My family has been doing gift exchanges ever since it got big enough that getting something for everyone became impractical. In 2019, I thought "I'm a programmer, surely there's an easier way" and this project was born. Soon after my wife's family wanted to use it too, now, 6 years later, you can too.

Why it exists.

Drawing names should be the fun part of a gift exchange. The usual ways of doing it get in the way:

  • Paper slips need everyone in one room, and someone always draws themselves.
  • Email generators ask the organizer to collect everyone's address and leave the draw sitting in a stranger's database.
  • The organizer usually knows everything, so the one person who did the work gets no surprise.

Picknames treats the draw as a small party game instead. Everyone joins from their own phone with a link or a short code, and the organizer plays like everyone else. Skips keep couples apart, wishes let you hope for someone, and the draw happens the moment the last person is ready. If people can't be there, their name waits for them.

What it won't ask for.

No account, no password, no email address, no phone number, and no home address. A room only keeps what it needs to run the draw: the names people type, their settings and anything they choose to share with the room. The privacy policy has the details, including how to have a room deleted.

How it stays free.

There's no paid version and nothing to unlock. Picknames pays for its servers in two ways:

  • Ads on pages like this one, kept away from the game itself. Nothing interrupts a draw.
  • Shopping links. When you open an item on someone's wishlist and buy it, the store may pay a small commission. The price is the same for you. Read the affiliate disclosure for how that works.

What's here.

Who runs it.

Picknames is made and run by Collapse LLC, a small independent studio in Arlington, Texas. Ideas, bug reports and "please delete my room" requests all go to hello@picknames.app, and a person reads every one.