What questions should be on a Secret Santa questionnaire?

Ask how the gift should reach them, three things they'd be happy to get, their drink and snack tastes, food allergies, anything they have plenty of, and what kind of gift they like best: cozy, useful, fun or tasty. Ten to twelve questions is enough.

How do I make a Secret Santa form for work?

Pick the questions, set the budget and say who to send it back to. The free form builder on this page turns that into text you can paste into an email, a chat message or a form tool, or a sheet you can print.

Should a Secret Santa questionnaire ask for home addresses?

No. Keep addresses off the shared form. For remote swaps, the organizer collects each address by private message and gives it only to that person's Secret Santa, or the pair uses a digital gift instead.

What is a good Secret Santa budget for work?

One amount everyone on the team is comfortable with, printed at the top of the form so nobody guesses. Many offices pick $20 or $25. If the company is paying, a gift box sent to everyone avoids the swap math entirely.

How does a Secret Santa questionnaire work for a remote team?

The same way, plus shipping: send the form with the sign-up, draw names online, collect addresses privately, and ask Santas to order about two weeks before the reveal. Then open the gifts together on a video call, with a game in between.

Can someone host our gift exchange party?

Yes. KraftyLab books live-hosted holiday games that run about 60 minutes around your gift reveal on Zoom, Teams, Meet or Webex. Hosted games book about 2 weeks ahead, and a free quote comes back with a full plan within 24 hours.

Secret Santa Questionnaire for Work: 24 Questions + Form

See the 24 questionsor have a host run the gift swap party

A coworker fills in a printed gift exchange questionnaire as a colleague points, with wrapped gifts nearby

The best Secret Santa questions for work help a coworker choose a gift in ten minutes, without making anyone share more than they want. Ask 10 to 12 of the 24 below, print the budget at the top, and keep home addresses off the form. The builder further down turns your picks into a form to copy or print.

24 Secret Santa questions for coworkers

Grouped the way a Santa reads them, each with why it helps. Pick 10 to 12; the builder has the essentials ticked already.

Name and delivery

Name for the gift tag, if differentNicknames and spellings vary; this saves an awkward tag.
How should your gift reach you? (At my desk / Shipped to me (I'll send my address to the organizer privately) / A digital gift is fine)Tells the Santa whether to wrap it, ship it or send a link.
Where will you open it? (At the party / On the video call / On my own time)Remote openers need the gift to arrive before the call.
Will you be away from your desk in the weeks before the swap?So a desk gift doesn't sit unopened while someone is on leave.

What you like

Three things you'd be happy to get within the budgetThe single most useful line on the form.
Your go-to warm drink, and how you take itOpens up mugs, local roasts, teas and cocoa mixes.
Sweet, salty or savory? (Sweet / Salty / Savory / Surprise me)The fastest way to narrow down a food gift.
What do you like doing on a free Saturday?Points to a hobby gift without asking for a list.
Something you're reading, watching or listening to latelyA book, a poster or a themed treat follows from it.
One thing on your desk you'd happily upgradeWork gifts that get used every day.
Do you collect anything? Pins, plants, stickers, ornaments?A collector is the easiest person to shop for.
A local bakery, café or shop near you that you loveA small treat from a favorite spot feels personal.

No-gos and allergies

Food allergies or ingredients your Santa must skipNon-negotiable for any edible gift. Keep it on every form.
Any foods you avoid? (No need to say why.)Covers vegan, kosher, halal, low-sugar and more, without anyone explaining.
Scents you'd rather not get in candles, soaps or lotionsScent is the most common gift that misses.
Anything you already have plenty of?Usually mugs. Sometimes water bottles.
Any gift you'd rather not receive, full stopGives people a polite way to opt out of a whole category.

Gift style

Which kind of gift makes you happiest? (Cozy / Useful / Fun / Tasty)One tick tells the Santa which aisle to start in.
Something for your desk or something to take home? (Desk / Home / Either)Matters most for remote and hybrid teammates.
A color you always pick, and one you never doHelps with anything from a scarf to a notebook.
Handmade gifts: love them, or prefer store-bought?Crafty Santas like to know before they start knitting.
Happy with a donation in your name instead of a gift? Which cause?Some people would rather give than get.

Fun extras

Your perfect winter afternoon in five wordsA fun clue, and it reads well at the reveal.
A small treat that instantly improves your dayGreat for a stocking stuffer or the card.

Want a longer about-me list for birthdays and thank-yous all year? Use our favorite things questionnaire. Setting a $25 limit? These corporate gifts under $25 ship a chocolate box straight to a teammate’s door.

Turn the gift reveal into a hosted holiday hour

On a video call, unwrapping drags when people go one by one and everyone else is on mute. A live host runs about an hour of holiday games before or after your reveal, so everyone plays and you just show up. Hosted games book about 2 weeks ahead.

Get a free quoteSend your date and headcount. A full plan comes back within 24 hours.

How to run the questionnaire

Send it with the sign-up. One message: join the swap, fill in the form, here's the budget and the reveal day.
Collect answers privately. A form tool, an email to the organizer or a sealed envelope. Never a reply-all or a shared channel.
Draw names, then pass on one form each. Each Santa gets the answers of the one person they drew, and nobody else's.
Follow up on blank allergy lines. A one-line private check before anyone buys food saves a gift and a bad afternoon.
Delete the answers after the swap. Next year's tastes will be different anyway, and nobody wants last year's form floating around.

Our free Secret Santa generator does the draw, and the Secret Santa rules for work cover budgets, deadlines and what not to gift.

Remote and hybrid swaps: addresses and shipping

Keep home addresses off the form. The organizer collects them by private message and passes each one only to that person's Santa.
Offer a digital option. Some people would rather not share an address at all. A digital gift sent to a work email still counts.
Ask Santas to order two weeks before the reveal. Holiday shipping runs slow, and a gift that arrives after the call loses its moment.
Go local or digital across borders. Shipping abroad costs more and can stall in customs, so a teammate in another country gets a local or digital gift.
Unwrap on the video call, one at a time. Each person guesses their Santa before the reveal, which keeps everyone watching.

An office manager opens a small wrapped gift at her desk while two coworkers watch and laugh

Rather skip the swap math? The company can send the same holiday gift box to every home and office, and the team opens them together at a virtual holiday party. More ideas for the call are in our virtual Secret Santa guide.

From answers to a gift

Start from the “three things” line. If it is blank, read the ticks.

Ticked Tasty, no allergies: a good chocolate box or a local bakery treat from their favorite spot.
Ticked Cozy: warm socks, a throw or a candle in a scent they didn't rule out.
Ticked Useful: the desk upgrade they named, done a little nicer than they'd buy themselves.
Ticked Fun: a puzzle, a card game or something tied to what they're reading or watching.
Wrote a cause: a donation in their name, with a card that says where it went.

Higher limit, or a manager buying for the whole team? See corporate gifts under $50, or browse Secret Santa gift ideas by budget.

Secret Santa questionnaire for work: 24 questions and a free form builder