Want to host your very own Community Day meetup? Set it up on the Community Day 2026 Luma calendar today! We have a lot of stuff we’ve prepared for hosts and guests this year, so read on to learn about our new playbook for community meetups, how to submit a request to receive official Open Home Foundation merchandise, and much more…
On your marks…
A month ago we asked you to mark your calendars for Community Day 2026 on November 7. From today you can mark our calendar! Our Community Day Luma calendar that is 😁 All you need to get started is the desire to host and to add your meetup to the calendar!
But that’s not where the support from us stops! I’ve put my head together with our event organizer, Florencia, to make sure every host is set up for success this year. This special annual event has a new website with our Community Meetups Playbook (including reimbursement guidelines), information on how to request official merchandise, and dynamic updates of where events are being held.
Let’s get into some of those details 👀
We loved seeing your snaps from Community Day 2025!
One page to rule them all
Our Community Day website is now live! Our graphic designers and web developers went all out for you, taking what we built for our Home Assistant community page and giving it the facelift Community Day deserves 👏
On this new page you can find what Community Day is all about, some things we’re doing differently this year based on learnings from the last event, links to informational PDFs, and dynamic updates of events added to our calendar.
We provide a lot of extra information in our Community Meetups Playbook, merchandise requests form, and our FAQ. Let me break down some of that here for y’all.
A fresh new webpage, just for you!
We’ve got you covered
One big item missing last year was a Community Meetups Playbook – I’m thrilled to say we’ve got you covered with one now. Available on our new Community Day website as a downloadable PDF, this will be your guide to preparing to host a meetup. The playbook is packed with information, so let me share the key timings for hosts ahead of Community Day.
8 weeks before the event
- Start venue scouting.
- Register on Luma and create your event page: you can now make your own invite image using our asset generator.
- Join the Home Assistant Discord server and share your event in the #community-day channel to receive a special role dedicated to Community Day hosts.
- In your event’s description, ask your guests to join the server too so y’all can have a thread dedicated to your meetup to chat outside of Luma.
6 weeks before
- Lock in your venue (check out the reimbursement guidelines in the Community Meetups Playbook to see how we help with this).
- Confirm your co-hosts.
- Spread the word!
- Reach out to your local or regional community – you can find the ones we’re aware of in the FAQ of our Community webpage. If yours is missing, please let us know!
5 weeks before
- Submit your merchandise request (deadline for this year’s event is October 5, 2026 – check out Swag, swag, swag for more details).
- Order some name tags for your guests.
2 weeks before
- Confirm any catering or drink arrangements with your venue.
- Send a reminder Blast on Luma asking guests to update their RSVPs if their plans changed (often needed to give venues accurate headcount).
- Luma can also automatically send out reminders one day and one hour before the event, if enabled.
- Brief any co-hosts on the plan (like if you’ll use Luma’s check-in feature, or what time you’ll meet at your venue).
Event day
- Bring your merchandise and name tags!
- Enjoy bonding with local enthusiasts like yourself 😌
After the event
- Collect photos taken by yourself or your guests and add them to our shared Drive folder.
- Complete our post-event feedback form.
- Submit any reimbursement requests by December 7, 2026 (we cannot reimburse any requests for Community Day 2026 after this date).
In addition to this timeline, the playbook also talks about finding the right kind of venue, how to set up your Luma event, activity ideas, and handling guest privacy when it comes to photography.
Did I lose you? 😅 Don’t worry. My team is genuinely happy to help! You can reach out to me, Florencia, Isabelle, or Inês either in the Community Day Discord channel (tag one of us!) or by emailing the team at communityday@openhomefoundation.org.
The Community department is here to help! From left to right: Isabelle, Melissa, Florencia, Missy, and Inês.
Swag, swag, swag
I won’t lie: merch for hosts was a bit of a mess last year 😬 We said one thing and then weren’t able to honor that, forcing hosts to find their own merch. So this year we’re making it possible to request merch from us directly 🎉 Because of shipping deadlines, the request cut-off date is October 5, but that’s not where it stops! If you miss the deadline or simply want to produce your own merch locally (see below), we’ll reimburse you for those purchases.
We’ve updated last year’s reimbursement guidelines, which we also use throughout the year for regular community meetups. We will still cover most of the same things, such as venue fees and certain host expenses. However, if you request merch from us for Community Day you can expect:
- A T-shirt or sweater for each host (up to three)
- An ESPHome Starter Kit for each host (also up to three)
- A yet-to-be released sticker pack for your guests
- Tote bags
- Lanyards in two designs (a standard design, and a red design for guests who don’t want their photo taken or shared)
If you miss the deadline to request merch from us, or want to use a local provider to create custom merch we don’t offer, please email us at communityday@openhomefoundation.org so we can make sure you’re covered! We’ll share the official design assets for the items you want to order and reimburse you for your purchases.
It’s important to note that we cannot reimburse you for any purchases made through the official Open Home Foundation store. If you want official merchandise for your event this year, you need to submit your request before the deadline. However, we’ll absolutely cover you if you order some custom merch from another provider.
To put a bow on it
We know there’s a lot more information to digest for this year’s Community Day, so we want to make sure you, as a host, feel properly supported. The biggest change about this year’s event is that it truly is a team effort: I could not have put everything together without Florencia, and now we also have Isabelle and Inês supporting us through this annual event 😌
The #community-day channel in Discord is where you can chat with other hosts to share ideas for activities you’ll have at your meetups, and make threads to talk more closely with your own guests. I’ll hang out in there as well to answer any questions you may have, and keep hosts updated on the latest news.
If you don’t have Discord, or simply prefer email communications, we’ll happily provide the same support when you email us at communityday@openhomefoundation.org. I personally can't wait to hear from you, and look forward to seeing all the photos from this year’s celebration of the community 🤩