Guide
How to find a date that works for everyone in the group
Dates are harder than destinations, because every extra person removes some options and nobody wants to be the one who says no. Asking “when suits everyone?” gets seven different answers. Asking people to answer on a few concrete options gets a decision.
Propose real date ranges, not “sometime in spring”
“Any weekend in May” cannot be answered. “Friday 8 to Sunday 10 May” can. Put forward two or three concrete start and end dates, so each person only has to say whether that one works.
Ask for Yes, Maybe or No on each range
A plain yes or no hides the dates people could move with some effort. Maybe lets someone say that they could make it work, and that is how the range everyone can live with turns up. Count Yes first and Maybe second, and look hard at the one with no No.
Ask people to name what cannot move
A wedding, a work trip, a child’s match: ask each person for the dates they cannot do, rather than every date they might. It is shorter, and it finds the real conflicts at once.
Watch the school holidays and the peaks
Norwegian winter holidays, Easter and the autumn break differ by county and move every year, and prices and crowds follow them. If anyone has children, check their dates before you propose a range, and check that the destination is not at its busiest and dearest in exactly your week.
Fix the dates before anyone books
Do not book flights while the date poll is still open, and do not book flights for a destination you have not chosen. A booking made early by one person is the usual reason the rest cannot say no. Wait for the dates, then book.
Settle the length too
A long weekend and a week are different trips with different costs. Agree the number of days when you set the limits, so the date proposals are all the same length.
Let one person confirm
As with the destination, agree who closes it and by when. When the answers are in, that person picks the range and everyone knows the dates are fixed.
Doing it in Awayfolk
On the Ideas page, choose Decide together and When?, then add each date range with a start and an end, and share the poll link. Everyone answers Yes, Maybe or No on each range, and the organiser chooses one; the trip then takes the dates, and you carry on planning in the same place. The date poll and the destination poll are separate, so you can run one first and the other afterwards. Polls are free.
Polls in Awayfolk are free. Start a trip · See an example trip · How the AI connection works
Updated 5 October 2026