Virtual Secret Santa with Friends: Tips & How To Organize

Secret Santa is a beloved holiday activity for families and friendly gatherings. If your friends live in different states or even overseas, you can still organize a gift exchange game and send presents by mail (or exchange virtual gifts). Keep reading for a step-by-step guide to organizing an online Secret Santa event for friends.  

Why organize an online Secret Santa with friends? 

The Secret Santa exchange is not only for families and workplace Christmas parties. Here’s why you and your friends will enjoy it: 

1. Reconnect with old friends – if your friends are scattered across different countries and continents, exchanging Christmas gifts is a good reason to maintain your connections and show that you care. 
2. Save on gifts – buying presents for all your friends might be costly. With an online exchange, you can get a present for only one person and save! 
3. Spread holiday cheer – although meeting in person is not an option, you can gather for a video call, unwrap presents, and share emotions. 

If your group prefers fun and competitive gift exchanges, try the White Elephant game. 

Also read:

White Elephant Gift Exchange Ideas & Game Rules

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7 Steps to organize a remote Secret Santa with friends 

It’s easy to organize a virtual Secret Santa exchange with any number of people – just follow the steps below. 

Set up an online game 

To organize a remote Secret Santa exchange, you’ll need an online organizer that draws names and tracks gift progress. With the MySanta app, you can set up a game in seconds, track progress, send notifications. The app is free for up to nine players. 

Try our MySanta app

Create wishlists, add exclusions, and communicate with your assigned friend secretly. Moreover, there is an option to track gifts and ensure that everyone buys a present on time.

Start

Here’s how to create an online game using the MySanta generator: 

1. Sign up and hit “Create game”
2. Come up with a creative title for your gift exchange 
3. Add the deadline when all participants should join the exchange. 
4. You're all set! Wait for all players to join and draw names.

Set gift budget and deadline 

When creating, remember to set a budget for presents. If you organized the Secret Santa last year, use the budget that worked for your group. For friendly exchanges, $25-35 plus mailing expenses is a good budget, but you can use any amount that is comfortable for your group. 

It’s also important to set the date when everyone should buy their presents. Mailing gifts internationally can take 2-3 weeks. If you have friends living overseas, participants need to buy and send their gifts in early December. 

Invite players 

After you’ve set up the game, invite participants using a link or a QR code. Each player joining the game adds their mailing address and gift preferences (what they’d like to get from their Santa and what they don’t). You can send personalized invitations by email with a link to join the game. 

Online Secret Santa invitation email template 


Subject: Join Our Virtual Secret Santa Exchange 🎁

Hi everyone,

Let's spread holiday cheer this year with a virtual Secret Santa! Since we can't all be together in person, this is a fun way to connect, share joy, and exchange gifts.

I'm using the MySanta app to organize it, which makes everything super easy. Here's how it works:
•   Join up here: [Link to your game]
•  Add a few items to your wishlist to give your Secret Santa some ideas!
•  The gift budget is $25 – let’s keep it manageable and fun.
•  We'll open gifts around December 23^rd - maybe we can video chat on Zoom and open them together, or share some photos!

Please sign up by December 1^st so there's plenty of time to find the perfect gift.

Let me know if any questions, and I'm excited to do this with you all!


Best,

[Your Name]

Draw names 

After everyone joins in, you can assign Santas in one click. Each player will see to whom they need to buy a present. This way of drawing names is super convenient, as the results of the draw are recorded. All participants will see their giftee and the gift deadline in their profile. Thus, nobody sees who gives a present to whom, which keeps the mystery alive. 

Share gift preferences 

When people join the game, they fill out what they’d like to get from Santa and what they absolutely don’t want. It helps their Santas choose a nice present that won’t collect dust on the shelf. 

For more specific gift ideas, ask your friends to complete their Wishlist in the MySanta app. Players can add links to specific items from online stores or use gift suggestions on the platform as inspiration. Each Santa will see the wishlist of their giftee and can purchase something that will make their assigned person happier.

Send out gifts 

When you do Secret Santa remotely, the key is to send presents early ensuring that all participants have them before Christmas. For domestic shipping, you need to send presents 7-10 days in advance, for international parcels – 2-3 weeks before Christmas. 

If you purchase something online, you can have the gift delivered to the recipient’s address without revealing your identity (for example, Amazon offers this feature). If you send a present yourself, don’t use your address as a return address. You can agree to specify the game organizer’s address for all gifts or use the address of a local friend or family member to save the mystery. 

Plan an online Christmas party 

Before you draw names, agree on a time and date for a Zoom video call. Ask everyone not to unwrap their presents until the virtual meeting! Organize a remote Christmas celebration with your friendly group. Plan some fun activities and have everyone open their presents and guess their Santa in real time! Share your joy and excitement and make the celebration truly memorable. 

If someone cannot join the meeting, they can record a video when they unwrap the present to share the moment with the rest of the group. 

Secret Santa gift ideas for friends

Stuck with gift ideas? Here are the four popular categories of Secret Santa gifts to consider.

Practical gifts

Mug warmer, hot sauce set, personalized T-shirt, daily planner, olive oil, water bottle, jewelry box, warm slippers - anything that your friend can put in a good use.

Gag gifts

Bullshit button, party games, fun socks, wine tumbler, freezable beer glass, lightsaber chopsticks, toilet night lamp - prioritize fun and laughter over physical gifts!

Creative gifts

Moon lamp, ugly sweater, galaxy and star projector, money tree, homemade cookies, paint by numbers - anything that will add a touch of creativity to your friend's life.

Subscription gifts

Monthly subscription for wine, food, books, flowers, or a gift card to your friend’s favorite store or a streaming service. Subscription gifts are perfect for online exchanges!

Also read:

Top Holiday Team-Building Activities for Remote and Hybrid Teams

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Tips for a memorable remote gift exchange 

1. Start early. When your friends live far away, it’s important to set up the exchange months in advance. Thus, everyone will have enough time to choose a gift and send it by mail. 
2. Set a gift budget. Even if you’ve known your friends for years or decades, the unequal exchange can be really frustrating. Set a budget for presents (for example, $30) and encourage everyone to stick to it. 
3. Use themes. To make the exchange more fun, incorporate gift themes, such as something green, digital gifts, gag gifts, or gifts that start with a C letter. Use inside jokes and interests of your group as themes to make the gift exchange event memorable. 
4. Set up a fun reveal. Of course, you can simply draw names and mail presents to each other. But it’s much more fun to organize a virtual Zoom party with conversations, online games, and gift unwrapping! Grab your favorite drinks and snacks, plan some activities, and get together online to reconnect with friends who are far away. 
5. Have a couple of spare digital gifts. Logistic problems and other issues might happen. If some of your friends didn’t receive their present by Christmas, have a few digital gifts (such as e-gift cards or online subscriptions) so that nobody leaves your online gathering empty-handed.

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