Secret Santa With Strangers: Where To Find Players and How To Organize
Secret Santa is usually played with coworkers, friends, or family. To experience holiday mystery to its fullest, try a gift exchange with strangers. Here’s where to find participants and how to run the game smoothly from sign-up to the big reveal.
Traditionally, Secret Santa is organized with colleagues, friends, or family. You can give the classic scenario a twist by arranging a gift exchange with strangers.
In this article, we share where to look for participants and the nuances of playing with people you don’t yet know: from splitting up responsibilities to the final handoff of gifts.
5 Reasons To Play Secret Santa With Strangers
Playing Secret Santa with strangers online is a fairly popular practice. If you’ve heard of it but steered clear, here are five clear reasons to take part:
- New connections — you’ll make contacts that can grow into friendships.
- Maximum surprise — with close friends you can often guess the kind of gift you’ll get. With a stranger, it’s almost impossible to predict.
- A sense of belonging to someone else’s joy — you’ll feel you’ve done a kind thing and made someone’s day who genuinely needed it.
- Adapting to new circumstances — if you moved to a new city, changed schools, or switched friend groups, Secret Santa helps you ease into change.
- A magical atmosphere — a game with strangers has its own charm: a string of coincidences brought everyone into one circle, and maybe it’s a fateful moment.
Where To Find Participants
Walking up to random people and inviting them to play isn't the best strategy. So we’ve collected four simple ways to find like-minded participants for a Secret Santa game.
Online Communities
If you are a member of some group, forum, or chat built around a shared hobby, recruit players there. It could be a book club, a film-lover community, or a crafting group — choose a space where the idea resonates and the atmosphere feels welcoming. Shared interests reduce awkwardness and increase trust, so online communities are an ideal place to start.
There are two ways to find participants in such spaces: first, write directly in the chat; second, ask the admins to post a short announcement. In both cases, plan the structure of your message and how you’ll collect contacts for the game — the clearer you are, the faster you’ll find like-minded players.
The Advantage:
you already know what the participants are into. That gives you at least one uniting factor to strike up friendly connections and exchange genuinely useful gifts.
City Groups and Forums
Local groups bring people together by geography. Even though Secret Santa is often played remotely, some people will still enjoy an in-person exchange.
Find suitable groups through news channels or discussion groups — it’s best to tap several options at once. Briefly explain the game’s idea and invite people to join — you’ll find participants who’ll be fun to hang out with in real life.
The Advantage:
everyone can meet in one place and get to know each other face to face — in these conditions, people tend to connect faster and chance contacts turn into friendships.
Social Media
Use your own social pages to find participants. Here’s one way to set it up: post that you’re looking for Secret Santa participants and ask your followers to share this post. Through this chain, you’ll first gather your friends, then their friends — and end up with a large community for the game.
The Advantage:
you can view players’ profiles to learn more about them. It’s easier to guess what your recipient might like and to build rapport with the group.
Charities and Volunteer Organizations
If you regularly help others as a volunteer, you’ll probably find players in those circles. Participants already share values and interests, which means Secret Santa will feel comfortable, heartfelt, and fair. You can also combine the game with good deeds: for the final handoff, bring gifts not only for your recipient but also for a local animal shelter.
The Advantage:
people come to these places on their own initiative to help others. You can worry less about honesty and responsibility: it’s unlikely someone will intentionally skip gifting or choose a low-quality gift.
How To Set Up the Game
To relieve the burden, look for helpers to manage and oversee the game together. Find people who’ve played before and know the mechanics well, or those who simply want to try their hand as coordinators.
Ideally, gather a team of three or four people to handle simple tasks: collecting mailing info for gifts, reminding players about deadlines, tracking deliveries, and so on. This will simplify prep and create the feeling of a close-knit community where everyone has a role and responsibility.
Another way to lighten the organizer’s load is to delegate the game to the MySanta service. It automates all key processes for online and offline play: collects the player list after registrations, assigns “Santa—recipient” pairs, and helps track the game so everyone receives gifts on time.
Here are three more features that are especially handy when playing with strangers:
- Wishlists. The service lets you see what the recipient is dreaming about and share your own wishes with your Santa. Choosing the perfect gift becomes much easier.
- Anonymous chats with recipients. You can ask for an address, clothing size, or allergies directly — quickly and anonymously.
- Gift tracking. The game organizer can see who bought and sent the gift and who hasn't, thus ensuring that everyone receives a gift.
What To Give If You Don’t Know the Recipient’s Preferences
It’s easiest to choose a gift when you’re sure what the recipient likes — and what they don’t. When preferences are unknown, lean on universal surprises: sweets, gift cards, or cozy Christmas décor.
We’ve put together a table of popular gifts that don’t depend on personal hobbies or interests — suitable for anyone.
| Gift Category | Options |
|---|---|
| Food | Tea set, chocolate, assortment of dried fruit |
| Tableware | Pretty mug, plate, wooden divided serving tray |
| Gifts With Christmas Atmosphere | Christmas tree ornaments, Christmas tablecloth, winter-scented candles |
| Gift Cards | Coffee shop gift card; card for a cosmetics or home-décor store; workshop certificate |
| Universal Board Games | Jenga, Mafia (party game), Ekiwoki (Russian charades-style party game), Carcassonne |
If you have at least a little information about the recipient (such as age, profession, or favorite movie), it's a good starting point.
How To Create a Comfortable Atmosphere for the Gift Exchange
The game finale shapes the overall impression, so it’s important to plan details and create a comfortable setting.
Online Gift Exchange
The organizer’s main task is to create a sense of presence. If you’ve decided to unwrap gifts on a video call, ask everyone to join with both sound and video. Without that, you lose the feeling of a shared celebration.
Decide in advance which platform you’ll use and appoint a host. Their role for the evening is to coordinate unwrapping, ease any tension, and make sure everyone receives attention.
If you’ve agreed that each person will open the surprise as soon as their package arrives, suggest sharing emoji reactions in the group chat. That way you can still share each other’s joy.
Offline Exchange
An in-person exchange follows a standard script: everyone hands gifts to recipients in a circle. Or, all gifts are placed in one spot, and participants take turns finding theirs and trying to guess who their Secret Santa was.
Beyond the mechanics, give attention to the overall mood:
- Find a suitable place to meet: a café, someone’s house, or a rented public space. Everyone should be able to make themselves comfortable.
- Give participants 30–40 minutes to settle in. Don’t start with gifts — everyone needs time to meet and chat.
- Prepare light refreshments and put on background music — this smooths over the first minutes of awkwardness.
Conclusion
Organizing Secret Santa with strangers is simple: find players and plan the stages of the game. The key is being ready to step out of your comfort zone — to make new acquaintances, sincerely delight someone else, and express yourself.
FAQs
How do I keep my home address private when exchanging gifts with strangers?
Use a P.O. box or workplace delivery if allowed. Or, don't specify your return address when mailing the gift. Another good alternative is sending a digital gift – a streaming subscription or an e-gift card. Keeping delivery neutral protects privacy without dampening the holiday mood.
What budget works best for a mixed group of strangers?
Clarify the budget upfront to avoid misunderstandings. For online gift exchanges with strangers, a $20 amount work great, but you can agree on a different amount as long as it's comfortable for everyone. Note that shipping is not included in a gift budget.
What universal Secret Santa gift ideas are safest when I know nothing about the recipient?
Cozy and practical picks rarely miss: a holiday mug with hot cocoa mix, a small candle in a winter scent, a puzzle or compact board game, or a bookstore/coffee gift card. Add a short handwritten note to make even a simple gift feel personal and festive.
