❄My Pollyanna
Free · Since 2008

Secret Santa,
minus the group
chat chaos

Draw names, share wish lists, plan the potluck, and keep the secret. Kids get lists too. Takes about two minutes to set up.

See how it works
86
DAYS
20
HRS
07
MIN
29
SEC
'til Christmas
Everyone draws a name.

One click, the scroll unrolls, and only you see who you got.

Everyone posts a wish list.

No more guessing. Ask questions without revealing who's asking.

Everyone claims a dish.

Appetizers to desserts, by course, so nobody brings a fourth tray of brownies.

What is Pollyanna?

It's a gift exchange. Some families call it Secret Santa. Everyone draws one name, tells absolutely nobody, and shows up in December with one good present instead of twelve panic-bought candles.

Santa figured this out centuries ago: one list, one night, no double-buying. He has nine reindeer and a workshop full of elves. You have a group chat with forty-one unread messages and an aunt who replies "sounds good!" to every single one.

So we built you the workshop. The elves keep the lists, the reindeer do the running, and the names stay secret until the big reveal. Then the kids tear into wrapping paper, somebody's grandfather insists he didn't want anything, and the room gets loud in the best way.

The loud part is on you. The lists, the names, and who's bringing the ham, that's on us.

How it works

1
Start a group
Name it, set the date and the budget. Thirty seconds.
2
Add your people
As organizer, type their emails, or hand Comet a photo of your list, a screenshot from another site, or a spreadsheet and it reads them for you. They get one link that signs them up and drops them straight in.
3
Everyone posts wishes
Links from any store. Kids get lists too, added by a parent.
4
Open the draw
Everyone picks a name. Couples can be kept apart so nobody draws their spouse.
5
Shop
We read each list and suggest gifts that fit the budget.

What you get

Wish lists

Post what you'd love, with links from anywhere. Ask the giver a question without revealing who's asking: you show up as an Elf, like Elffren.

Gift ideas

Drew someone who just wrote "anything cozy"? We suggest real gifts from whatever they did say. Or hit Off the list for something they didn't ask for but would love anyway.

No double gifting

Claim a kid's wish and it quietly shows as taken. Nobody knows it was you.

Meal planning

The potluck, by course: appetizers, mains, desserts, drinks. Claim a dish and your name goes next to it, so nobody brings a fourth tray of brownies.

Chat and polls

Argue about the start time. Post anonymously if you're feeling brave.

The draw

An old scroll unrolls, and there's a name only you can see.

Kids get wish lists

Add the little ones without an email or a password. Everyone shops from the same list instead of three group texts.

Add everyone at once

The organizer hands Comet a photo of a paper list, a screenshot from another gift exchange site, or a spreadsheet. It reads the names and emails, you check them, then the invitations go out. A hundred people in about two minutes.

If you're the one running it

Someone always ends up herding everybody. It is usually the worst job in the family, so most of what is here is built for the organizer.

Add the whole group at once. A photo of your list, a screenshot from another gift exchange site, or a spreadsheet. You check the rows, then the invitations go out.
See who has joined and who hasn't. Everyone shows as joined, waiting, or not emailed yet, and one press reminds the stragglers.
Tell everyone something. An update about the date or the address reaches the people who haven't joined yet too, along with their invitation.
Keep couples apart. Set who can't draw whom before you open the draw.
Start from last year. Bring back the same people, the same wording and the same rules, with the wishes cleared.

Who can join

Any group at all. Families, offices, book clubs, bowling leagues, and yes, Santa, the elves, and the reindeer.

Kids don't need an account. A parent adds them and posts their wishes, so grandma has something to shop from.
Coming for the food but not the gifts? Join the menu and the chat, skip the draw.
One person can run several groups. Family, work, and the neighbours all at once.
Big groups are fine. An office of a hundred goes in from one spreadsheet or a photo of the sign-up sheet.

Why not just use a group chat?

Plenty of gift-exchange sites exist. Here's what's actually different about this one.

Meal planning lives with the gift exchange. Sign up for the potluck dish you are bringing in the same place you drew names, by course, so nobody ends up with four desserts and no bread.
Kids get their own wish lists, so the whole family shops from one place and nobody buys the same toy twice.
Kids don't need an email or a password. A parent posts for them and everyone can still see the list.
Already running this somewhere else? Screenshot your member list from the other site and Comet reads it in. No retyping sixty email addresses.
Questions on a wish are anonymous by default. Ask about size or color without giving away that you're shopping.

Where this came from

My Pollyanna started in 2008, in a family geeky enough to put their wish lists online so nobody had to ask twice. It ran every December for years: wishes, then messages, then a menu, then polls about what time to eat. This is that same thing, rebuilt. Still free. Still ours. Now yours too.

What it costs

Nothing. When we suggest a gift and you buy it, the store sends us a few cents, and that pays for the site. You never pay anything, and we never sell your data or your family's email addresses.

Get everyone in one room

Two minutes now saves a month of group chat.

Got invited?