Like many of us moms, I was in charge of coordinating an event for my son’s 2^nd Grade Class, Johnny Appleseed’s Celebration, to be exact. His teacher asked me to ask parents for donations of items that were needed, along with volunteers. In my mind, I could just see the emailing back and forth that would take place. I knew there had to be a better way. After “Googling” in a myriad of words like volunteer and sign-up, I literally hit the jackpot—a website that would forever revolutionize my job as a room parent! www.SignUpGenius.com

This free website marries together the power of Evite and Food Tidings (see my previous blog from February on this amazing website) all rolled into one! With SignUpGenius, you are able to create and manage sign-up lists, and you can choose from one of three formats—Munchies, People, and Party—depending on what type of sign-up list you are coordinating. Before you create a list, you can even see an example of each type of format they offer to make sure it meets your needs.

In my case, I used the People Sign-Up since I needed volunteers and donations. I simply typed in the event date, what it was I needed, when I needed the items, and how many volunteers I needed. The best surprise was that I was able to add in a “cutesy” background to match the theme—fall leaves. (Oooh! I just LOVE that about Evite’s website!) Once this information was entered, I typed in the email addresses for parents in my son’s class and hit send. The rest of the work and email reminders were already done for me! If someone has a question for you, you can easily and quickly email them right back through the website. As far as privacy, the website allows you to click a box to ensure that only those you’ve emailed can read your “private” sign-up list.

After finding and using this website with such success, I literally wanted to shout from the mountaintops about it! This was too good to keep to myself, and I shared it with our PTO President and other room moms. Recently, this website has proven to be helpful at our boys’ school. The teacher who coordinates the Book Fairs used SignUpGenius to get volunteers lined up, and it worked out much easier than the open Excel spreadsheet they had used in the past.  Our PE teacher has also used this site to coordinate parent volunteers for various Field Day events.  What a useful website!

Be sure to keep this website in mind next time you need to organize an event…it will save you a headache, and you’ll look like a genius.