi-pick mode draws Secret Santa pairings in one spin
Auto-excludes already-picked names — no self-pairing
Spin for White Elephant pick order in 10 seconds
AI-generate sample gift lists for prize-spinner formats
Share the draw via link so remote family members verify
Fullscreen mode for live office-party reveal
Free, no signup, no email harvest — works offline after load

Common uses

Secret Santa pairing. Drop everyone's names, multi-pick mode draws giver→receiver pairs. Project the result or share the URL so absent family can see the same draw.
White Elephant pick order. Spin to set who picks first, second, third. Use 'Remove after pick' so the wheel hands out the full sequence in one cycle.
Gift-card draw. Office holiday party: drop staff names, multi-pick mode draws winners for the holiday gift cards.
Family Yankee Swap. 10 participants, 10 wrapped gifts — spin for opening order. Far faster than 'who wants to go first?'.
Long-distance gift exchange. Open a multiplayer room, share the code with the family group chat — everyone watches the same live spin, no screen-share lag.
Gift-prize wheel. Adult party twist: a wheel of small prize items, multi-spin to assign each attendee a gift. Removes 'pick-the-bigger-one' drama.

Why a wheel beats spreadsheet Secret Santa

Most office and family Secret Santa setups use one of three methods: drawing names from a hat, an online generator like elfster, or a spreadsheet with a randomization formula. The hat is opaque (no one sees the draw), generators usually ask for emails and signups, and spreadsheets are dry. A wheel hits the sweet spot: visible, fast, no signup, no email harvest. Everyone sees the same animation, the result is clearly random, and the social moment of 'the wheel landed on X for Y' is more festive than 'check your inbox'.

There's also a practical fairness benefit for in-person draws. With a hat, someone has to be the trusted draw-runner — and small errors (a slip stuck to another, two slips drawn at once) create disputes. A wheel removes the manual draw entirely.

Gift-exchange patterns

Secret Santa with pairings: one wheel of names, multi-pick mode set to the full participant count, spin once. The result is the full pairing list. If two adjacent picks (Alice→Bob, Bob→Alice) bother you, re-spin those two manually.

White Elephant pick order: same wheel, 'Remove after pick' enabled, spin once per round to call up the next picker. The wheel deals out the full sequence one pick at a time, which keeps the suspense round-by-round.

Family gift-card raffles: drop names with optional weights ('Mom*2' if she organized everything and deserves better odds), set pick count to the number of gift cards, spin once to draw all the winners.

Tips for running it smoothly

Pre-load the wheel during quiet time, not at the party. Setting up entries with 12 hovering relatives is unpleasant. Get the wheel ready Saturday morning; share the URL or host a room when the party starts.

Project the wheel on the TV or laptop screen if you're in person — visible randomness is the entire point. Don't run it on your phone screen below table level.

For remote family draws, prefer multiplayer rooms over screen-share. Screen-share lag means cousin Jenny sees the wheel half a second after the rest of the call, which removes the synchronised 'oh!' moment that makes the draw fun.

How to use holiday gift exchange wheel

Drop everyone's names. One name per line in the Entries panel. Spreadsheet rows paste cleanly — each row becomes one entry.
Choose your mode. Secret Santa pairs: set Pick count to the participant count, multi-pick draws everyone. Pick order: enable Remove-after-pick, spin per round.
Share or host a room. Click 'Share' to copy the wheel URL, or 'Host room' for synchronised live spinning across a video call.
Spin and announce. Press Space or tap. The wheel auto-excludes already-picked names. Press F for fullscreen if you're projecting.

Frequently asked questions

How do I run Secret Santa without anyone drawing themselves?: The wheel handles this automatically. In multi-pick mode, each pick removes the name from the wheel before the next pick — so the same person can't be drawn twice. To avoid self-pairing (Alice drawing Alice), run a 'givers' wheel and a separate 'receivers' wheel, spin both, and re-spin the rare cases where they match. Or use the simpler rule: spin everyone in a circle (Alice gives to whoever is next), removing the 'I drew myself' edge case entirely.
Can I keep the assignments secret from the organizer?: The wheel shows results to whoever is running it. For a truly blind organizer setup, ask each participant to spin their own assignment on their own device (using a shared wheel URL with 'Remove after pick' on, and trust each player to not screenshot). For most family/office swaps, the organizer-knows-all model is fine — the wheel just speeds it up.
How do I share the result with absent participants?: Use the 'share wheel' link in the toolbar — it encodes the wheel state in the URL. Anyone who opens the link sees the same wheel and can replay the spin animation. For real-time shared spinning across a video call, use Host Room mode — everyone joins via a 6-character code and watches the same live spin.
What about a White Elephant 'steal' rule?: The wheel handles the pick order; the 'steal' rule is up to you. Standard setup: spin to set order (use Remove-after-pick so the wheel deals out 1, 2, 3, … in one cycle). On their turn, each person can either open a wrapped gift or steal someone else's. The wheel doesn't enforce this — you do — but it removes the 'who's up next' confusion that usually slows White Elephant down.
Can I weight the draw (a coworker gets multiple chances)?: Use the Name*N syntax for weighted slots. 'Alice*3' gives Alice three slices on the wheel — three times the chance of being drawn. For Secret Santa pairings, weighting is usually unnecessary, but for raffle-style gift-card draws it's the standard approach.
Is the draw truly random?: Yes. The wheel uses crypto.getRandomValues() — the browser's cryptographically secure RNG — for every spin. The result is decided up front from operating-system entropy; the visible animation is purely cosmetic. There's no way to bias the draw without editing the wheel beforehand.

Free random spinner from SpinOfLuck — no signup, no ads, runs entirely in your browser.