How to run a Secret Santa for your sports club

The new season brings three new players who know nobody, a training night that runs late and a club dinner somewhere in December. A Secret Santa fits into that better than most people expect. The draw gives the new goalkeeper a reason to talk to the veteran, and the dinner gets a second half that is not the treasurer's speech.

A draw works for a team in a way it does not for an office

A club already has the thing a Secret Santa needs: people who see each other twice a week and notice things. Who always forgets a water bottle, who runs in the same shoes for three seasons, who complains about the cold at every 8 am match. That is more than most colleagues know about each other, and it makes the gifts better.

It also flattens the club for an evening. The captain and the player who joined in September get the same budget and the same job, and the newcomer who is still working out where to sit at dinner has a reason to be in the room.

Budget and timing

Set a budget of 10 to 25 per person and say it as a number. Student teams sit at the lower end; a veterans' side that goes for a meal afterwards can go higher. Above 25 a head, the present starts to matter more than the joke, which is the wrong way round for a club.

Do the draw four weeks before the reveal, so people can shop between training and matches. Good evenings for the reveal:

• The December dinner, when most of the club is already there
• The last training session before the winter break, with a drink in the clubhouse afterwards
• The end-of-season party, if the club prefers gifts in May
• The awards evening, if the club has one and it needs livening up

What to actually buy

Sports gifts are the easy route and they land: a Chilly's bottle for the player who always borrows one, Falke running socks, a Blackroll foam roller for the one with the calf problem, a beanie in the club colours for the 8 am kick-offs. None of these need you to know the person beyond the fact that they play.

Gifts outside the sport often work better. A bag of good coffee, a bottle of hot sauce, a card game for the bus to away matches, a book about their other hobby. Novelty socks and a mug with a joke on it are what people buy when they have not asked; ask, or look at their list.

If the season had a running joke (the own goal, the missed bus, the umpire everyone hates), a gift that references it gets kept longer than anything bought for the budget alone.

The reveal

Give the exchange twenty minutes of the evening, with a start and an end. One person hands out the parcels, each recipient guesses who drew them, the giver owns up. Guessing gets better once people remember who asked oddly specific questions about shoe sizes in November.

Some clubs give the first parcel to last season's player of the year, or let the coach go last. Take a photo of the whole team with the gifts; it does more for next year's recruitment than any flyer.

Organising it without the hassle

Names in a hat work until the striker draws himself and the winger loses his slip in his kit bag. An online draw sends everyone their name by email with the budget attached, nobody can draw themselves, and the organiser keeps no envelope. Each player can create a wishlist with three small things on it, which takes the guessing out of buying for the teammate you have only ever seen in shin pads.

Set it up the evening after training, while the squad list is in front of you. You can organise a Secret Santa for the club in a few minutes and have the names out before the next match.