Family reunion planner: find the dates the whole family can make
A family reunion stands or falls on its date. With WeGoWhen one person sets a window - a whole summer, or a whole year - and shares a link; every relative taps the days they are free, from any phone, without an account or an email address. It ranks the stretches of consecutive days that the most people can make, with their names, so the family can agree on the weekend or the week instead of arguing about it.
Why family reunions are hard to date
A reunion is several households with their own calendars: school holidays in different districts or countries, shift work, someone who can only travel at the end of the month, grandparents who should not be the ones who miss it. A group chat collects "June is bad for us" from a few people and silence from the rest, and somebody ends up holding all of it in their head.
The fix is to ask every household the same question once - which days are you free? - and let the arithmetic happen somewhere other than the organiser’s memory.
How to set it up
- Pick a generous window. Reunions are often planned six to twelve months ahead. Set the window to the whole season you are considering, so the answer can come out of the family rather than out of the first two weekends someone suggested.
- Decide who answers: people or households. If a household travels together, one name per household keeps the list short - "The Garcias". If teenagers or adult children travel separately, give them their own names.
- Share the link wherever the family already talks. The family group chat, an email, a text to the relatives who are not in either. The link is the invitation; it opens in any browser, and there is nothing to install or sign up for, which matters for the relatives who will not install anything.
- Read the top rows, then check the people who must be there. Each ranked range shows how many can make all of it and who they are. If the reunion is really about two grandparents, look for the best range that includes them.
Helping the less techy relatives
Anyone with the link can add and change answers, so a cousin can fill in an aunt’s days over the phone: type her name, tap her days, save. The pencil next to a name in the participants list edits that person’s days later. The app itself is in English, German, Spanish and Dutch and follows the browser’s language.
Because the link is the only thing that grants access, send it only to family. Anyone you forward it to can see the names and days in the trip.
After the dates
WeGoWhen settles when, and only when. Venue, food, a cost split and a shared itinerary belong elsewhere - but every one of them is easier once nobody is still asking which weekend it is.
Questions people ask
How far ahead should you plan a family reunion?
Six to twelve months is common, and more for one that involves flights or a large rented venue. Start by collecting availability over the whole window; WeGoWhen accepts a window up to a year long and ranks the stretches of days the most relatives can make.
How do you choose a date for a family reunion?
Ask everyone for the days they are free within one window, rather than voting on two or three proposed weekends. Then look for the longest run of days that the most people - and the people who must be there - can all make. WeGoWhen does that search and lists the names in each range.
Do relatives need to download an app or create an account?
No. The link opens in any phone or computer browser. They type a name, tap their free days and save. There is no account, no password and no email address, for the organiser either.
Does it work for a class reunion too?
For a reunion weekend, yes - it works the same way for any group picking days. For a single evening it works too, with the minimum length set to one day, though at that point all you need is the one day the most people are free.