A family of seven, a bowl of folded slips, Christmas Eve. The first person draws their own husband, laughs and puts the slip back.
The second draws themselves. By the third round half the table has seen who has whom and the secret is gone. A draw with restrictions avoids that scene: before the names are dealt, you tell the app which pairs must never meet, and it deals only the combinations that remain. No slip goes back in the bowl, nobody redraws, and the mystery holds.
How to set up a draw with restrictions
Decide who is kept apart before you invite
Think about who shouldn't draw each other before the link goes out: people who already swap gifts at home, siblings, a parent and a child who live together.
The fewer restrictions, the better. Every one takes options away from the draw, and a restriction nobody would miss only makes it harder.
Add the pairs on your organizer page
While the exchange is still a draft, open “Two who shouldn't draw each other” on your organizer page, pick the two names and press “Keep them apart”.
A pair works in both directions: neither gives to the other. The section counts your pairs and each one can be undone. Once the names are drawn the pairs are no longer in force, so set them first.
Let the draw tell you when it's impossible
Some combinations can't be dealt. With three people and one pair kept apart, somebody always ends up with the wrong name.
If your pairs leave the draw nowhere to go, Cuchumbo tells you on the same page instead of dealing a broken draw: undo one pair and draw again. Small groups are the ones that hit this wall.
Avoid last year's pair when you repeat
When you create next year's exchange with “Repeat”, Cuchumbo tries to keep everyone from drawing the same person as last year.
If the group is too small or has too many exclusions to avoid it, it still makes a valid draw and tells the organizer that one pair repeated.
Don't explain the restrictions to the group
You can tell the group the draw has a few rules without saying which. “Nobody draws their partner” is a fair announcement; “Ana and Luis are kept apart” is a conversation.
If someone asks why they didn't get a certain person, the answer is the usual one: the draw is sealed, and not even you can see it.
Set your restrictions and draw
Create the exchange, add the names and, before the draw, mark the pairs that must stay apart. The draw is sealed: nobody sees who has whom, the organizer included.
