Whose diary goes in, and how
Each adult adds their own diary on their own phone. Children are not added as people. Their commitments go in as busy time for whoever is doing the taking and fetching.
Two working parents. Each connects a work calendar by link or file, or adds a rota. If one or both of you work shifts, planning a social life around shifts covers rotas job by job. The guide to getting a calendar link from Google, Apple or Outlook shows where the link is.
School runs and clubs. These repeat every week, so they are quick to tap in by hand, or they come in with your calendar if they are already there. Put them on the diary of the parent who does them. If you alternate, put them on both and accept that the plan will be slightly cautious.
Term dates. Term and holiday dates vary across the UK, and in England and Wales you find them through your local council. For a family day out you are looking at weekends, holidays and inset days, so set the plan's dates to cover the next half term and mark the school days busy.
Shared custody. For a plan with the children, the weekends they are with their other parent are busy. For a plan with your friends, it is the other way round: those are your free weekends. Keep them as two separate plans. A custody schedule that repeats is quick to tap in for the next three months.
Grandparents. Send them the link. They tap in the days they cannot do, such as the bowls club, the hospital appointment or the week in Wales. Nobody needs an account. Their regular childcare days are worth marking as well, because a grandparent who has the toddler on Tuesdays is not free on Tuesdays.
Everyone else. Aunts, uncles and adult cousins add themselves from the same link. A plan holds up to 30 people.
Say it is a family plan
On the ideas step, under Who is coming, choose Family with children. Vennado then suggests only ideas that work with children in tow. The group size and the budget a head still apply, and the hours still have to fit the window. A family plan can draw on ideas like these.
£10–30 a head, guide price
A big museum and lunch
Many of the best are free to walk into.
£12–25 a head, guide price
A farm park
Goats to feed and a tractor to ride. Soft play if it rains.
£20–40 a head, guide price
The zoo or a safari park
A full day with a clear route and plenty of stops.
Those are guide prices a head for a typical UK city, to show what a budget covers. The price you pay is the one on the attraction's own site. Family days out has the full list and what to book ahead.
What stays private between family members
Each person sees when the others are busy and what kind of busy it is: work, on call, personal or rest. Never what, where or who with.
- Not shared and not stored: what an event is called, where it is, the notes, and who else is going.
- Not stored: the calendar feed, the rota file or the screenshot. They are read and dropped.
- Stored for a shared plan: each person's display name and busy times, the plan's settings, the shortlist, the votes and the choice you lock in.
This matters most where trust is thin. Separated parents can find a date for a birthday party without either seeing the other's week. An adult son can show he is busy on Friday without saying why. If you would like the same arrangement without Vennado, the guide to sharing free and busy times without sharing your diary shows what Google, Apple and Outlook can and cannot do.
A shared plan is deleted automatically 90 days after it was last changed, and the person who started it can delete it sooner. The privacy notice has the detail.
A worked example
Say you have two children and an office job. Your partner works three long days a week on a rota that changes. Gran does the school run on Wednesdays and has a week of her own.
You start a plan and, under More options, set the latest time that counts to 6pm, because a day out with children is over by tea. You add your work calendar by link and tap in Saturday football. Your partner adds a screenshot of the rota and checks the shifts. Gran opens the link and taps in bowls, an appointment and her Wednesday.
Sunday, from 9amThe one whole day all three of you have. Saturday afternoon is a near miss: everyone but your partner.
- Work shift
- Family and personal
- Everyone free
- Near miss, all but one free
The plan shows one day: Sunday, free for all three of you from 9am. Saturday afternoon is a near miss. Football is over by midday and Gran is free, but your partner is on a long day. If that shift can be swapped, you have a choice of two.
What it will not do
Vennado does not replace the calendar on the fridge. It does not send reminders, assign the school run or sync with a school's app. It finds the days you are all free and suggests what to do with them. For anything you book, you pay the seller directly.
Questions people ask
Do my children need to be added to the plan?
No, and please do not add them. Vennado is for adults, and a plan needs only the adults' diaries. A child's commitments go in as busy time on the diary of whoever is taking them: the school run, swimming on Thursdays, football on Saturday morning. Only the times are kept. A label such as 'school run' is never stored.
Can my ex-partner see what is in my calendar if we share a plan?
No. Each person in a plan sees the others' busy and free times and whether a block is work, on call, personal or rest. Event titles, places, notes and who you are with are not shared and are not stored by Vennado. A custody weekend, a date and a dentist's appointment all look the same: a block of personal time.
How do grandparents add their diary if they do not use a calendar app?
They open the link you send and tap the days they are busy. Nobody needs an account or an email address. If that is still too much, one of you can add them from your own phone and tap in the dates they give you over the phone.
Where do I find school term dates to add?
On your local council's website, or the school's own. GOV.UK has a postcode lookup for term and holiday dates in England and Wales and notes that dates vary across the UK, with separate information for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Add inset days as well, once your school has published them.