Q: How to define exception rules between participants?

In Step 1 - Organization, you can define exclusion rules between participants. <img src="https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/8a35c8088c2ea800/image_13az9dy.png" alt="" /> It is very useful to define rules such as "No draw possible in a couple", "No draw possible between brothers and sisters", "No draw possible between people of the same department", etc. You are free to define the rules you want. You can define: <ul> <li>Groups in which people will not be able to draw each other (fastest way)</li> <li>Individual exclusions (which you can cumulate with those from the groups)</li> </ul> <img src="https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/8a35c8088c2ea800/image_70pehx.png" alt="" /> || Note 1: a person can never draw their own name. If person A draws person B, B could also draw the name of A (they will only discover this on the day of the gift exchange). || Note 2: Exclusions are not visible by participants.

Question 1

What about the 3 draw modes available?

Accepted Answer

When launching your event, you will be able to choose between 3 draw modes to manage how and when the results of the draw are revealed:

| Mode A - Secret Santa until the big day! (default and recommended) Each participant knows only his own draw on the participant area. Then, on the Big Day, the results can be revealed with authorization of the organizer (on Monitor my Secret Santa) in 2 steps:

to the organizer only (visible on Monitor my Secret Santa)
to all participants (visible on the participant area).

| Mode B - Revealed to all from the draw! Each participant knows his draw on drawn of other participants (visible on the participant area).

| Mode C - Full secret to all until the big day! Santa doesn't know their target until the big day! They can exchange anonymous messages to ask for more indications. Then, on the Big Day, the results can be revealed with authorization of the organizer (on Monitor my Secret Santa) in 2 steps:

to the organizer only (visible on Monitor my Secret Santa)
to all participants (visible on the participant area).

Question 2

A participant did not receive the invitation email....

Accepted Answer

There are several possible causes: the e-mail address may be incorrect or blocked by anti-spam (especially if it is a company e-mail). Go to the Monitor my Secret Santa page on your event page:

Change / Correct the participant's email
Send back an email

Still not received?

This is very rare but some anti-spam systems are particularly restrictive and require validation by Captcha (i.e. Mailinblack.com, etc.): *Request to add confirmation AT my-secret-santa.org address in the contact white list of the recipient

Go through a less restrictive email address and then forward the email to the desired address (without trying to consult the draw, of course :)

Question 3

How to organize your Secret Santa?

Accepted Answer

The principle is as simple as a traditional hat draw. There are 4 main steps:

| Step 1: Organization of the event Create your draw and define:

Date of the event,
Game rules (e.g. gift format, theme, price, hand-made, etc)
Number of gifts per participant (from 1 to 5)
Draw mode selection (A, B or C)
The list of participants or simply share a registration link on social networks to allow everyone to register independently
Exclusion rules between participants (Note: the definitions are made after the creation of the draw via the "Manage exclusions between participants" section)

| Step 2: Drawing lots Is everything set? Are the participants registered? Confirm the launch of the draw! Then everyone receives an invitation via e-mail giving them access to their personal space and allowing them to launch the draw, exchange anonymous messages, write their letter to Santa Claus or even find gift ideas. As an organizer, you can check at any time that everyone has been able to launch their draw and if necessary correct the emails and send back the invitation emails (without having access to the results)

| Step 3: Looking for gifts Participant write the Santa Letter, search for gifts and exchange messages together.

| Step 4: Gift exchange The big day arrives and you can exchange your gifts! If you have opted for modes A - Anonymous gift-giver or C - The giver's identity is revealed only when the gift is presented, you can now reveal the draw results.

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Question 4

How to define exception rules between participants?

Accepted Answer

In Step 1 - Organization, you can define exclusion rules between participants.

It is very useful to define rules such as "No draw possible in a couple", "No draw possible between brothers and sisters", "No draw possible between people of the same department", etc. You are free to define the rules you want.

You can define:

Groups in which people will not be able to draw each other (fastest way)
Individual exclusions (which you can cumulate with those from the groups)

|| Note 1: a person can never draw their own name. If person A draws person B, B could also draw the name of A (they will only discover this on the day of the gift exchange). || Note 2: Exclusions are not visible by participants.

Question 5

How to draw up a list of participants?

Accepted Answer

Your draw will likely gather a large group (typically between 10 and 20 people). There are 2 possible approaches to choose from:

| Option 1: Draw up your own list of participants Add the list of names / surnames and emails and make a CSV entry or easily import a CSV file you already have

| Option 2: Share the registration link Let participants register themselves by sharing the event registration link (via email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Each participant enters their name and creates a my-secret-santa.org account in one click via Facebook or Google.

|| Note 1: It is important to note that the addition of participants is only possible in Step 1 - Event organization (once validated, it is no longer possible to add or delete participants) || Note 2: The organizer can modify registrations if necessary and check that everyone is registered.

Question 6

Remove a particpant after the event validation?

Accepted Answer

As in a materialized draw, it is complicated to add or remove participants once the draw is complete. Once your draw has been validated and the invitation emails sent, you have 2 options:

if time permits, cancel the event and restart as a new event with the new list of participants. Attention: this 2nd event will most probably designate a new draw for the participants of the 1st draw, make sure that they have not already prepared their gifts….,
if you have 3 new participants (or more), launch a new side event with these new participants.

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