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At school

Every pupil gives one gift, and every pupil gets one

A class of thirty and thirty gifts, instead of the same three children being remembered. Draw the names, and nobody counts what they received against what they gave.

Set up our class draw

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You are giving toFinn

Why a draw belongs in a classroom

Left to itself, a class exchange follows friendships: the popular children end up with a pile and the quiet ones with nothing. A draw removes that entirely — everyone gives once and everyone receives once, and the reason is chance rather than anybody’s standing.

It also teaches something small and real. Keeping a secret for two weeks, choosing for somebody you would not have picked, handing a thing over in front of others: none of that is on the curriculum, and all of it lands.

How to organise it

  1. 1

    Set a low ceiling first

    Five euros, and say it in the same message as the invitation. A cap decided late is a cap some families have already overspent.

  2. 2

    Use the address that reads email

    A parent, a guardian, or the class account for pupils without an inbox. Nobody creates an account, and nothing has to be installed on a school device.

  3. 3

    Mark the siblings and the neighbours

    Two children from one household drawing each other means one family buys twice and the exchange never leaves their kitchen.

  4. 4

    Send the draw

    Each pupil gets a private link and scratches a card. You see who has opened theirs, never who drew whom — which is what lets you chase the three who have not.

Worth deciding before you send it

Keep the budget genuinely small
Five euros, not "around ten". The point of a low cap is that no family has to think about it, and every euro above that is a family doing sums.
Say that homemade counts
Say it explicitly, in the first message. A drawing, something baked, something built: children produce better gifts than shops do, and it takes the price out of the comparison.
Plan for the pupil who forgets
One will. Keep a wrapped spare in the cupboard and hand it over as though it had always been planned — the child receiving it should never learn which one it was.
Open them all at once
Thirty children opening in turn takes an hour and loses the room. All together, then five minutes for everyone to show what they got.

Common questions

How many pupils do you need?

Three is the technical minimum. A class of any size works, and the draw is faster to set up than a list on the board.

What about pupils without an email address?

Use a parent or guardian address, or the class account. The link is the only credential — there is no account to create and no password for a child to remember.

Can I stop two pupils from drawing each other?

Yes. Flag siblings, cousins, anyone from the same household. If the exclusions make a valid draw impossible, Pindao says so before a single email goes out.

Will I see who drew whom?

No. The matches are encrypted and never displayed, including to you. Your dashboard shows who has opened their card, which is what you need to nudge the ones who have not.

What if a pupil joins the class in December?

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

Is it suitable for younger children?

Yes, with the parent address doing the reading. Younger classes usually scratch the cards together on the interactive board, which turns the reveal into the lesson.

Thirty pupils, thirty gifts, nobody counting

Add the class, send the draw, and let everyone scratch.

Set up our class drawPindao