One of my favorite holiday activities every year is having a Secret Santa with a group of my close friends. Not only are these gift exchanges cost-efficient because you only have to purchase one gift, but also so exciting as you anxiously await to see who everybody was assigned to.
Though large Christmas gatherings with close friends and family may not be able to take place this year due to the pandemic, a socially distanced Secret Santa is the perfect way to bring loved ones together and reconnect. Here are the steps my close friends and I took to organize a covid-friendly Secret Santa gift exchange:
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Contact any friends or family you think may be interested in doing a gift exchange! If they say yes, follow up and ask them for their email and address. Remember that money may be tight during these unprecedented times, so don’t be offended if people do not want to participate.
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Create an account on https://www.secretsantaorganizer.com/. There are many other websites you can use to organize the gift exchange; this was just the one that I found was the easiest to navigate.
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Insert all your participants’ emails into the website, along with other information such as a price range and exchange date. Next to each person’s name, you will want to put their address or send this out yourself in a following email.
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In the section where the website prompts you to create a message for all the participants, give people a date to send their gifts by. Also, inform people not to open their gifts until the exchange date.
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Use the website to send out the Secret Santa assignments and information to all participants. Don’t worry- everything remains anonymous, and nobody can see each other’s assignments!
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When the gift exchange date arrives, and everyone has received their gift in the mail, start a group call using Zoom, Facetime, or Skype to watch everyone’s reaction to their gifts. This is a perfect time to reconnect with loved ones during the holidays and see what everyone received!