This secret santa script will automatically "pull from a hat" a recipient for each secret santa and send a notification email to each santa's inbox of who their gift recipient is.
It ensures that no one knows who their secret santa is... not even you! (That is, unless you really want to know).
- Python3
- Gmail mail account (used to send the email notifications)
NOTE: Currently, the script and these instructions only support working with a Gmail account.
git clone https://github.com/jmarkowski/secret-santa.git
Make your desired modifications to the config.py configuration file.
In it, you must specify:
- The SMTP settings.
- The list of secret santas.
- An email template.
- Optionally a lookup of anyone who should not be someone elses santa.
$ ./send-letters.py
This will read the configuration file and perform a "dry run" of the various
pairings between secret Santas and recipients. It will generate an output file
as specified by the record_file setting in config.py (by default
it is secret-santa-email-record.txt).
This script relies on a simple SMTP method of sending emails, and the SMTP
settings in config.py will depend on your preferred service to use.
One cheap option would be to use Amazon SES, with instructions on how to obtain credentials here.
If you know of other, better, simpler ways, feel free to add them here with a pull request.
Send a test email to confirm that the SMTP configuration is set up correctly:
$ ./send-letters.py --send-test-email [email protected]
If it runs without any errors, then you're ready to send the secret Santa emails.
$ ./send-letters.py --official
This will send out the emails and record what emails it sent into the file
specified by the record_file setting in config.py.
Don't look at the contents of this file, unless you want to know who everyone's secret Santa is!
It will sequentially send emails to everyone.
Enjoy and have a Merry Christmas!
- Add support for allowing a recipient to have a gift "wish list" that may be added in an email.