How to run Secret Santa, Halloween and Advent events on Discord

To run Secret Santa on Discord, you need four things: a sign-up period, a random draw where nobody gets themselves, a private message to every Santa with their giftee’s name and wishlist, and a reveal day. Halloween and Advent events are simpler: members run a command during the event window and win (or lose) a few coins, once per cooldown or once per day. What makes all three work is the same: clear dates, rules everyone can see, and nothing that depends on a moderator being online at midnight.

This guide covers a holiday calendar for a Discord server, how to run Secret Santa by hand (and where that goes wrong), and how to set up BotGG’s Seasonal Packs: Halloween trick-or-treat with /trickortreat, an Advent calendar with /advent from December 1 to 24, Secret Santa with /santa join, and New Year or Hanukkah collectibles in your Shop. Each pack has its own switch and its own dates, and it starts again by itself every year. Rewards are paid in your server’s virtual currency: coins that exist only inside your server and have no cash value.

A holiday calendar for your server

Holiday events work best when members know what is coming. Pick the ones that fit your community and post the dates early.

A few rules of thumb:

• One main event per period. Secret Santa can run alongside Advent, because it needs little attention once sign-ups close.
• Pin the dates and use your server’s time zone. “Door 5 opens at midnight” should mean midnight where most of your members live.
• Keep rewards modest. Holiday coins should feel like a gift, not double your economy in a month. The server economy guide explains how to balance earning and spending.

Running Secret Santa by hand (and why it leaks)

Many servers start with a Google Form and a spreadsheet: members submit their name and wishlist, an organizer shuffles the list, writes down who gives to whom and sends each Santa a DM. It works for ten people. Past that, the same problems show up every year:

1. The organizer knows every pair. Whoever runs the draw can’t take part fairly, and one screenshot of the sheet spoils the whole event.
2. Bad draws. A manual shuffle can give someone their own name, or split the group into two closed loops, and you notice only when you’re writing the DMs.
3. Dropouts after the draw. Someone leaves, and the organizer re-draws by hand while the first DMs are already out.
4. Wishlists in public. Wishlists posted in a channel are seen by everyone, not just the person who needs them.
5. Closed DMs and copy-paste. Fifty participants means fifty hand-written messages, and members with closed DMs never get theirs.

A bot fixes the parts that need to be automatic: a draw nobody sees, a DM nobody types, and a way to read your match again if the DM didn’t arrive.

Set up holiday events with BotGG

Open https://console.botgg.app, pick your server and go to Engagement → Seasonal Packs. The feature is off by default. When you switch it on, the /trickortreat, /advent and /santa commands are registered for your server.

The Packs tab shows one card per pack with its switch, state (Off, Opens …, Open until …), dates and quick stats. Halloween and Advent are on by default once the feature is enabled; Secret Santa and Holiday items start off. All dates are month + day in your server’s time zone, which you set under Bot settings → Time zone. Cooldowns, opened doors and Santa rounds are kept per season, so every pack restarts by itself the next year.

Coins move through the Bank. If the Bank is off, the packs still run, but no coins change hands, and the console shows a reminder.

Halloween trick-or-treat

On the Halloween tab, set the dates (October 24 to November 1 by default) and the rules:

• Cooldown: time between two rolls of the same member, 60 minutes by default.
• Odds: the share of rolls that are treats, 70 % by default.
• Treat: coins won: 10 to 60 coins by default.
• Trick: coins lost: 5 to 25 coins by default. A trick never takes more than the member has.
• Channels: leave it on Anywhere, or limit the game to an event channel so it doesn’t flood general chat.

Members type /trickortreat. The answer is posted in the channel (half the fun is seeing other people get tricked), with the coins won or lost and the member’s treats and tricks this season. The tab shows players, treats, tricks and net coins for the season.

Advent calendar

The Advent calendar runs from December 1 to 24. Each day, /advent opens that day’s door and pays its reward. On the Advent tab you set:

• Door 1: coins behind the first door (25 by default).
• More per day: how much each door adds over the previous one (5 by default).
• Door 24 bonus: an extra prize behind the last door (250 by default).

With the defaults, door 24 pays 390 coins and a member who opens every door gets 2,230 in total; the tab previews all 24 doors and the total as you type. Turn on Catch-up if members may open doors they missed (one per use, oldest first); leave it off if the point is showing up every day. A Completion role can be given to members who open all 24 doors. BotGG never grants roles with dangerous permissions. The tab shows doors opened per day as a chart and a table.

Secret Santa

Secret Santa is off by default. On the Secret Santa tab:

1. Set Sign-ups open and Sign-ups close (December 1 to 15 by default) and the Reveal day (December 25). The draw runs the day after sign-ups close.
2. Pick an Announcement channel. It gets the sign-up post with a Join Secret Santa button, the draw notice and the reveal. Without a channel, members simply use /santa.
3. Write a Budget members will see in the sign-up post and in their DM, for example “≈ $10 or a handmade gift”.
4. Set Minimum participants (3 by default). With fewer people, the round is cancelled and the channel is told why.
5. Keep Public reveal on to post every pair in the channel on the reveal day, or turn it off to keep pairs private forever.

When sign-ups open, members press the button (a short form asks for a wishlist, optional, up to 300 characters) or use /santa join [wishlist]. Running the command again updates the wishlist. /santa leave works until the draw; /santa status shows whether sign-ups are open, how many people joined and, after the draw, who your giftee is. All /santa replies are visible only to the member who used the command.

The day after sign-ups close, BotGG draws one random loop through every participant: nobody draws themselves, everyone gives exactly one gift and gets exactly one, and last year’s pairs are avoided when possible. Every Santa gets a DM with their giftee, the giftee’s wishlist and the budget. If a member’s DMs are closed, the console marks it, and the member reads the same match with /santa status.

Privacy is built in. The pairs never leave the bot except in the DM to each Santa and the optional public reveal. Even the console shows who gifted whom only after the reveal, so organizers can join in too. Before the draw you can remove a participant, and you can cancel a round at any time. The number of participants per round depends on the plan: 50 on Free and 500 on Pro.

New Year and Hanukkah items in the Shop

The Holiday items tab adds themed collectibles to your Shop. Choose a Theme: New Year (sparkler, tree ornament, New Year toast, mystery gift box), Hanukkah (Hanukkah candle, sufganiyah, chocolate gelt, dreidel) or Both, then press Add 8 items to Shop (4 for a single theme). The items are created in Shop’s main store in your server’s language, with starting prices from 100 to 500 coins that you can change in Shop at any time.

The items are on sale only inside the pack’s window (December 1 to January 7 by default) and hidden outside it, so they come back every season without any work. Hanukkah follows the Hebrew calendar and moves around on the Gregorian one; some years it starts in late November, so check the dates and widen the window if needed. Remove items deletes them from Shop; members who bought one keep it in their history.

Recommended settings

Automate around the packs with Flows

With Flows, the packs can trigger anything else in BotGG. The triggers are Trick-or-treat (filter by outcome or a minimum amount), Advent door opened (from a given day, or only when someone completes the calendar), Secret Santa sign-up and Secret Santa matched. Actions can read a pack’s state, a member’s Advent progress or Secret Santa status, and add a member to Secret Santa. Flows never see who drew whom or anyone’s wishlist.

Two ideas: post a shout-out when someone opens all 24 doors, or ping moderators when the draw is done and some DMs failed, so they can remind those members to run /santa status.

For a New Year celebration on top of the packs, a classic giveaway on the last day of December works well.

Checklist

• Your server’s time zone is set in Bot settings.
• The Bank is on, so treats, tricks and Advent doors move coins.
• Halloween dates, cooldown and channel fit your server; the game is announced.
• Advent rewards add up to an amount you’re comfortable with; catch-up is on or off on purpose.
• Secret Santa has an announcement channel, a clear budget and a minimum that fits your size.
• A pinned post explains the Secret Santa timeline: sign-ups, draw, gift deadline, reveal.
• Members know to run /santa status if their DM didn’t arrive.
• Holiday items are added to the Shop, and the window covers Hanukkah if you use that theme.

FAQ

How do I do Secret Santa on Discord?

Open sign-ups, draw pairs so nobody gets themselves, DM each Santa their giftee and set a reveal day. With BotGG’s Seasonal Packs, members join with /santa join or a button, the bot draws the pairs the day after sign-ups close and DMs every Santa with the wishlist and budget.

Can moderators see who has whom before the reveal?

No. The pairs exist only in the DM each Santa receives. The console shows who gifted whom only after the reveal day, so organizers can take part like everyone else. If you turn public reveal off, the pairs are never posted in the server.

What if someone leaves after the draw?

/santa leave works only until the draw, so the loop stays complete. If a member really drops out later, the simplest fix is for an organizer or a volunteer to send that giftee a gift. Before the draw, staff can remove a participant from the console.

Do I have to set the events up again every year?

No. Dates are month and day only, and cooldowns, opened doors and Santa rounds start fresh each season. Leave the packs on and they open on their dates; just check the Hanukkah window.

Are the coins real money?

No. Treats, Advent rewards and Shop items use your server’s virtual currency from the BotGG Bank. Coins exist only inside your server and have no cash value. Gifts members send each other in Secret Santa are up to them; the bot only shares the budget you set.

Is Seasonal Packs free?

Yes, all four packs are part of the free plan. The only plan limit is the number of Secret Santa participants per round: 50 on Free and 500 on Pro.