How to Host a Secret Santa With Your BFFs

By Melanie Smith

christmas_presents_and_balls_002010 — *Credit: Wellcoo*

Hosting a Secret Santa is the perfect way for you and your friends to focus on finding the right gift for one person instead of your whole friend group, saving both time and money. To host a Secret Santa, first decide how many people are going to be included. Write everyone’s names down on a piece of paper and put them in a hat, then have everyone pick from the hat to get the person they will be buying gifts for. There are also many Secret Santa generators online that are easy and free to use.

You and your BFFs will need to set a budget for the gifts, so that everyone spends the same amount of money. You will also need to decide if the gifts will be homemade or store bought. Everyone can provide a general list of things they would like to receive as gifts, or it can be up to each person to decide what to buy or make for their selected person. For example, you can make the budget small (around $10, for example) and have everyone buy funny gag gifts.

As the host, you can either decide the budget and type of gifts yourself, or come up with them as a group and decide together. When everyone receives their selected person that they are buying gifts for, they cannot let anyone else know who they have, as it is supposed to be a secret until the gift exchange. When the time comes around to exchange gifts, everyone can either guess who their Secret Santa was or each “Santa” can reveal themselves during the gift opening.

Hosting a Secret Santa is a holiday classic that allows for the excitement of finding out who your Secret Santa is and the joy of finding the perfect gift for someone you love.