Free template
Potluck sign-up sheet
A sign-up sheet so you don't end up with nine bowls of pasta salad.
Share one link and let everyone pick what they're bringing to the potluck, with a count on each dish so you end up with a sensible mix. The sheet shows what's still needed right up to the day.
Start oneIt opens with the rows already in place. Change any of them before you share it.
What's filled in for you
- Title
- Potluck
- Layout
- Things to bring or do
- Rows
- 7 to start with, and you can add more.
- Main dish, 3 needed
- Side dish, 3 needed
- Salad, 2 needed
- Bread or rolls, 2 needed
- Dessert, 3 needed
- Drinks, 2 needed
- Plates and cutlery
- Description
- Pick what you'd like to bring. Each row says how many we need, and once it's full, that one's covered. Use the note to tell us what you're making, so we know what's on the table. If your dish has nuts in it, please put a label on it.
- For
- Family or friends
You add your name. Anything here can be changed before you share it.
An example
- Main dish · taken by Priya and Sam, 1 left
- Salad · full
- Dessert · 3 left
How to set it up
- Check the listIt starts with the usual: mains, sides, salads, bread, desserts, drinks and plates. Change any count to suit how many are coming, take off what you don't need, and add rows for anything else.
- Add the detailsPut the date, the time and the address in the description, and say whether there's an oven or a fridge people can use when they arrive.
- Send the linkPaste it into the group chat or an email. Nobody needs an account to sign up, and it works on any phone.
- Watch what's leftYour private link shows every row and how full it is. If something is still open a few days before, share the link again and say what's missing.
What helps
- For about twenty people, three mains, three sides and a couple of salads is usually plenty, since most potluck dishes feed eight to ten.
- Give the things that aren't food a row of their own: ice, serving spoons, a cooler. They're the easiest to forget, and somebody is usually glad to bring them.
- If somebody coming has a serious allergy, say so in the description. People can cook around it, and label what they bring.
- Turn on “One sign-up each” if you'd rather nobody covered three rows on their own. Leave it off for families who'd like to bring a main and a dessert.
- Ask people to bring their dish ready to serve, with a spoon to serve it, and to take the dish home at the end.
Something to send with the link
Copy it into a text, an email or the group chat, change what you like, and paste your link at the end.
Questions people ask
- Do people need an account to sign up?
- No. They open the link, pick a row, type their name and press “Sign me up”. An email address is optional. Anyone who leaves one gets a copy of what they signed up for, with a link to change it.
- What happens when a row is full?
- It stays on the list, greyed out, so everybody can see it's covered, and nobody else can take it. If two people go for the last place at the same moment, one of them gets it and the other is asked to pick something else.
- Can I see what people are making?
- Yes. Your private link shows every row, who took it and their note. Notes are only shown to you and anybody helping you run the sheet, so the note is the place to ask people to say what they're bringing.
- Can I change the list after I've shared it?
- Yes. From your private link you can add, rename, reorder or take off rows, and change how many each one needs. People who've signed up stay where they are. If you take off a row somebody is on, they get an email, if they left an address.
- Does it send a reminder?
- Not on its own. From your private link you can send one message to everybody who signed up and left an address, which works well the day before. A paid plan also lets you schedule reminders for a day and time you choose.
Other templates people use
Family sign-up sheets, polls and RSVPs, or browse all templates
Start one
It takes a minute to set up, and nobody else has to install anything.