Secret Santa Gift Swap Goes High-Tech

It may not even be Thanksgiving yet, but in my mind, it's never too early to think about Christmas. This year, you can add a modern twist to your annual Secret Santa gift swap. Check out Elfster.com. This site helps organize the entire gift exchange while maintaining secrecy in a high-tech way. Elfster.com is free (though registration is required). It lets you recruit willing participants, draws names for you, and lets all the participants know who they should be buying a gift for. If you're thinking that you don't need the Web for that, well, you may be right. But Elfster.com does more--it lets you contact your gift recipient and ask anonymous questions, allowing you to find the right gift without revealing your identity. Elfster.com has additional benefits: the site has sponsors for certain charities. If the organizer of your exchange has selected a favorite charity, and Elfster.com has a sponsor for that charity, the site will arrange to make a small donation. So not only is it easier than ever to swap gifts with your friends and family, you can do a good deed at the same time.

(Posted by: Liane Cassavoy at PC World Magazine Monday, November 22, 2004, 01:13 PM (PST)

Signing Off. Until next time, I'll see ya on the Blog! drh.