Hosting guide
From idea to gifts in four steps
Everything a host needs to know, in the order you will need it.
1. Create your event
- Sign up with your email and phone, then press New event.
- Choose the kind of celebration. GiftNest fills in a headline and tagline you can change, like “We are getting married” and “Your love, our beginning.”
- Add the date, the venue and a short note for your guests. Pick a colour theme and, if you like, a cover photo.
- Your link is made from your names, for example giftnest.ug/events/nakato-brian. You can change it before you share it.
2. Build the registry
- Add each gift with a price, a picture and how many you want. Two cookware sets? Set the quantity to 2.
- Use a Cash Fund for experiences and savings: a honeymoon, a first home, school fees. Guests give any amount towards it.
- Mark your favourites as your pick: they show first and on the event page.
- Turn off chipping in for a gift that only makes sense whole.
3. Publish and share
- Press Publish when the registry is ready. Until then only you and your co-hosts can see it.
- Share the link on WhatsApp, print the QR card for the tables, or send an SMS to your whole guest list from the dashboard.
- Add your partner, a parent or your planner as co-hosts so they can help.
4. Watch the gifts arrive
- Guests leave a message, choose a gift, and approve a Mobile Money prompt on their own phone. They never need an account.
- Each gift appears on your dashboard the moment it is paid, with the giver's name, number and message, even if they chose to stay anonymous to other guests.
- Guests get a receipt on screen and by SMS. You can export every gift to Excel for your thank-you cards.
- When the celebration is over, close the registry. The page and the wishes stay up; no more gifts are taken.
About payments
Gifts are paid by MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money through OlyCash. The guest approves the payment on their own phone with their own PIN; GiftNest never sees it. A prompt that is not approved within 15 minutes is cancelled and the guest can try again.