Invite Families & How Registration Works

Sharing your event link reaches anyone. Invitations reach the families you specifically want there — and tell you who's looked and who's signed up, so you know who to nudge. This guide covers sending invitations and walks through exactly what families experience from the moment they open your event to the confirmation in their inbox.

Sending Invitations

Open a published event and click Invite families at the top of the page.

1. Choose students. Select the students whose families you want to invite. If your school uses program categories like grade levels, use the filter to narrow the list — "all 3rd graders," for example.
2. Write your invitation. Enter a subject line and message. Click a variable to personalize it with the Recipient First Name, Recipient Last Name, Organization Name, Organization Email, Event Name, Event Date, or Event Location.
3. Send. Each student's guardians receive your invitation. Click Send invites.

Invitations go to guardians. Each one gets a personal link with their family's information already filled in, so registering takes only a moment.

Tip: Invitations are the only way into an invite-only event, so invite every family who should be able to register.

Tracking Your Invitations

On the event's Roster, switch to the Invitees view to see everyone who's been invited or has requested a link. Each person shows where they came from — Invited by you, or Requested link from the event page — and their progress:

• Sent — the email went out.
• Viewed — they opened their registration link.
• Registered — they finished registering.

Use the resend option next to anyone who hasn't registered yet to send their link again.

What Families Experience

However a family finds your event, registration follows the same path.

1. The Event Page

Families see your event's name, date, location, price, extras, and description. To register, they enter their email address and click to request a registration link, then check their inbox for an email titled "Your registration link for your event." Families you invited skip this step — the link is already in their invitation.

2. The Registration Form

The personal link opens the registration form:

• Your information — the registrant's first name, last name, and an optional phone number. Families Lazarus recognizes from your Households have this filled in.
• Who's coming? — families your school already knows simply check off which household members are attending. Anyone else types in each attendee's name.
• A few questions — your custom questions, with attendee questions repeated for each person coming.
• Extras — any add-ons you're offering, with quantities where allowed.
• Want to volunteer? — any volunteer slots, if the event has them.

A running subtotal shows at the bottom. The form saves as families type, so they can close it and come back to the same link later.

3. Payment

For a free event, families click Complete registration and they're done.

For a paid event, they click Register and continue to payment and choose how to pay from the methods you accept: Credit card, Bank transfer, or Pay at the event. Before paying online, they see a full breakdown — tickets, extras, any convenience or processing fee, and the Total charged today. Families paying at the event see the Total due at the event, with no online fees.

If a family registers but doesn't pay, Lazarus emails them a "Finish registering" reminder with a link to complete payment.

4. Confirmation

Once a registration is complete, the registrant receives a "You're registered for your event" email. It includes the event details, the join link for virtual events, and a link to manage their registration. On the Premium plan, it also includes a calendar file so families can add the event to their calendar in one tap.

Managing a Registration

The link in the confirmation email lets families come back to their registration at any time. From there they can:

• Finish registering or Pay now, if they haven't completed payment.
• Request a refund, on paid events where refund requests are enabled. The request comes to you — see Manage Your Roster & Event Day.
• Cancel registration, which frees their spots for other families. Canceling doesn't refund a payment on its own.

Families You Already Know

When someone registers with an email that matches a guardian in your Households, their registration is linked to their household automatically, so the event shows up in that family's history. Registrants Lazarus doesn't recognize — grandparents, neighbors, prospective families — can register too. They're kept with the event's records and aren't added to your Households directory.

With families registering, the next guide covers managing your roster through event day.