Privacy policy

Last updated: 10 October 2026

Simple Santa Draw is a free, non-profit website for running Secret Santa gift draws. It has no ads, no tracking and no analytics, and we never sell or share your data for marketing. This page explains what we store, why, and what you can ask us to do with it.

Who runs it

Simple Santa Draw is run by Raivis Kiselis, a private individual in Latvia, as a hobby project. For anything about your data, email raiviskiselis02@gmail.com.

What we store

• Your account, if you create one: your email address and your password. The password is stored only in scrambled (hashed) form, so nobody can read it, us included.
• Google sign-in, if you use it: Google tells us your email address, your name and a link to your profile picture. We use your email address to identify your account; we don't use your name or picture for anything else.
• Draws: the draw name, budget, exchange date and message, and the first names the organizer types in.
• Taking part: which name you picked, who you drew, when, and, if you join as a guest, the email address you give us.
• Reveal log: the time each time an organizer uses "Reveal who got whom".
• Technical logs: like most websites, our server briefly records requests (IP address, browser type, page and time) to keep the site running and secure. These logs are deleted automatically as new ones come in.

Why we use it

Only to run the draw you asked for: to let people join and spin, to show organizers who has spun, and to send three kinds of email: account emails (confirming your address, resetting your password), your draw result, and one reminder before the gift exchange. We don't send newsletters or marketing.

Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we rely on providing the service you asked for (Article 6(1)(b)), and, for names an organizer enters on someone's behalf, our legitimate interest in running the draw that group set up (Article 6(1)(f)).

Google user data

Simple Santa Draw's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We only ask Google for your basic profile and email address, only use them to sign you in, and never share them or use them for advertising.

Who else handles data

• Hetzner Online GmbH hosts the website and its database on servers in Helsinki, Finland (EU).
• Brevo (Sendinblue SAS, France, EU) delivers our emails.
• Google handles sign-in if you choose "Continue with Google". Our pages also load the Bricolage Grotesque font from Google Fonts, which means your browser connects to Google's servers and they see your IP address.

Each of them only processes data to provide their service to us.

Cookies

We only use cookies the site needs to work: one that keeps you logged in (or, for guests, remembers which name you picked until you close your browser), and one that protects forms against forgery. No advertising or tracking cookies.

How long we keep it

Draws and the details in them are kept while the draw exists, so people can look up their result. Accounts are kept until you ask us to delete them. Nightly backups of the database are kept for 14 days and then deleted.

Your rights

You can ask us to show you the data we hold about you, correct it, delete it (your account, a draw you organize, or your details in a draw), or stop using it. Just email us at the address above and we'll reply within a month, usually much sooner. If you think we've handled your data wrongly, you can also complain to the Latvian data protection authority, the Data State Inspectorate (Datu valsts inspekcija).

Children

Simple Santa Draw isn't meant for children under 13 to use on their own. A parent or another adult can run a draw for a family that includes children.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update it here and change the date at the top.