Dates & Events — The art of perfect timing

The event date — the big day

The event date is the first temporal milestone of a private wishlist. Before this date, the group is active: members can add gift ideas, modify the list, make reservations and join contributions. This is the preparation period.

From the event date (inclusive, day-level comparison), all modifications are blocked: no more adding gift ideas, no more reservations, no more cancellations. The list is frozen in its final state. This rule ensures that gift organisation is completed before the event takes place — avoiding last-minute situations where a late reservation would create confusion.

The reveal date — when everything is unveiled

The expiry date is always after the event date — this is a constraint verified when the wishlist is created. After this date, two things happen simultaneously: the beneficiary discovers the reservations (who reserved, the personal notes, the contributions), and the wishlist disappears for the other group members.

This mechanic preserves the surprise until just the right moment. The interval between the event date and the expiry date gives you flexibility: you can choose for the beneficiary to discover the gifts on the evening of the event itself, or a few days later — enough time for the wonder of the received gifts to settle in.

What is possible at each stage

The permissions table evolves according to the dates. Before the event date: all members can view the wishlist, add items (gift recipient and editor), reserve, participate in contributions, and use the chat. The gift recipient cannot see reservations. Between the event and the expiration: the list is read-only, existing reservations are visible to everyone except the gift recipient, and the chat is read-only.

After the expiration: the gift recipient sees all reservations and personal notes. The wishlist disappears for other members (but remains accessible to the gift recipient from their personal dashboard). Data is retained for memory and the ability to copy items.

Public lists — a single date

Public lists work differently: they have only one date, the event date. Before this date, the list is publicly accessible and reservations are possible (with or without an account). After this date, the public page is no longer accessible to visitors — no guest can access the list any longer.

The public list owner discovers the reservations (names, emails, notes) from their dashboard after the event date. There is no separate expiry date: the list disappears from the public domain on the event date, and the owner can view reservation data at any time from their private space.

Recreating or copying items from an expired list

One of the most practical features for recurring lists (Christmas every year, annual birthday) is the ability to reuse unreserved ideas from an expired list. You do not have to start from scratch — ideas that were not given the previous year serve as a base that you update.

Two options coexist. One-click recreation: from an expired private list, the "Recreate this list" button creates a new list that carries over every still-available item in bulk, with their original creation date preserved (the age of each wish is kept). You enter the new name, new event type, new event date and new expiration date; ideas migrate automatically. Item-by-item copy: on each gift idea of an expired list, the "Copy" button lets you target a specific destination (another private list, a public list, or a Memo list).

In both cases, only unreserved items are concerned (gifts already given stay on the original list). Partially reserved items (quantity greater than 1) are copied with the remaining available quantity. The feature is accessible to the wonderer or to a group editor, after the expiration date (private lists) or after the event date (public lists). Every completed list becomes a useful archive for the next occasion.