Where Secret Santa comes from, and what it is called elsewhere

Everyone knows how it works: draw a name, buy for that person only, say nothing until the presents come out. What almost nobody knows is that the name “Secret Santa” is barely older than the photocopier, and that half of Europe plays the same game under a completely different one.

An American name for an older habit

The phrase spread through American offices in the second half of the twentieth century. Before it settled, the same exchange went by Pollyanna in parts of the United States — a name borrowed from the relentlessly cheerful heroine of a 1913 novel, and still used today around Philadelphia.

The idea itself is older than the label. Drawing lots to decide who gives what is a very old way of solving a very practical problem: a group that wants to exchange presents without anyone going broke. What the twentieth century added was the workplace, and with it the need for a rule that treats everyone the same regardless of salary.

Wichteln, in German-speaking countries

A Wichtel is a house sprite — the small helpful figure that leaves things for you overnight. Wichteln is the verb built from it, and it is what Germany, Austria and Switzerland call the exchange.

German-speaking groups have also produced the most inventive variations anywhere:

• Schrottwichteln — literally “junk wichteln”. Everyone brings something ugly, useless, or already lurking in a cupboard. The competition is for the worst gift, not the best.
• Räuberwichteln — the robbery version, where an unwrapped present can be stolen from someone who has already opened it.
• Motto-Wichteln — a theme decided in advance: only homemade, only edible, only blue.

Amigo invisible, in Spain and Latin America

The invisible friend. The name says something the English one does not: the point is not the giving, it is the not being seen.

Spanish-speaking groups often add a guessing round. Before the reveal, everyone tries to work out who had them, sometimes helped by clues left through the weeks beforehand. It stretches a two-minute moment into an evening.

Lootjes trekken, in the Netherlands and Belgium

Dutch families draw for Sinterklaas on 5 December rather than for Christmas, and their version asks the most of its players. Two traditions come attached:

• De surprise — the present arrives inside something handmade, often elaborate, usually built out of cardboard and papier-mâché over several evenings.
• Het gedicht — a poem, teasing but affectionate, read aloud before the gift is opened.

A Dutch draw is therefore made weeks in advance, because the craft takes longer than the shopping.

Kris Kringle, in Ireland and Australia

From Christkindl, the German Christ Child. The name travelled to Ireland and Australia and stayed there while the rest of the English-speaking world moved to Secret Santa. The rules are the same; only the label survived the journey.

Babbo Natale segreto, in Italy

The most literal translation of the lot, and the most recent arrival. Italian groups often keep the exchange for the office and the group of friends rather than the family, where presents still tend to go to everyone.

What every version has in common

Strip away the names and the same three rules remain everywhere:

1. Each person gives to exactly one other person.
2. Nobody knows the full set of matches.
3. One gift, one budget, agreed in advance.

That is the whole mechanism. The rest — the poems, the theft, the deliberately terrible presents — is decoration a group adds because it makes the evening its own.

Choosing a version for your group

The elaborate variants need something the simple ones do not: time, and a group that wants to spend it. A Dutch surprise takes evenings. A guessing round needs everyone in the same room. Junk wichteln needs a group that will not take a bad present personally.

Start from the group rather than the tradition. Then draw the names, agree the budget, and leave the rest alone.