A gift exchange generator is a handy tool to help your group set up gifts for an online or in-person holiday party. Instead of trying to figure out how to draw names and assign each participant a partner, this widget does it all for you with the click of a button. The tool also allows participants to make wish lists, so they can give their Secret Santa a little idea of what kind of present they want to receive.
There are a number of free shinelightings gift exchange generator apps that make organizing a holiday party or work gathering easier. Some are geared towards drawing Secret Santa pairs, but others support other types of exchanges, including White Elephant and a generic gift exchange. A few also offer tools to help attendees make wish lists and track their purchases. Depending on your group size and the amount of organization required, you may decide to use one or several of these tools.
Secret Santa Gift Exchange
Whether you’re hosting an office Christmas party or a family get-together, Secret Santa is a great way to have fun and make the season merrier. Using a gift exchange generator app, you can quickly create an exchange for up to 50 people. Simply enter the list of names and the tool will match each person to a different recipient, so everyone gets an even number of gifts.
Once the gift exchange is underway, participants buy and select their gifts, wrap them and ship them to the team leader, who will organize them for distribution. When the gift-giving day arrives, employees can open their presents simultaneously on a video conference call or other virtual meeting platform. Recipients can then try to guess who their Secret Santa is.
In addition to the traditional Secret Santa model, some online gift exchange generator apps allow you to pair up people based on mutual interests, like hobbies or favorite foods. This makes the exchange more exciting for everyone involved. Some apps also provide other features, such as the ability to add a description of the event in the “Anything else you want to tell everyone?” section, or to add a link to the exchange’s wishing activity page.
Another fully-featured option for managing a gift exchange is the Elfster app, which is available on iOS and Android devices. The app lets you create a list of participants and invite them via email or by posting a signup link on social media pages. If you have a large number of participants, the app will let you split the list into multiple groups and pair each group with another.
The organizer can then assign assistants to help with the exchange process. If the organizer wishes, they can also enter their own notes and a message for each group on the event’s main page. Once the gift exchange is complete, the organizer can view all of the activity on the main page of the app or by clicking on the gift exchange icon on their homepage.