About & FAQ
Mitten Draw is a small, free tool for drawing names for Secret Santa, white elephant and other gift swaps. We built it because the big gift-exchange sites make you sign up, collect emails, and push you toward store links. This one just draws the names.
How it works
- You enter the group, any rules, and an optional budget and date.
- Your browser draws the names. Every person gives exactly one gift and receives exactly one, nobody draws themselves, and your rules are always respected.
- You get one private link per person. Each link carries only that person's match, sealed inside the link. They open it, tap to reveal, and see who they're buying for.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an account or an email address?
No. Not you, and not the people in your group. There's nothing to sign up for and nothing to confirm.
Can I see who everyone drew?
The organizer page shows a list of links, not matches — so you're not shown the pairings and can be surprised too. But please be honest about the limit: each link is the match, so if you open someone else's link you'll see their recipient. Don't. Send each link only to its owner.
How private are the links, really?
The match is stored in the part of the link after the #. Browsers never send that part to any server. It's scrambled with encryption so it can't be read at a glance, but the key is inside the same link, so anyone holding a link can open it — that's how it works without accounts. Treat each link like a folded slip of paper: only its owner should see it. Because there's no server, nobody at Mitten Draw can look up your draw either.
Why is there no "join with a code" or reminders?
Those need a server that stores names and emails. Mitten Draw deliberately doesn't. It's the trade for no accounts and nothing stored.
Someone lost their link. Can you resend it?
We can't — nothing is stored on our side. The organizer's page is the only copy, and it disappears when the tab is closed or refreshed. If you lost it, draw again and send everyone the new links (the old links will then show a stale match, so ask people to use the new one).
How do wish notes work?
While you set up the exchange you can type a short note next to any person (up to 140 characters). Whoever draws that person sees it after they reveal. It's plain text, and no links are needed. Ask people for their notes before you draw, and type them in for them.
How do "keep apart" pairs and "no repeats" work?
"Keep apart" works both ways: if Ann and Ben are a couple, Ann won't draw Ben and Ben won't draw Ann. "No repeats from last year" is one-way: enter that Ann gave to Ben last year and Ann won't be matched with Ben again (Ben can still draw Ann).
It says my rules make the draw impossible. Why?
With too many rules there may be no way for everyone to give and receive exactly once. For example, with 3 people you can't keep any one pair apart, because every possible draw uses one of them. The message names the people who are stuck, so you know which rule to remove.
Is the draw fair?
It uses your browser's secure random number generator and tries random assignments, backing up whenever a choice leaves someone with no valid option. Before showing links, the page re-checks the result: no self-draws, one gift given and one received per person, every rule respected. If a valid draw exists, it will find one.
How many people can play?
From 3 to 60 per draw.
What does it cost?
Nothing. We may add a small, clearly labelled ad to the landing and organizer pages someday to cover the costs; it will never appear on the page where someone reveals their match, and we'll update the privacy page first.