The five-minute version
- Sign in with your email and press New invitation.
- Design: pick a design, a colour palette and a font, and add a photo if you like.
- Details: the date, time, address and how many people you can have.
- Send: copy the link and share it by text, WhatsApp, Messenger or email, or print the QR code.
- Watch the replies arrive on your Responses page.
Your guests don’t need an account or an app. They open the link and reply.
Pick your event
Choose the kind that fits: a housewarming, a birthday, a school party, a gathering (a reunion, a farewell, a family dinner, a clean-up day) or meetups and clubs (regular sessions with a club page). Each one starts with sensible wording and settings, and you can change anything.
A school party asks parents for each child’s name and class. A birthday can count children separately. A gathering can run over a few days. See the event pages for what each one includes.
Write an invitation people answer
- Say what it is in the title, and put the date, time and address in their own boxes: guests read those first.
- Pick the address from the suggestions so directions and the map work.
- Use Good to know for the things people ask: dress code, parking, a short schedule, accessibility, a day-of contact. Everyone with the link can read these, so keep private details out.
- Keep the headline short and warm. A photo of the place or the person helps.
Make replying easy
- Time slots: morning and afternoon, your own times, or an all-day option.
- Guest limit and waiting list: set how many you can have. When it’s full, new replies join a waiting list and move up on their own if someone drops out.
- Plus-ones and children: let people bring friends (up to a number you choose), and ask for adults and children separately when it matters.
- Your own questions: a few short ones, for example “Any food we should plan for?”. Keep them about the event. Questions about health, religion and similar topics need a good reason, and guests see a note when you ask them.
- Potluck or gift ideas: share a list people can claim.
- Ask for guests’ email: off by default. Turn it on in Details only if you really need an address, for example to register people or check membership on your own system. A guest who can’t come never needs to give one, and we don’t check the address is real.
Send it
On the Send step you’ll find the link, ready-made messages for text, WhatsApp, Messenger and email, and a QR code you can print for a door or a card.
- Personal links: add names under Personal links and each person gets their own link, so you can see who has replied. Add an email address if you want them to get reminders.
- Reminders: in Details, under Remind guests, choose 7 days before, 1 day before, the morning of, or a nudge for guests who haven’t replied. Reminders go by email to guests who have an address. Email me a test shows you what they’ll get.
Handle replies
The Responses page shows the headcount, who is coming to each time, who is bringing what and the answers to your questions.
- Follow up: personal links show you who hasn’t answered yet.
- Add a reply by hand for someone who told you in person, and remove a reply if you need to.
- Close RSVPs when you’re ready, and turn on Email me new replies to get a summary hourly, daily or weekly.
- Download the guest list as a spreadsheet any time.
If plans change
If you cancel, or change the date, time, place or cost, tell your guests as early as you can. Answer questions through Message the hosts, and for a club session use Cancel, which emails everyone who said yes, maybe or waiting.
Events on Discover must be real. If one isn’t going ahead, say so.
On the day and after
- Check the potluck list and the headcount, and answer any messages.
- Turn on the photo gallery in Details so guests can share photos. On the Photos page you can approve photos before others see them, and play a slideshow on a TV.
- Photos are deleted automatically some months after the event (sooner for school parties), and we email you first so you can download them. Guests’ answers to your questions are deleted 90 days after the event.
Clubs and meetups
A club has one public page and many sessions. Set the usual place, time and limit once, choose how it repeats, and PhateSar keeps the next sessions ready. Guests can join in one tap, or say “I can’t come” from a reminder email, which frees the place for the next person.
After each session you can mark who came, and the club screen shows your regulars. You can ask guests for an email at club level, and it applies to your upcoming sessions too.
Putting an event on Discover
Discover is a public page of events anyone can join. It’s optional, and we approve every host and every event first.
- On the Send step, read and agree to the public event rules, then request it. You can have a couple of public events at a time.
- People see the title, date, time, suburb and photo. The exact address goes only to people who reply.
- Anyone can report an event, and we may hide or remove one that breaks the rules. Keep your details true and tell guests early if anything changes.
Looking after your guests
- Use what guests give you only to run your event. That includes names, emails, answers and photos.
- Children: for a school party you’ll see names, classes and allergy notes. Keep them to the people who need them, and don’t share them.
- Photos: tell parents before you turn on the gallery at a children’s party, and remove any photo that shouldn’t be there.
- Marketing: don’t use guests’ emails to send promotions without their agreement.
- Removing someone’s information: if a guest asks, remove their reply on the Responses page, or they can email us.
Common problems
- “My sign-in link says expired.” Open it in the same browser you asked from, and use the newest email.
- “A guest lost their link.” Send the invitation link again, or send their personal link from your guest list.
- “Nobody has replied.” Check the link opens in a private window, send a reminder, and ask people in person.
- “A guest wants their reply removed.” Remove it on the Responses page.
- “I want to start again.” Create a new invitation, or delete the old one from your dashboard.
Still stuck? See Help or email help@phatesar.app.
This is guidance to help you, not legal advice. The rules for hosts and guests are in the Terms of Use, and how we handle information is in the Privacy Policy.