Need your ideas, clever MNers; Any alternatives to a "secret santa"?

[TheOnlyOliviaMumsnet]

So every year for the last half dozen or so, the adults in my family have done a secret santa.

That's: -
Me and DH,
Dsis and DBIL,
Dbro and DSIL
and
DMum and DDad

We usually pick from a hat and then end up re-drawing because the idea is that we don't want to buy the secret santa for our own spouses.

I would prefer to have a Nominated santa where people know who's buying for whom but rest of my family v keen on the secret part.
We dont manage to get togeter the 8 of us v often and we missed the opportunity to draw names last time we saw each other
Any thoughts on other ways we can do this? ?

TIA MNers

Two ways we've done it in the past are having a kind, not involved, third party do the drawing and then email everyone or using www.secretsantaelf.co.uk. I don't think the website will allow you to exclude partners though.

Thanks bestlaidplans
We had a kind soul do it for us one year and someone got two lots of presents meaning someone else got none nightmare

That santa elf thing looks good - I wonder if we could try and hope that we didn't get our spouse.

Or anything else I'm not thinking of??
thanks again MNers

Why not each person write an anonymous spec. Like in a pork or something with some hints about what they'd like ?

Send your list to me and I'll pick them for you.

divide the list of people into 2, making sure sposes are in opposite pots. Assuming you are all heterosexual men in one, women in another will work,

Then put the 2 sets of names separately into the website linked to above?

@CacklinCrochetKate

divide the list of people into 2, making sure sposes are in opposite pots. Assuming you are all heterosexual men in one, women in another will work,

Then put the 2 sets of names separately into the website linked to above?

Didn't think of that. Thanks

Thicko