It’s like a Tupperware party. But for heat pumps
How to host a shockingly good high voltage hang for your friends, family, and neighbors to learn how they can go electric. And eat cake.
What the heck is an electric house party?
It’s pretty much plug and play!
An electric house party allows your friends and neighbors to see up close the benefits of electrification — and motivate them to replace fossil-fueled appliances (that run on coal, oil, or gas) with modern electric ones. If you already have some of these appliances in your own home, this could be just the inspiration your guests need to do the same in their home. It’s basically the good-for-your-health, good-for-the-pocketbook version of keeping up with the Joneses.
Here’s how it works
Your friends and neighbors can tour your electrified house and check out your shiny, sweeeet electric appliances — heat pumps, electric vehicles, battery backup, heat pump dryer, heat pump water heater, solar panels, induction stoves — whatever you’ve added to your home! Tell them all about how weatherization and an energy audit can make an electrified home even more energy efficient.
You don’t have to have all of these electric items to show off what you’ve done to electrify your home. Just highlight the good work you’ve already done, and motivate your guests to give electric appliances a shot.
You could also make your electric house party a progressive experience, walking from one electrified home to another in your neighborhood. Does your neighbor have an induction stove to your heat pump? Pop around, sharing insights and hosting duties.
This is also helpful because electrification is a journey and a destination. It’s not something you have to do all at once to celebrate what you’ve done with friends and family — it takes time, money, and proper sequencing to go all-electric, so showing your progress keeps it real and relatable. If you do have an all-electric home, you are awesome and we present you with all the gold stars and pastel unicorns.
When you host an electric house party, you can share your own electric journey with your guests, provide some resources for their home electrification, and even bring in a local electric expert or contractor to offer deeper tips and insights. You’re also building community, and bringing people into the movement to electrify! Which is great, because lots of people don’t own their homes or have the resources to electrify, but still want to learn, share, and advance electrification. While eating heat pump cookies with you!
Your electric house party in 10 easy steps:
Step 1: Find a contractor to talk to your group
If you already have a great contractor who helped install your electric appliances, see if they are free to give your guests some electrification basics. They can give their spiel at the beginning of the party and then stick around after to answer any questions. You can also search for a contractor in your area who might be willing to come speak to your group here.
Step 2: Send out invites
Dr. Google says that Sunday afternoons are the best day to get the biggest crowd, but do whatever works for your community — you know it best. Plan for about two hours..
Sample invite copy:
Are You Electri-Curious? I’ve swapped out the fossil-fueled appliances in my home and have saved a lot of money in the process. I’d love to show you how and why electrification makes sense. Come by and meet your neighbors and these electric machines, along with a local contractor/expert who can answer some of your questions.
(Details here about time and place).
Optional: Ask your guests for their dietary preferences.
Step 3: Prep your pad
You could label all of your electric appliances with facts from our Rewiring America handout. Arrange furniture, if needed, to accommodate a larger group and to allow people to move easily around your space. Think through where you want to start and end with your tour.
A few extra tips:
Also ask yourself what you like best about your appliances and be ready to share your story.
People may also want to know about your costs — from upfront to operating. Figure out what you’re comfortable to share and have that information ready.
Do you know what rebates and incentives are available at the state, federal, and local level? Can you do a bit of legwork to have that info ready?
Step 4: Label your electric appliances
You can make a placard for each appliance to describe what it is, what its benefits and costs are, and how much it can save you yearly using information from Rewiring America found here and below.
Step 5: Make snacks
Soup is a great, easy-to-serve option if you are hosting a fall/winter party and if you have an induction range or induction hot plate. Our How to Throw a Soup Party guide offers some great soup recipes you can try.
If a meal feels like too heavy a lift, whip up a classic cocktail and brand it with an electric name: Electric Punch, High Voltage High Ball, Heat Punch. You get the idea. Serve up a cocktail and some simple snacks like a charcuterie board or cheese and crackers. If you are offering cocktails or beer and wine, make sure to have some non-alcoholic options on offer too.
Step 6: Do your presentation
Plan to do a short spiel when you have enough people around. Some people like to start with a Powerpoint presentation about the benefits of electrification. You can be as formal or as informal as you like. You can find information about all the reasons to go electric at Rewiring America, where we have everything from great fact sheets to fun videos you can show.
You can also just tell your personal story of electrification — where did you start, why did you buy the appliances you did, what kinds of rebates and incentives did you get, and what kind of savings has switching to electric appliances afforded you? Leave some time for questions. Keep it brief if you are also having a local contractor address your group, because that’s where folks will have the bulk of their questions. After the presentation, you can talk about the specific appliances that you’ve electrified.
Want to take your knowledge up a notch before you host?
Sign up for a Why Electrify course here.
Step 7: Break for refreshments
Serve up drinks and snacks or your soups and offer people a chance to ask you and your contractor questions while they nosh.
Step 8: Offer a tour
After your refreshment break, lead a tour of your house. Talking about all of your electric appliances is a great way to familiarize people with how to live electrically.
Make sure to highlight how even renters can engage in some of these swaps, such as EVs, induction cooktops, and portable heat pumps. You can also have a flyer for renters that describes how to talk to their landlords about electrification — and how it would benefit them.
Step 9: Talk about a plan of action
After the tour, you can invite your guests to describe their plan of action for electrification. You can create cards for them to fill out:
Everyone’s personal electrification plan is going to be different.
Direct people to Rewiring America’s Savings Calculator and Personal Electrification Planner (PEP) to find out more about how they can save.
Step 10: Send people on their way with a handout
Some people will get all they need to know about electric appliances during your presentation but others may need some literature and time to absorb the merits of electrification.
Want to sweeten the deal? Pack up some homemade-with-induction cookies with a PDF of “How going electric helps you and your neighbors.”
Print out these PDFs in glorious full color and share them with your party guests on a table set up near the front door. It’s great to have some takeaways. You could even create goody bags with handouts and some homemade cookies to go!
Plug in to hand out: We’ve got you covered with printable fact sheets galore!
Host then post: Share your party pics!
We'd love to feature your electric journey on our website and social media! Send your story and photos to media@rewiringamerica.org.