Run a Fair Prize Draw and Event Merch Plan

The prize draw is the one moment at an event when everybody is watching you, and the merchandise order is the one cost that cannot be fixed on the day. Both are about numbers, and both go wrong in ordinary ways: a winner who has already left, a box of lanyards that turns out to hold 25 when you needed 51, a certificate printed with a misspelt name. Giveaway and Branding Manager is a workspace that handles those four jobs in a row: the draw, the merchandise order, certificates and labels.

The honest scope: it helps you run the draw fairly and keep a record, work out an order, and print names. It is not a legal service. If your draw is a public competition or a lottery, rules about prizes, consent and eligibility vary by place, so check them yourself before you advertise it.

The four steps

The workspace lists the steps in this order, each opening one tool. The project lives in your browser tab and is erased when you close it, so save the project file.

1. Prize draw opens Giveaway Winner Picker. The note counts your guests.
2. Merchandise opens Merchandise Order Sheet. With guests in the project the note reads "For N guests"; otherwise it says "Per-person items".
3. Certificates opens Certificate Maker.
4. Labels opens Label Sheet Maker.

Step 1: the draw, and the record it keeps

You paste names, one per line, or load your guest list. You choose how many winners and how many backups, give the draw a name, and press Draw. Each person can win only once, so a backup is the next person drawn, not a second chance for a winner. Two optional switches matter: "Count repeated names once" merges duplicates, and "Extra tickets" lets a line such as "Ana x3" or "Ana, 3" give three tickets.

The tool says what it is doing. It uses the browser's secure random source, picks without replacement, and weights the chances by tickets. Here is a small case. You paste five lines with extra tickets on: "Ana x3", "Bo, 2", "Cy", "ana" and "Dee". Because the repeated name is merged in this mode, "ana" adds one ticket to Ana, so there are four people with 8 tickets: Ana 4, Bo 2, Cy 1, Dee 1. Ana has a 4 in 8 chance of being the first winner. Without the extra-tickets switch, "Ana x3" and "Bo, 2" would be read as two odd names with one ticket each, and the tool shows a hint when it notices that several lines end in a number.

It also warns when the settings do not make sense. Ask for 2 winners and 2 backups from 3 entries and it says you will get 1 backup. Ask for 3 winners from 2 entries and it tells you everyone will win and there will be no backups.

After a draw the result shows "Winner 1", "Winner 2" and backups, and a record: the draw number, any earlier draws under the same name and when they were discarded, the date and time with the time zone, the number of entries and tickets, a SHA-256 fingerprint of the entry list, and a plain description of the method. Pressing Draw again does not hide the earlier draw: it appears in the next record as discarded, with its time. The record can be copied or downloaded as a CSV. No seed is used, because a secure random source cannot be replayed, so the record proves what list was drawn from and when, not that the draw can be repeated. For more on the picker alone, see draw fair giveaway winners with a backup list.

Step 2: the merchandise order, worked through

Merchandise Order Sheet takes a head count (from your guest list, which counts confirmed or attended guests with their plus-ones, or one you type; the default is 100 when there is nothing) and a list of items. Each item has a basis, per head or a fixed number, a quantity, a spare percentage, the supplier's minimum order, a pack size and a unit cost. Tick Sized for clothing.

Suppose 48 people are coming. You want:

• A T-shirt each, 10% spare, supplier minimum 50, $7.50 each, sized.
• A lanyard each, 5% spare, sold in packs of 25, $0.90 each.
• Two banners, a fixed number, $45 each.

The sheet works it out like this. T-shirts: 48 times 1.1 is 52.8, rounded up to 53, which is above the minimum of 50, so you order 53 for $397.50, split by the default size mix (XS 2, S 7, M 16, L 15, XL 9, 2XL 3, 3XL 1). Lanyards: 48 times 1.05 is 50.4, so 51 are needed, but they come in packs of 25, so you order 75 for $67.50, and the sheet notes that 24 are extras over the 51 needed. Banners: exactly 2 for $90. The totals are 130 units for $555.00, including 24 extra units worth $21.60.

That "includes 24 extra" line is the useful part: it shows you the cost of the pack size before you place the order. The default size mix is XS 3, S 14, M 30, L 28, XL 17, 2XL 6 and 3XL 2 per cent, and you can edit it; if your shares do not add up to 100, the tool scales them and says so. Check the mix against your own crowd, as the tool's tip says. You can copy the order, download a CSV or a PDF for the supplier, or press "Add total to my budget", which sets the Merchandise budget line to the total in your project's currency.

Step 3: certificates

Certificate Maker makes one landscape certificate per person, on US Letter or A4, as a single PDF or as a ZIP with one file per person, up to 500 at a time. The default wording is "Certificate of Attendance", "This is to certify that", then the name, then "attended {event} on {date}.", and you can use {name}, {event} and {date} in your own wording. You can add up to two signers and choose a classic or plain border. Choose "Confirmed and attended guests" to thank only the people who came. A warning appears if the event name is empty or still the default, or if the same name is listed twice; it does not block the download.

Step 4: labels

Label Sheet Maker prints text on Avery-style label sheets on US Letter or A4, or on a grid you measure yourself. Use the guest names from your project to print one label per guest who has not declined, for gift bags, prize envelopes or raffle ticket stubs. Print a test page on plain paper and hold it against the real sheet before you print the lot.

Steps

1. Load your guests or paste the entries, and set winners, backups and the draw name.
2. Check the notice under the settings, press Draw, and download the record.
3. Open the merchandise step, confirm the head count, add each item with its spare percentage, minimum order and pack size, and read the "extra" lines.
4. Add the total to your budget, or download the supplier CSV or PDF.
5. Write the certificate wording, check the preview, and download.
6. Print the labels on a test sheet first.
7. Save the project file.

Giveaway and Branding Manager and Merchandise Order Sheet are Premium Applications, with 2 trial uses a day before a day pass or plan applies. Giveaway Winner Picker, Certificate Maker and Label Sheet Maker are Professional Tools with 10 trial uses a day. Draws and most file downloads count as usage; copying is not metered.

Common mistakes

Pasting the entry list after you have promised the draw is "random" and then editing it, which the fingerprint will show. Ignoring the pack size and paying for 24 lanyards nobody needs. Using the default size mix for a young crowd. Printing certificates with the default event name. Closing the tab before you have saved the draw record.

Summary

Run the draw with a record that shows what was drawn, order merchandise with the extras made visible, and print certificates and labels from the same guest list. Open Giveaway and Branding Manager with your guest list. More planning tools are in the event tools category.

Open Giveaway and Branding Manager→

Would you like the draw to read names aloud or show them on a big screen? Tell us on the contact page.