# How to get party guests to actually show up Parties and events ยท https://lfg.gm/get-party-guests-to-show-up Most hosts know the gap: lots of people tap going on Partiful or Luma, and far fewer walk through the door. LFG Alarm is a social alarm clock. Paste your invite link, share one alarm link with your guests, and everyone who joins gets a real alarm on their phone at party time. Setting an alarm takes more intent than tapping going, so the list of people who join is also your list of people who mean it. ## Work out your flake rate The page has a calculator: put in how many people said going and roughly how many usually turn up. With 52 going and a 40% show rate, expect about 21 people and 31 empty cups. Nobody publishes house party numbers, but across check-in data from more than 1,070 events, PheedLoop found about 28% of people registered for free events never showed, and about 32% at small events of 10 to 49 people. Use your own number, from your last party. The gap is not because people don't care. Tapping going takes a second and costs nothing, and on the night your party is one notification among dozens. Now picture the same list where everyone who meant it set an alarm: their phone rings at party time with your song, and the people who never join have told you something too. ## How it works 1. **Paste the invite.** Your Partiful or Luma link goes into Got a link? in LFG Alarm, and Rocco reads the name, picture and start time and makes the alarm. 2. **Drop one link in the chat.** Post `lfg.gm/a/` under the invite or in the group chat. Guests tap it and join for free. 3. **Every phone rings.** At party time, or 30 minutes, an hour or two hours before, everyone who joined hears it in the same second. **Already sent the invite? Even better.** A calendar invite, a Facebook event, a group chat, Luma or Partiful: keep using it. LFG Alarm does not replace your invite, it adds the part invites are bad at, getting people out the door. Make the alarm, then post its link where your guests already are, with a line saying what it is, like: "Here's a group alarm for Saturday so we all rally together. It rings two hours before, so start getting ready when it goes off. Tap to join: `lfg.gm/a/`" Setting alarms, getting friends to join them and answering on time all earn points in LFG Alarm, for you and for your guests. ## When to ring them - **For a party, two hours before.** That is when people need to start getting ready and work out how they are getting there. An alarm at the start time only tells them they are late. - **For something online, at the start.** A stream, a call, a watch party or a game night: everyone hops on the moment it rings. - **Reward whoever answers first.** The wake board shows who tapped I'm up first. Promise them the first drink, the aux or the best seat. ## The best way to call 40 people Say 40 of your 50 guests said they are coming. Nobody wants to make 40 phone calls: it takes you an hour on the afternoon you should be buying ice, and a text lands among dozens of others (a 2018 study of 278 phone users counted a median of 56 notifications a day). One LFG Alarm alarm rings all 40 in the same second, and it is fun to get: it plays your own video or picture and the song of the night. When someone sets an alarm for your party, they are serious. It is an event they do not want to miss. ## Why an alarm beats a reminder Push notifications are easy to miss. In Airship's 2026 benchmarks, the share of app notifications people open runs from under 1% in the weakest app categories to about 21% for the top tenth of apps in the strongest. A reminder from your invite app is one of those. An event alarm is different: it is a real alarm on iPhone and Android, it rings through silent mode until the person answers it, and they chose to get it by joining. ## Keep the theme a secret A mystery alarm hides a message or a video until the second it rings, so the theme lands on every phone at once. ## Your alarm is also a post Every alarm carries a note from you and a link. Put the details in the note: the buzzer is broken, costumes are on, bring a dish. Add a link, like the address or the playlist, and it opens when people answer the alarm. Guests can heart the alarm and comment with you while it waits, while it rings and after the party. **Try this.** Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or another AI agent that has the LFG Alarm connector (https://mcp.lfg.gm), not into the LFG Alarm app. The person needs the LFG Alarm app on their phone. > Use LFG Alarm to set a one-off alarm called "Rooftop disco: start getting ready" for 7:00 pm on Saturday [date], two hours before my party. Make it a friends alarm that anyone with the link can join, then give me the link to post in the group chat. Why it works: Your AI agent can set the getting-ready alarm today and hand you the link. To make it from the Partiful or Luma invite itself, or keep the theme a mystery, paste the link into Got a link? in the app. ## Common mistakes - Posting the alarm link once and never again. Put it right under the invite and once more in the chat the day before. - Setting it for the start time when people need time to get ready. Ring them two hours before. - Treating everyone who tapped going as coming. Plan the food and drink for the people who joined the alarm. ## Questions ### What is LFG Alarm? A social alarm clock for iPhone and Android. Besides times, it rings for moments: a party starting, a post going up, a price being hit. One shared link makes every phone that joined ring in the same second. ### Do my guests need the app? To be rung, yes. They tap your lfg.gm link and join for free. Anyone who does has said a stronger yes than an RSVP. ### Do I have to stop using Partiful or Luma? No. Keep your invite. Paste its link into LFG Alarm and Rocco makes the alarm from it, with the name, picture and start time already in. LFG Alarm is not affiliated with Partiful or Luma. ### When should the alarm ring? For a party, two hours before, so people get ready and head over. For something online, at the start. You can pick the start, 30 minutes, an hour or two hours before. ### Can I keep the theme a secret? Yes. A mystery alarm hides a message or a video until the second it rings, so the theme lands on every phone at once. ### Is it free? Yes. Event alarms are free to make, and joining one is free for every guest. ### Where do I get it? LFG Alarm is on Google Play for Android and on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Hosts and guests both use the free app. ## Sources and further reading - [PheedLoop, Event Data Lab Report #05](https://pheedloop.com/blog/event-data-lab-report-5): no-show rates from check-in data at more than 1,070 events (vendor data) - [Airship, Mobile app push notification benchmarks for 2026](https://www.airship.com/mobile-app-push-notification-benchmarks-for-2026/) - [Pielot et al., MobileHCI 2018](https://www.interruptions.net/literature/Pielot-MobileHCI18.pdf): a median of 56 notifications a day across 278 phone users - [Event alarms](https://lfg.gm/wiki/event-alarms) and [LFG Alarm with Partiful](https://lfg.gm/lfg-alarm-with-partiful) LFG Alarm is not affiliated with Partiful or Luma. The parties, themes and names on this page are made up. ## Keep exploring - [How to turn a Partiful invite into an alarm](https://lfg.gm/partiful-event-alarm.md): Paste a Partiful link and LFG Alarm makes the alarm for your guests. - [How to make sure Luma guests actually show up](https://lfg.gm/luma-event-alarm.md): Paste a Luma link so attendees get a real alarm before doors. - [Reduce event no-shows: a reminder playbook for meetups, classes and clubs](https://lfg.gm/reduce-event-no-shows.md): A practical playbook for organisers: when to ring attendees, a headcount from who joined the alarm, notes, comments and a reward for the first to answer. - [The fastest way to get a group chat to commit to a time](https://lfg.gm/group-chat-plans.md): Make the plan an alarm, post one link, and everyone who joins is rung at the moment you set. - [How to get people to actually show up to events](https://lfg.gm/how-to-get-people-to-show-up-to-events.md): Stop relying on the RSVP: ring the people who joined at the right moment, with something they want to hear. ## About LFG Alarm LFG Alarm is a social alarm clock for iPhone, iPad and Android. It rings for times and for moments (a post on X, a stream going live, a token price, a wallet buying, an event starting), and one shared link makes every phone that joined ring together. Rocco, the cat inside the app, does the watching and the waking. - Get it on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gm.lfg.app - Download on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6821089085 - Use it from an AI agent: add the MCP server https://mcp.lfg.gm as a connector, then ask in plain words. - Every page for agents: https://lfg.gm/llms.txt