Three people are sitting down in a lounge. In front of them is a table decorated for Coffee Morning, full of fruit, sweet treats and cups of warm drinks. They appear to be talking and eating food together.

Hosting your first Coffee Morning - do it your way

Blog
Published: 02 June 2025
Hosting your first Coffee Morning for Macmillan is an exciting experience and we're here every step of the way to give you all the advice you need. Whether it's choosing where to host, what to bake, or how to invite people, read our top tips for making your Coffee Morning as smooth as a slice of red velvet cake.
Alex Donohue is a Senior Digital Content Writer at Macmillan. He has short brown hair and is wearing a brown shirt.

Alex Donohue Senior Digital Content Writer

Your first Coffee Morning

Do Coffee Morning your way

Hosting a Coffee Morning at home

Having a Coffee Morning in your own home offers comfort and the maximum opportunity to do things your own way. You could have a:

  • pizza party
  • barbecue
  • or invite friends around for brunch.

Keeping your guestlist to friends, family and neighbours can make life simpler. You could jointly host with a friend or neighbour to lighten the load.

Consider things you might need to borrow, such as chairs or a barbecue, if you're using an outdoor space and it's a nice day.

Hosting a public Coffee Morning event

"We hosted a Coffee Morning at a community hall because we work with people with different health conditions like cancer. We invited councillors and local residents - it was great to see how much they collaborated to raise money for Macmillan." - Vanessa, Coffee Morning host

If you have somewhere in mind for a public event, it's really important to have permission to host your event there.

Whether it's your first Coffee Morning or you want to shake things up and do something different this time, there are plenty of options. For instance, you could host a community cooking competition.

  • If you're hosting at a school get the date in the school calendar early so nobody misses out. If the school has a newsletter, ask for the event to be included in it.
  • If you're hosting at work get the date agreed early and ask your workplace if they can match donations. Send an email around to your workmates about your event. If your workplace has an internal newsletter, ask for the details to be included there too.
  • If you're hosting your local community put up posters early at the venue so people know about your event. If there's a local community newsletter or Facebook group share the details there too.

Top tip: Check out our list of Coffee Morning fundraising games for inspiration.

A Headmasters hairdressers is hosting a Coffee Morning. There is a table decorate for Coffee Morning. Hairdressers are wearing green Macmillan branded t-shirts and are at different stations across the salon talking to clients.
An unfolded map with a pin on a light green background.

Share your event

Choose what to bake

Dark green and white swimming goggles on a light green background.

Ask friends and family to help

Make donating easy

About the author

Alex Donohue is a Senior Digital Content Writer at Macmillan. He has short brown hair and is wearing a brown shirt.

Alex Donohue