Planning a birthday party often fills parents with dread because you have to think about your own budget, who you do (and don’t) want to invite and then how on earth do you get people to respond in such a busy world?
Because no guests = no party!
So I’m taking a deep dive into all things party invites to make sure you’re not playing the role of the White Rabbit and chasing people down the rabbit hole!
Start from the very beginning.
Sit with your child and make a list of the guests they would like to invite.
The last thing you want is to invite someone who they don’t feel comfortable being around or simply aren’t friends with.
However, I’ve known parents, including myself, to ask their class teacher for a list of children in your child’s class and that way you can invite everyone without anyone feeling left out.
If you’re having a pay per person party, then sitting with your child and setting expectations of the amount of children you’re limiting it to will stop any meltdowns from potentially happening.
Another thing to consider is whether siblings are allowed to come.
Some parents may not be able to leave any other children behind so be mindful of letting them know on the invites whether siblings will get a party bag or food on the day.
My biggest tip for invites?
Over invite!
Invite the whole class or both year groups so if anyone cancels or doesn’t turn up on the day, you won’t even notice!
The most asked question I get asked when it comes to party invites is…WHEN DO I SEND THEM?
If you have your required date before you book your venue and entertainment then send out a SAVE THE DATE so that parents are aware of your party happening.
When you have confirmed your venue, I recommend sending your party invites out no later than 3-4 weeks in advance.
Keep in mind that parents have to juggle weekend activities, family days out and unexpected things so by giving them enough notice, but not too far that they will forget, you will be doing them and yourself a favour too.
This is also the quickest way to get RSVP’s as your invite will be fresh in their mind and you’re not spending months and months chasing them up.
What time do you need to put on your invites?
This is probably the part where parents get confused so here’s an example of how to get it right –
If you’re hall is booked for four hours, that gives you one hour before and one hour after your party.
The middle two hours is your party.
If you have booked an entertainer for a 12pm start then that is the time you put on your party invites.
Your entertainer will most likely turn up much earlier than this to set up so that your guests actually walk into a party atmosphere, rather than sitting there waiting for the entertainer to plug in.
From traditional party invites to the modern way!
I rarely used to check my children’s school bags when I picked them up from school which meant weeks later I would find crumpled paper party invites at the bottom of their bag!
Whilst traditional party invites on those dated bits of paper can still be a thing, the modern and money saving way is to go digital!
You can easily mock up a quick party invite in your own theme and colours on Canva for free, download and send into a Whatsapp group.
If you really can’t be bothered with that, then a generic copy and paste message will do the trick too!
Avoid becoming Little Miss Forgetful with my handy tips of what to include in your invite:
- Birthday child’s name – so your guests know who’s party it is!
- The main ingredients are party date, time, and location
- Add on if guests have dietary requirements that you need to be aware of
- Any important information such as the theme, is it fancy dress and can siblings come
- RSVP with a deadline and the best way of contacting you
How to get your guests to RSVP.
Having a deadline on your invitation is vital as it will give urgency to parents to reply whether they can make it or not.
If you send your invites out with 4 weeks to go, put the RSVP date for a week before the party.
So your guests have 3 weeks to respond.
In week 2, send a reminder for response and with two days to go before the RSVP deadline, tell parents that they only have 2 days to let you know otherwise their child may not receive food or a party bag.
No parent wants their child to feel left out so this usually gives them an elbow nudge to reply!
If you have a rough idea of numbers for your party after this, then just over buy no more than 5 party bag items or food just to allow for those that just turn up on the day.
It’s better to have more than less!
In the words of Scar from the Lion King – be prepared!
I hope your party goes swimmingly, and just some food for thought – I wrote a blog about what it’s like to not be invited to a party.
It’s my most read blog post because parents seem to be Googling – ‘why wasn’t my child invited to the party?’ and up comes my blog.
You can have a read here and whilst I know everyone’s budget and situation is different, it may resonate with you and avoid any awkwardness you may be finding when it comes to inviting children.
If this is something you feel you need, you can purchase it right here on my Etsy shop.