Gathering is the planning app for family reunions, cabin weeks, and big group trips — RSVPs, itinerary voting, meal sign-ups, bed assignments, and fair expense splits in one private space the whole family can use.
Gathering replaces the 90-message group chat, the four spreadsheets, and the whiteboard on the lake-house fridge.
01
One roster, forever
Families and people are entered once and reused across every gathering — kids without email included. Invite links connect each person to their own login.
02
An itinerary with honest votes
Plan each day together. Thumbs up or down on activities with anonymous tallies, so nobody has to veto grandma's museum trip in public.
03
Meals without the chaos
Menus per meal, cook / clean-up / bring sign-ups, a dietary-notes panel for the cooks, and a shared grocery list that builds itself.
04
A bed for everyone
Houses, tents, campers, RVs — define the rooms, assign the beds, and see at a glance who still needs a place to sleep.
05
Expenses settled fairly
Log costs with receipts, split per family or by headcount, and let the settle-up panel compute the fewest payments that make everyone whole.
06
Private by design
Each circle is isolated down to the database row. Events are visible only to invited families, votes are anonymous, and your data exports with one click.
Who it’s for
Made for the big ones
If it involves one kitchen, too few beds, and three generations of opinions — it fits.
No. 1
The summer reunion
Sixty people, five households, three generations, one campground. Half are coming Thursday, the rest can only make the weekend.
With Gathering: RSVPs by family with partial-week dates, and a grocery list that scales to the headcount.
No. 2
A week at the lake
One house, twelve beds, fourteen people. Someone always ends up on the floor — and it's always the same someone.
With Gathering: Rooms and beds assigned before anyone drives six hours, with capacity warnings if you oversell the bunk room.
No. 3
Holiday hosting
Thanksgiving is at your place this year. Four cooks, two ovens, one cousin who's newly gluten-free and too polite to say so.
With Gathering: Menus per meal, who-brings-what sign-ups, and dietary notes the cooks actually see.
No. 4
The friends' trip
Not just family — the ski house, the beach week, the group chat that debates for three weeks and decides nothing.
With Gathering: Put the itinerary to an anonymous vote and let the tally make the call.
How it works
Planning in three moves
1
Create your circle
Name it and pick a web address. You're its first admin, and it's yours — free, no credit card.
2
Build the roster
Add families and people once. Invite links give each adult their own sign-in; kids without email are welcome too.
3
Plan the gathering
Create the event and invite families. RSVPs, itinerary, meals, beds, and expenses sort themselves out in one place.
Questions families ask
Is Gathering really free?+
Yes — starting a circle is free, with no credit card required. Paid plans for larger groups may come later, but planning a family-sized gathering won't stop being simple.
Will grandparents be able to use it?+
That's the design target. There is nothing to install — Gathering opens in any phone or computer browser, and signing in is a magic link sent by email, so there are no passwords to remember.
What about kids who don't have email?+
The roster holds everyone, signed-in or not. Kids without email still get counted for meals, assigned to beds, and included in expense splits — they just never need an account.
Is our family's data private?+
Each circle is isolated at the database level with row-level security. Events are visible only to invited families, activity votes are anonymous, and an admin can export everything with one click.
What kinds of events can we plan?+
Anything multi-day with a shared kitchen and shared beds: family reunions, cabin and lake weeks, holiday gatherings, camping weekends, and friends' trips. Each event gets RSVPs, an itinerary, meals, lodging, and expenses.
Plan the gathering, together.
Two-minute setup. No credit card. The group chat can go back to baby photos.