Given a CSV of names, emails, and addresses, dispatch emails with info on each person’s Secret Santa. Randomly assign gift givers and receivers.
python secret_santa.py --participants participants.csvOptionally, add the --dry-run=true flag if you want to do a test run without actually sending
emails.
- Create and activate a venv:
python -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/activate - Install dependencies:
pip install -r requirements.txt
You also need to create a .env file with the following keys:
SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_ADDRESS=person.person@gmail.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=
The defaults above work for gmail accounts, for which you would get a password using App Passwords.
Given how mailing addresses have commas in them, it’s easier to separate values with |. As such,
format the CSV like so:
name|email|address
Bert|bert@sesamestreet.edu|123 Sesame St, City, State 12345
Sherlock|holmes@investigators.org|21 B Baker St, London
import argparse
import csv
from email.message import EmailMessage
import os
import random
import smtplib
from string import Template
from dotenv import load_dotenv
load_dotenv()
# change this template as necessary
email_template = Template("""Hi $your_name,
Thanks for being a Secret Santa!
You are giving a gift to:
$their_name
$their_address
Remember, keep it under $$25 total!
- Nerding Santa's fascinating email robot
""")
def read_csv(path_to_csv):
"""
Returns a list of dicts representing people
"""
people = []
with open(path_to_csv, newline='') as csvfile:
reader = csv.DictReader(csvfile, delimiter="|", quotechar="|")
for row in reader:
people.append(row)
return people
def randomize(people):
"""
Return a dict of pairings, where each key and value is a position in the list of people
"""
assignments = {}
recipients = [i for i in range(len(people))]
for i in range(len(people)):
found = False
while not found:
r = random.randint(0, len(recipients) - 1)
recipient = recipients[r]
is_same_person = recipient == i
reciprocal_assignment = assignments.get(recipient, -1) == i
if not is_same_person and not reciprocal_assignment:
found = True
assignments[i] = recipient
print(f"Giving a gift to {recipient}!")
recipients.remove(recipient)
return assignments
def make_templates(people, assignments):
"""
Build email templates. Returns a list of {to: "email address", body: "email body"}
"""
emails_to_send = []
for s, r in assignments.items():
sender = people[s]
recipient = people[r]
email = {
"to": sender["email"],
"body": email_template.substitute(
your_name=sender["name"],
their_name=recipient["name"],
their_address=recipient["address"]
)
}
emails_to_send.append(email)
return emails_to_send
def send_emails(emails_to_send, dry_run):
"""
Actually send emails
"""
if dry_run:
for email in emails_to_send:
print(email)
return
smtp_host = os.getenv("SMTP_HOST")
smtp_port = os.getenv("SMTP_PORT")
smtp_address = os.getenv("SMTP_ADDRESS")
smtp_password = os.getenv("SMTP_PASSWORD")
s = smtplib.SMTP(smtp_host, smtp_port)
s.starttls()
s.login(smtp_address, smtp_password)
for email in emails_to_send:
msg = EmailMessage()
msg.set_content(email["body"])
msg["Subject"] = "Nerding Secret Santa!"
msg["From"] = smtp_address
msg["To"] = email["to"]
s.send_message(msg)
s.quit()
def main(path_to_csv, dry_run):
people = read_csv(path_to_csv)
assignments = randomize(people)
emails_to_send = make_templates(people, assignments)
send_emails(emails_to_send, dry_run)
if __name__ == "__main__":
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Send out Secret Santa pairings')
parser.add_argument('--participants',
default=None,
help='Path to a CSV file of participants')
parser.add_argument('--dry-run',
default=False,
help='Do not actually send emails')
args = parser.parse_args()
main(args.participants, args.dry_run)