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Birthdays

One birthday each to look after, all year

Draw once at the start of the year, and everyone knows whose birthday is theirs. No more group chat scrambling at eleven the night before.

Set up our birthday draw

Free · One draw for the whole year · Ready in three minutes

You look afterJack

Why draw for birthdays

Groups that celebrate every birthday usually do it badly: a message the night before, a whip-round half the group misses, and a card signed in the corridor five minutes before.

Drawing names once a year fixes it. Each person looks after exactly one birthday, knows months in advance, and has the time and the budget to do it properly.

How to organise it

  1. 1

    Draw at the start of the year

    January is the natural moment: no birthday has passed yet and everyone gets eleven months of notice.

  2. 2

    Add everyone

    First name, last name, email. Keep the birthday dates somewhere everyone can see — the draw only decides who looks after whom.

  3. 3

    Mark who cannot draw whom

    Partners, desk neighbours, anyone who already covers each other: flag the pairs and the draw avoids them.

  4. 4

    Send the draw

    Everyone gets a private link and scratches a card. You see who has opened theirs, never who drew whom.

Worth agreeing on first

A budget per birthday, not per year
Set the ceiling for one gift. A yearly figure sounds smaller and quietly pushes whoever draws the January birthday to spend more than the rest.
Say what "looking after" means
A gift, a cake, booking the table, or all three. Groups that skip this end up with one person doing everything and another doing nothing.
Decide what happens to newcomers
Someone will join in March. Agree now whether they enter the draw or wait for next year, so the answer is not improvised.
Dates public, matches secret
Everyone needs the calendar; nobody needs to know who has whom. That is the whole point of drawing rather than assigning.

Common questions

How many people do you need?

Three is the minimum. With two there is no secret: each one knows they are looking after the other.

What if a birthday falls right after the draw?

Run the draw at least a couple of weeks before the first birthday of the year. Whoever draws it otherwise gets no notice at all.

Will I see who drew whom?

No. The matches are encrypted and never displayed, including to you as the organiser. Your dashboard shows progress only.

Does everyone need an account?

No. Each person gets a private link by email that works straight away. Only you sign in, and by email link rather than a password.

What if someone joins mid-year?

Add them anyway. Pindao slots the newcomer into the cycle, so exactly one existing match changes and only that person is told.

Can we redraw next year?

Yes, and most groups do. A fresh draw each January keeps it from settling into the same pairs year after year.

One draw now, twelve birthdays covered

Add everyone, send the draw, and let each person scratch.

Set up our birthday drawPindao