Secret Santa questionnaire, a wish list form to print or fill in.

A Secret Santa questionnaire is a short form that each person fills in so their Santa knows what to buy. It stops the guessing: the colleague who cannot eat nuts, the cousin who has too many candles, the friend who would love a particular kind of tea. This page makes the form for you. Choose the questions, print it, or fill it in on the page and send the answers to whoever is running the draw.

How to use it

1. Type the Event name, and add the Gift day and Budget if you want them printed at the top.
2. Tick the questions under Questions to ask. Eight are on to start with. Add your own under Your own questions, one on each line, up to six.
3. Choose One or Two forms on a page, and A4 or US Letter. The preview shows the page exactly as it will print.
4. Press Save the blank form as PDF and print as many copies as you need.
5. To answer on screen instead, open Fill it in here, type your name and answers, and press Copy my answers for the organiser.

Choosing questions that help

A form with fewer questions gets answered. Five to eight well chosen questions give a Santa plenty to work with. The questions that tend to matter most are allergies, something the person would love, something to avoid and a link to a wish list. Favourite colours, treats and hobbies give extra ideas when the budget is small. Clothing size is off by default because many groups would rather skip clothes.

If you ask for more than nine questions, the form takes a whole page, because two forms would not fit. With nine or fewer, two forms share a page and you can cut it in half.

From answers to the draw

The on-screen version ends in one line, in the form Name | Question: answer; Question: answer. For example:

Casey | Hobbies and things you enjoy: plants, baking; Allergies or things you cannot have: nuts

The organiser pastes each person's line into Names, one on each line in the Secret Santa generator. The text after the bar becomes that person's hint, so whoever draws Casey sees it on their private link and on their printed slip. Each hint is cut at 300 characters, so ask for short answers.

If you would rather send a link than a line, press Copy a link to my answers. The link holds your answers after the # sign, which browsers do not send to a website, so this page never receives them. Anyone who opens the link sees the answers, so send it only to the organiser.

Printing

On paper, each question has one to three ruled lines, depending on how many questions you chose. The form fills the page, so fewer questions mean more writing room. A filled-in PDF uses the same layout with your answers typed on the lines, which is handy for a person who wants to hand in paper.

Keeping it fair

• Say the budget on the form. People answer differently when they know the limit.
• Remind people that the organiser will pass their answers to one other person, not the whole group.
• Do not ask for anything you do not need. A shoe size is not needed for a candle.