Terms of use

Last updated: 17 October 2026 · See also our privacy policy

1. Who we are and this agreement

SantaWho (SantaWho.com) is operated by DoerHub, Inc., 2872 Ygnacio Valley Rd. #220, Walnut Creek, CA 94598-3534, USA ("DoerHub", "we", "us"). These terms, together with our privacy policy, are a binding agreement between you and us about your use of SantaWho, including the website, the game and everything in it (the "Service"). By using SantaWho you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use it.

2. Who can use SantaWho

• SantaWho is for grown-ups: people who are 18 or older (or the age of adulthood where they live). A grown-up sets up and looks after each office, and is the one who agrees to these terms.
• Children are welcome to play alongside a grown-up who is responsible for them. That grown-up agrees to these terms on the child's behalf, supervises the child's use, and decides what the child shares.
• SantaWho is not designed for children to use on their own, and children must not give us an email address. If you believe a child has used SantaWho on their own or given us an email, tell us and we'll delete it.
• Please use nicknames, not real names, and don't type anyone's home address, school, phone number or other personal details into wishes, letters or answers.
• You may not use SantaWho if the law where you live forbids it, or if we've previously ended your use of it.

3. Your office and its private link

• SantaWho has no accounts or passwords. Each family's game (its "office") opens with its own private link, shown on your key card and in any office-key email.
• Anyone with that link can see and change everything in that office. Keep it like a house key, and share it only with people you'd trust with your family's wish lists. We can't tell who is using a link, so we treat everyone who has it as part of your family, and you're responsible for who you share it with.
• If you lose your link, "Lost your office?" can email it to a grown-up's address you gave us before. We may decline to help recover an office if we can't be reasonably sure the request comes from that family.
• Offices nobody has opened or changed for a long time are deleted automatically, as described in the privacy policy. Please print or save anything you'd like to keep, such as letters and cards.

4. Your wishes, letters and answers

• Everything you and your family add (nicknames, wishes, Wish Maps, letters, answers and the like) is your content. You keep all your rights in it.
• You give us a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free permission to store, copy, process and display your content only to provide SantaWho to you and the people you choose: keeping your office available, showing it to people with your office link and on pages you choose to share, delivering invites, invite results and the emails you ask for, sending it to DreamList when you ask, and keeping the backups and records described in the privacy policy. This permission ends when you delete the content or close your office, except for copies we must keep for a short time in backups and records.
• You're responsible for your content. Please only add things you have the right to share, and don't add other people's personal information without their permission.
• We don't sell your content, use it for advertising, or show it to anyone you haven't shared it with. We may remove content that breaks these terms, but we aren't obliged to review content.

5. Sharing, invites and emails

• Shared pages. When you share your family page ("Share our Santas") or a letter, anyone with that link can see what you chose to share, always as it is in your office now. Share links only with people you'd tell in person. You can stop sharing at any time, and the link stops working.
• Invites and emails. Only ask us to email grown-ups who know you and would expect to hear from you. Our emails are fixed messages that nobody can change, and we limit how many can be sent. Don't use invites, "Lost your office?" or anything else to contact people who don't want to hear from you, or to send messages for anyone else.
• If you receive a SantaWho email you didn't expect, tell us at [email protected] and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again.

6. Rules for using SantaWho

To keep SantaWho safe and kind for every family, you agree not to, and not to help or allow anyone else to:

• break any law, or use SantaWho for anything fraudulent or harmful;
• add or share anything hateful, threatening, harassing, sexual, violent or otherwise harmful, or anything that exploits or endangers children in any way;
• pretend to be someone else, or mislead people about who you are;
• try to open, guess or find offices, invites, letters or shared pages that weren't given to you;
• probe, scan or test SantaWho for weaknesses, get around its limits or security, or interfere with how it works, unless we've agreed to it in writing beforehand;
• add code, scripts or links meant to cause harm;
• use bots, scrapers, crawlers or other automated tools to access SantaWho or collect anything from it, or create offices, invites or emails in bulk;
• access SantaWho other than through the website and game we provide, or overload it or the services it relies on;
• copy, reproduce, frame, mirror, sell, rent, sublicense or redistribute SantaWho or any part of it;
• reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise try to work out SantaWho's source code, underlying structure, data or game design, except where the law expressly allows it despite this restriction;
• use SantaWho or anything in it (including its questions, characters, missions, text, art and design) to develop, train, fine-tune or evaluate any artificial intelligence or machine-learning model, or to build, copy or improve a competing product or service;
• remove or hide any copyright, trademark or other notices.

If we reasonably believe these rules have been broken, we may remove content, limit or block access, switch off shared pages, or close an office, where possible after telling you. We report content that may harm a child to the appropriate authorities.

7. Our name, art, words and technology

SantaWho, including its name and logo, characters, art, North Pole jobs, questions, missions, words, game design, look and feel, software and technology, is owned by DoerHub, Inc. or used with permission, and is protected by copyright, trademark and other laws. All rights not expressly granted in these terms are reserved.

As long as you follow these terms, we give you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable permission to use SantaWho for your family's personal, non-commercial enjoyment, including printing your own cards, letters and key cards. Any other use needs our written permission. "SantaWho" and our logos are our trademarks; please don't use them in a way that suggests we endorse or are connected with you.

If you send us ideas, suggestions or feedback, you give us permission to use them freely, without restriction and without owing you anything. Thank you: the elves read everything.

8. Gift ideas, DreamList and other sites

• Gift ideas are suggestions only. We don't sell anything, and we don't check whether an idea is safe, suitable, age-appropriate or available for a particular person. Please use your own judgement, follow product age guidance and safety warnings, and think about allergies, small parts and other risks for your family.
• DreamList (dreamlist.com), our sister wish-list service, is also operated by DoerHub, Inc., but it's a separate service with its own terms and privacy policy. Nothing goes to DreamList unless you choose a DreamList option, and nothing is saved there until you sign up with DreamList.
• DreamList shows links to stores. When you buy through those links, DreamList may earn a small commission. It doesn't change the price you pay.
• Stores and other sites linked from SantaWho or DreamList are run by others. We aren't responsible for their content, products, prices, deliveries or how they handle your information, and your purchases are between you and the store.

9. Santa, the elves and the magic

SantaWho is a game of make-believe. The North Pole jobs, character cards, missions, incident reports and anything said by Santa, the elves or other characters are playful fiction, not advice or promises. Writing a wish or a letter doesn't mean anyone will receive a gift: SantaWho doesn't deliver presents. Grown-ups decide how to keep the magic alive in their own family.

10. Thanking the elves

SantaWho is free. If you choose to "thank the elves" through Buy Me a Coffee, that's a voluntary gift, not a purchase: it doesn't buy any features or create any obligation. It's handled by that service under its own terms, and refunds are only available where that service or the law provides them.

11. A free service that can change

We provide SantaWho for free and keep improving it, so we may add, change, pause or remove features at any time, and we may limit how much of the Service anyone can use. We'll try to give notice before big changes, and before shutting SantaWho down altogether we'll give reasonable notice so families can print what they'd like to keep. SantaWho may sometimes be unavailable, for example during maintenance or when your device is offline.

12. Disclaimers

AS FAR AS THE LAW ALLOWS, SANTAWHO IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITHOUT ANY PROMISES OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY PROMISE THAT IT WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE OR SECURE, OR THAT INFORMATION WON'T BE LOST.

If you live in the EEA, the UK or another place whose consumer laws give you rights that can't be excluded by a contract, those rights are not affected by anything in these terms.

13. Limits on our liability

AS FAR AS THE LAW ALLOWS:

• DOERHUB, INC. AND ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES AND SUPPLIERS AREN'T LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, PROFITS, REVENUE OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO SANTAWHO OR THESE TERMS, EVEN IF WE WERE TOLD THEY WERE POSSIBLE;
• OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO SANTAWHO OR THESE TERMS IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF US$50 OR THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US FOR SANTAWHO IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

These limits apply to any theory of liability, and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law, such as liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

14. If someone makes a claim because of your use

As far as the law allows, you agree to defend and indemnify DoerHub, Inc. and its officers and employees against claims, losses and reasonable costs (including legal fees) that arise because of content you added, your misuse of SantaWho, or your breach of these terms. This doesn't apply where the law doesn't permit it.

15. Suspension and ending things

You can stop using SantaWho at any time, and close your office for good from Family settings on HQ. We may suspend or end anyone's use of SantaWho, or close an office, if they break these terms, if the law requires it, or to protect families, other people or SantaWho. The parts of these terms that by their nature should continue (including sections 4, 6, 7 and 12 to 20) continue after that.

16. Copyright complaints

We respect other people's rights. If you believe something on SantaWho infringes your copyright, send a notice to our designated copyright agent:

Copyright Agent, DoerHub, Inc.
2872 Ygnacio Valley Rd. #220
Walnut Creek, CA 94598-3534, USA
Email: [email protected] (subject: "Copyright notice")

Your notice must include: your physical or electronic signature; a description of the copyrighted work; where the material is on SantaWho (for a shared page, its link); your name, postal address, phone number and email; a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use isn't authorised by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorised to act for the owner.

If your content was removed and you believe that was a mistake, you can send a counter-notice to the same agent with the information required by the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. We disable the use of SantaWho by repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.

17. Disputes and arbitration

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT REQUIRES YOU AND US TO RESOLVE MOST DISPUTES BY BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION, AND IT WAIVES THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND TO TAKE PART IN A CLASS ACTION.

17.1 Talk to us first

Most problems can be solved quickly. Before starting an arbitration or court case, you and we each agree to send the other a written notice of the dispute and try in good faith to resolve it informally for 60 days. Send yours to [email protected] (subject: "Notice of dispute") or to the postal address in section 1, with your name, how to reach you, a description of the problem and what you'd like us to do. If you've given us an email address, we'll send ours there. Either side can ask for a call during those 60 days, and time limits for bringing claims pause while this is going on.

17.2 Binding individual arbitration

If we can't resolve it informally, any dispute, claim or controversy between you and us arising out of or relating to SantaWho or these terms (a "Dispute"), including whether a Dispute must be arbitrated, will be resolved by binding individual arbitration, except as set out in section 17.4. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section. The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (and, where they apply, its Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules), available at adr.org. A single arbitrator will decide the Dispute and may award the same individual relief a court could, but only to the individual party seeking it. The hearing will take place by video or phone, by written submissions, or in person in the county where you live, whichever you prefer, as the AAA rules allow.

17.3 Costs

Fees are set by the AAA rules. For claims you start, we'll pay any AAA filing, administration and arbitrator fees beyond the amount you would pay to file a claim in court, unless the arbitrator finds your claim frivolous or brought for an improper purpose. Each side pays its own lawyers' fees unless the law or the arbitrator says otherwise.

17.4 What isn't arbitrated

• Either of us may bring an individual claim in small claims court, if it qualifies.
• Either of us may ask a court for an injunction to stop actual or threatened infringement or misuse of intellectual property, or unauthorised access to or interference with SantaWho (for example, scraping or attacks).
• A claim for public injunctive relief, where the law doesn't allow it to be waived or arbitrated, will be decided by a court after any individual claims are arbitrated, and the court case will be paused until then.

17.5 No class actions or jury trials

YOU AND WE MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST EACH OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. YOU AND WE BOTH WAIVE THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL. The arbitrator may not combine more than one person's claims, or preside over any form of class or representative proceeding.

17.6 Many similar claims

If 25 or more similar Disputes are brought against us by or with the help of the same or coordinated lawyers, they'll be handled under the AAA's Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules, which may group them into batches. Time limits for bringing those claims pause while they wait to be heard.

17.7 Your right to opt out

You can opt out of this arbitration agreement within 30 days of first agreeing to these terms by emailing [email protected] with the subject "Arbitration opt-out", your name, and a clear statement that you're opting out of arbitration. If you opt out, the rest of these terms still apply, and disputes will be resolved in court under section 18.

17.8 If part of this section can't be enforced

If the class-action waiver in section 17.5 can't be enforced for a particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) will be decided by a court under section 18, not in arbitration. If any other part of this section can't be enforced, the rest of it still applies.

17.9 Changes to this section

If we change this section, you can reject the change by emailing us within 30 days of it taking effect, and the previous version will continue to apply to you. A change never applies to a Dispute you or we had already given notice of.

If you're a consumer in the EEA, the UK or another place where the law doesn't allow this section to apply to you, it doesn't, and you keep your right to bring claims in your local courts.

18. Governing law

These terms, and any Dispute, are governed by the laws of the State of California and applicable U.S. federal law (including the Federal Arbitration Act), without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any Dispute that isn't arbitrated will be resolved only in the state or federal courts located in Contra Costa County, California, and you and we agree to their jurisdiction. If you're a consumer whose local law gives you the protection of that law or the right to use your local courts, you keep it.

19. Reporting a problem

If you see something on SantaWho that breaks these terms, or you've found a security problem, email [email protected] with the details (for a shared page, include its link). We look at every report. If you report a security problem in good faith, without accessing other people's information or harming the service, and give us a reasonable chance to fix it before telling anyone else, we won't take legal action against you for finding it. For copyright, see section 16.

20. General terms

• Whole agreement. These terms and the privacy policy are the whole agreement between you and us about SantaWho, and replace any earlier ones.
• If part can't be enforced, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce a part straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• Transfer. You can't transfer your rights under these terms. We may transfer ours, for example as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, and these terms will continue to protect you.
• Events beyond our control. We aren't responsible for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control, such as outages of networks or services we rely on, natural disasters or acts of government.
• Electronic communications. You agree that we can give you notices electronically, in the game, on this website or by email if you gave us an address, and that those satisfy any requirement for written notice.
• Notices to us go to the email or postal address in section 22.
• California users: under California Civil Code section 1789.3, you may contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210. SantaWho is free to use.
• Headings are for convenience only, and "including" means "including without limitation".

21. Changes to these terms

If we change these terms, we'll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll also say so in the game before it applies. If you keep using SantaWho after a change applies, the new terms apply to you; if you don't agree, please stop using SantaWho. Changes to section 17 also follow section 17.9.

22. Contact us

Email: [email protected]
Post: DoerHub, Inc., 2872 Ygnacio Valley Rd. #220, Walnut Creek, CA 94598-3534, USA