The Colombian draw is the ordinary one: names into a bag, one slip each, nobody says who they got. What belongs to the country is the calendar and what happens in the meantime.
Two seasons instead of one, and a run of anonymous little gifts carrying clues that stretches the game across several days.
Understand those two things and you understand why an office in Bogotá plays this differently from one in London.
Four marks of the Colombian version
Two seasons: September and December
Colombia celebrates love and friendship on the third Saturday of September, not on February 14: in 2026 it falls on September 19.
Amigo secreto is the central game of that date in offices, schools and universities. December brings the second round, in the novena season.
The same person can end up in two exchanges in one year, with different groups and a different mood in each.
The endulzadas: unsigned sweets and a clue
Before the gifts are handed over, everyone endulza, sweetens, their amigo secreto: they leave a treat or a small something, unsigned, along with a clue about who they are.
How many to leave, how often and where is agreed within the group; there's no national rule. What every version shares is the calibration of the clue: too clear and the game ends early, too vague and nobody suspects a thing.
December: the novena, and the aguinaldos beside it
From December 16 to 24, the novena de aguinaldos gathers families and teams for nine evenings of prayers, carols and food.
Around it run little betting games also called aguinaldos: pajita en boca, sí y no, dar y no recibir, tres pies, beso robado.
They're a neighboring tradition rather than the same one, and their rules change from region to region and household to household.
Amigo secreto shares the season with them and is often organized at the same gathering, but it keeps its own mechanics: one name, one secret, one gift.
The handover: guess first, then the name
One of the most common ways to close is not to hand the gift over right away: the group goes back over the clues that circulated and tries to work out together who had whom, before each person owns up and gives.
It isn't the only way. Some groups play the plain version with no clues, and some do the whole thing in a single day. The custom allows variants, and it's worth agreeing which one you're playing before the draw.
Running it in this app
Set gift day to the day you meet and leave the days before for the endulzadas. Since nobody, the organizer included, can see who has whom, nobody can give the game away.
In the app's hints, everyone can say which sweets they like. If you play in both September and December, create two separate exchanges: they're usually different groups.
Amigo secreto, in September or in December
No account, nothing to install, free. Enter the names and the date you'll meet, share one link, and each person sees only who they drew. The endulzadas are up to the group.
