Invitation Tips

Feb 1

The next thing to think about when you're throwing a party is planning the invitations.

The other trick is finding a time that works for everyone, which can be very tricky these days with busy schedules. I'm going to walk you through some different topics such as how to figure out when to throw your party, and then also how to pick out the perfect invitation.

Choosing the Date

So many people are busy these days between work, family commitments, friend commitments, weddings, etc. The thing that I like to do when I'm working with a large group of people who are all very busy, is use a tool online for scheduling. So this could even be a Doodle Poll quiz where you just send something out to your friends, and say,

“Hey, I have a few options for us to get together. And I would love to get your feedback for when you're available.”

So you can put in all the dates that you're thinking about for this party. And then once you got feedback from your friends, for when they're available, that will help you decide when you'll throw your event. Or you could just send out a text to people saying,

“Hey, I'd love for us to do something together as a group, I want to plan something really fun. I'm thinking about these dates, do those work for you?”

Once you get the feedback for when they're available, that will really help you pick the date.

Choosing the Invitation - Digital or Paper?

Now we need to figure out what kind of invitations to send out.

First of all, you need to think about your budget. Even with $0 we can make beautiful digital invitations. If you have money to spend you might even want to go as far as getting real invitations that you send out in the mail.

Next, ask yourself how formal is your party going to be? Will this be just a simple get together watching a movie and just binge out on popcorn and candy? Or is this something really formal that you're trying to throw, such as a formal sit down dinner, where everybody gets dressed up?

If the event is more formal than I always like to go with paper invitations. There are tons of small businesses out there that do wonderful jobs with paper products. And typically, they have a whole bunch of options that you can look through in a book or even just digitally online for different options that you like. And then they'll work with you on timeline and getting the wording correctly so that you can start sending out those invitations in the mail.

If you don't want to go with a paper route, there is another option online. Paperless Post is a wonderful resource that you can use where you go on there. They have a ton of beautiful invitations and they look like something that you might get in the mail like a physical invitation that opens really beautifully in their email or their text messages. So that is a service that you have to pay for, but it's really not that expensive. The great benefit of that solution as well is that people can RSVP right through the system. And that way, you can keep a running track of who's coming in terms of headcount, so that you can prepare for the party. The other nice thing is, if there's any sort of update that you thought about last minute leading up to the party, there's also an option to send out a blast email to all the people that have accepted the invitation just to let them know what's going on.

The other option if you have $0, to spend, but you still want to send out a beautiful invitation, I highly recommend going on to canva.com, you can create a free account there. And they have a ton of different design tools that you can use. And templates, if you just want to grab a template and use that, then you can take it and customize that. And then you can download that image that's really beautiful on brand for the party. And you can either text it to people or you can email it to people. And it's just a really nice way for people to understand what kind of party you're throwing, get excited about it. And also let you know that this is actually something that they need to RSVP to.

Design

You need to think about the color scheme that you're going to go with. Think about the theme and try to stick with it, but you can also play with it a little. So let's say if you're doing a St. Patrick's Day party, obviously green is what you want to go with. There are also really beautiful versions of green that you could do. So maybe take the original color scheme, and then just make a play off of that to make it a little bit more unique to your party.

Items to Include on the Invitation

In terms of items to include in your invitation, you want to make sure that you have the the ‘who,’ the ‘what,’ the ‘when,’ and the ‘where.’

Who's throwing the party, put your name in. If you're throwing a party for someone, make sure that you explain that in the invitation. Example: “This is a bridal shower for Annie, this is a birthday party for Sarah.” So make sure that that's all in there and hosted by your name.

Make sure that you put in the location. So don't just say my house, some people don't have your address memorized. Put in “my house” and put in the address. Or if you're doing it at a restaurant, you can just say, “Panevino” restaurant and then they can Google. Make sure that there is only one of those restaurants though because I've been in a situation where I have mistakenly gone to the wrong restaurant, there were two locations of the restaurant.

The other thing is you want to make sure that you have the timing on there. So make sure that people know what time to show up.

The other thing that might be helpful in this situation is including a dress code, but you don't always have to do it. If it's something like a cocktail party, just say “cocktail attire” so that people know what to show up in. Also, the formality of the invitation also helps people understand how formal they should be with selecting their outfits.