A good draw meets three conditions: nobody gets their own name, the pairs that shouldn't happen don't, and each person knows only their own result.
Paper slips can manage it, but only if everyone is there and nobody cheats. Online, the app takes care of all three.
How to run a good draw
Paper slips: fine for eight, hard past twelve
Each name on a slip, all in a bowl, everyone draws one. It works for small groups in one room. With more people the problems start: someone draws their own name and the draw is redone in front of everyone, someone who didn't come relies on another person to draw for them, and if a slip gets lost there's no way to know what it said.
Online: everyone sees only their own result
In an online draw, each person gets their result on their own phone. There are no slips to lose and nothing to redo. Cuchumbo respects the exclusions you set, never gives anyone their own name, and shows nobody the full result, the organizer included. Participants don't need an account.
Set a sign-up deadline
Set a deadline to sign up and draw once it passes. If someone joins afterwards, Cuchumbo lets you shake again: anyone who has seen their result keeps it, and only unopened envelopes get reshuffled. If someone leaves, removing them refills only the envelope they leave empty.
Keep the secret until gift day
Nobody should be able to see anyone else's result, the organizer included. Then, when someone asks “who got Anna?”, “I don't know” is the truth. Send the budget and gift day in the same message as the draw link.
Run the draw in a minute
Type the names or invite people with a link, mark who can't draw whom, and Cuchumbo runs the draw. It's free, needs no account, and nobody sees the full list, not even you.
