Hosting & planning
Who’s bringing the ice? How a sign-up list saved our housewarming
By the Afters team · Updated · 3 min read
Our first party in the new flat was a triumph of enthusiasm over logistics. Twenty-two people came. Five of them brought crisps. Nobody brought ice, cups, or anything to open the bottles that three people had very kindly brought.
For the housewarming, my partner and I agreed on one rule: no more “just bring whatever”. Whatever, it turns out, is always crisps.
A list people actually use
I set up the housewarming as a scheduled roll on Afters and pinned a sign-up list called “Who’s bringing what”. I added the boring essentials myself: ice, cups, a bottle opener, a speaker that wasn’t my laptop. Then anyone in the crew could add their own items.
The magic was the button: “I’ve got it”. Tap it and the item is yours, with your little avatar and name next to it. No more three Alexes in the group chat each assuming another Alex had it covered. You could see which Alex.
The nudges did the nagging for me
When someone claimed an item I had added, I got a notification. It sounds small, but it meant I didn’t have to keep checking. By Thursday the list was nearly full and I hadn’t chased a single person.
My friend Dina added “a plant for the plant-killers” to the list, then claimed it herself, which I took as a threat and also a gift.
Then we just had the party
On the night we had exactly enough ice and slightly too many cups, which is the correct ratio. The roll opened at the start time and everyone had a few shots on the shared camera. My favourite photo is of Dina handing over the plant like a diploma.
The list stayed pinned all evening. A couple of people used it to remember what they had promised to take home again, which no previous party has ever achieved.
Questions people ask
Can guests add their own items to a sign-up list?
Yes. Anyone in the crew can add items and claim them with “I’ve got it”. Each claim shows the person’s avatar and name, so similar names stay easy to tell apart.
Will I know when someone claims something?
Yes. Whoever added an item gets a notification when someone else claims it.
Is the sign-up list free?
Pinned notes are free for every host. Polls, request lists and sign-up lists are part of Afters Pro; hosts without Pro see them in the pin menu, marked Pro.
Keep reading
One house party, people you've just met, photos you can all keep
You can belong to the same evening without needing to become permanent friends.
We let the guests pick the playlist, and nobody fought about it
Every party has a music war. This time we held an election instead.
I stopped running my birthday from a 60-person group chat
The group chat had 412 unread messages and nobody knew the address. So I tried one page instead.