The 8 question Secret Santa questionnaire, plus 40 more to swap in

A Secret Santa questionnaire is a short list of questions each person answers about themselves, so whoever draws their name has something to go on. It exists because people will not write a wishlist for a coworker they barely know, but they will answer "coffee or tea?" in a group chat. Eight questions is the right length. Below that you learn nothing useful; above it, half the group never finishes.

Here is the short version to copy, a longer bank if you want to swap questions in, and the simplest way to collect answers.

The 8 question version

Paste this into the group chat or the email that goes out with the draw. Ask people to reply in the thread or to the organizer.

1. What's something small you'd never buy yourself but would love to get?
2. Coffee, tea, or neither? How do you take it?
3. Sweet or salty? Any snack you can't resist?
4. What do you do on a Saturday with nothing planned?
5. What's a color or pattern you'd never wear or put in your house?
6. Anything you're allergic to or don't eat?
7. A store you'd be happy to get a gift card from?
8. One thing you definitely don't need more of?

Question 1 does most of the work. The answer is nearly always a gift: nice socks, a good pen, the fancy hot sauce, a hardcover of a book they already own in paperback. Question 8 saves the most money, because it keeps the person who already has forty candles from getting a forty-first.

Why a questionnaire instead of a wishlist

For a family, make a list. Everyone knows each other, the budget is probably higher, and a list of actual things is better than hints. How to run a family Secret Santa covers that, and in Heaps everyone keeps their own list year round, so there is nothing to collect.

For an office, a volunteer group or a friend-of-a-friend exchange, a questionnaire is better, for three reasons. People feel weird listing things they want from a coworker. The budget is usually $20 to $25, which is more "a nice version of something you use" than "a thing you want." And the answers are funnier than a list, which is half the point of an office exchange.

The longer bank, sorted by what it is for

Swap any of these into the short form. Keep it to eight to ten questions total.

Questions that produce an actual gift

• What's a thing you use every day that could be nicer?
• What's the last thing you bought that made you happy?
• Is there a hobby you've been meaning to start?
• What's your go-to order at a coffee shop?
• What's a book, show or band you'd recommend to anyone?
• If you had $25 to spend on yourself right now, where would you go?
• What's always running out at your desk or in your kitchen?
• Do you cook? What's your thing?

Questions that prevent a bad gift

• Any allergies or foods you avoid?
• Do you drink? Beer, wine, cocktails, none?
• Do you have pets or kids? (Rules out candles, loud things and chocolate.)
• Fragrance: love it, tolerate it, or please no?
• Anything you collect? Anything you're trying to stop collecting?
• What's a gift you've received that you quietly got rid of?

Questions about size and fit

Only ask these if clothes are in play, and keep them optional.

• Shirt size, if you'd be happy to get something to wear.
• Shoe size, same deal.
• Do you wear hats? Scarves? Gloves? Which do you actually use?
• Ring or bracelet size, if jewelry is something you'd want.

Questions for an office exchange

• Tea or coffee at your desk, and from what kind of mug?
• Do you decorate your desk? What's on it?
• What's a small annoyance at work a gift could fix? (Cold hands, a dying phone, a dim desk.)
• What's your commute like? Train, car, bike, walk?
• Lunch from home or bought? Would a nice lunch container be a win or an insult?

Questions that are mostly for fun

Pick one or two. They make the answers worth reading, and the gift that references one of these is the gift that gets talked about.

• What would you do with a free afternoon and no phone?
• What's your most irrational dislike?
• Which fictional character would you want to have dinner with?
• What's a song you'd put on at a party?
• What's a skill you wish you had?
• If you were a kitchen utensil, which one?
• Early bird or night owl, and are you proud of it?
• What's a thing everyone loves that you don't get?

The one question to always include

• Is there anything you really don't want? Be honest.

People are polite in gift questionnaires right up until this one. It is where "no more mugs, please, I'm begging" comes out, and it is the answer the giver needs most.

How to collect the answers

The group chat. Post the questions, ask everyone to reply in the thread, and the organizer copies each person's answers into the message that goes to their Santa. Works for groups under ten. Above that it is a mess, because you are scrolling through forty messages to find Dana's answers.

A form. A Google Form with eight short-answer questions takes five minutes to build and gives you a spreadsheet. The organizer still has to send each person their recipient's row, but at least the rows exist.

With the draw. If you draw names with the free Secret Santa generator, set the budget and date on the draw, then put the questionnaire in the same group message as the reveal links. People answer once and the organizer forwards. The generator never shows the organizer who drew whom, so answers go out to everyone and each person only reads the one they need.

Skip it entirely. For a family exchange, have everyone keep a list in Heaps instead. The person who draws Grandma sees Grandma's actual list, nobody has to answer a question about their shoe size, and the list is there again next year.

Questions people ask

What questions should be on a Secret Santa questionnaire?

Keep it to about eight. Ask for one small thing they'd never buy themselves, coffee or tea, sweet or salty, a weekend habit, a color they dislike, allergies, a store they'd accept a gift card from, and one thing they do not need more of. That covers wants, tastes and things to avoid without feeling like a form.

How many questions should a Secret Santa questionnaire have?

Eight to ten. Fewer than five and the Santa has nothing to go on. More than twelve and a chunk of the group never finishes, which means some people's Santas get nothing. If a question does not help someone pick a gift, cut it.

Should you ask for clothing sizes on a Secret Santa questionnaire?

Only if the budget supports clothing and only as an optional question. For a $20 office exchange, sizes make people uncomfortable for no reason, since nobody is buying a sweater at that price. Socks, gloves and hats are the exceptions, and "do you actually wear hats?" is a better question than a hat size.

How do you share Secret Santa questionnaire answers with each person's Santa?

Collect answers in one place (a group thread or a form), then the organizer sends each person their recipient's answers privately. If the draw is done with a generator that gives everyone a private reveal link, send the whole set of answers to the group and each person reads the one that matches their draw.

Run it in Heaps.

Everyone keeps their list in one place, the family joins with a six letter code, and the name draw is one tap once everyone's in.