This probably won’t be very useful to you this year since it’s already December 17, but I must tell you about a super fun and useful app we found this year. I shared about this on my Instastory a few weeks ago, and I’m pretty obsessed with it.
Our family decided to do a secret santa this year to be a little more minimalist in our gift giving. We’re spread out between NJ – SC, so we wanted to include everyone in the Christmas fun!
So what’s the app?
Elfster!
I saw a few other options for Secret Santa name generators, but Elfster had more invitation options. Most of these services only offer email invites, and I just didn’t have everyone’s email address. Elfster has a link option, which worked well for our little family facebook message.
Within the site/ app, you can add anything you want to your wishlist. This really helps your friends and family have a better idea about what to get you (an awesome option for coworker secret santa). You can be specific and add links from any other shopping sites, or just write down some general suggestions.
Elfster also has “draw restrictions” so it doesn’t pull your immediate family members or something.
If you can’t tell, I was pretty happy when I found this site… If you’re ever on a party planning committee, I hope this is helpful!
Minimalist Gift Giving
We’ve been thinking about two aspects of minimalism in this crazy time of the year… First of all, the moment when people want to know what you want for Christmas and you kind of don’t want anything. Our Secret Santa this year solved that problem because we’re only receiving one gift (instead of something from everyone).
Second, it helped the family save some money by not buying a bunch of gifts that we probably don’t need…. As much as I love choosing fun gifts for each person and opening packages on Christmas Eve, I’m mostly excited to hang out with my family! We already have so much, it’s better to save the money and donate it to those in need.
