When would you send out birthday party invites for a 5 year old? Last year I gave them out probably about a month beofre and I'd say 50% of the parents of the kids in her class didn't even respond. The party is in May so it's a busy time of year - what do you think?
Thanks in advance, Mamas!!
3 weeks is my rule. If you give too much time, people set the invite aside and then forget about it...thus no RSVP or No Shows. And allow them to RSVP by e-mail if you can. Some people would much prefer to send a quick not saying yes or no than to call someone they have never spoken to before.
I usually go with about three weeks ahead. That gives people enough notice, but it's not so far in advance they forget. I agree ... May is a very busy time of year, so you will want to make sure to give enough notice. Whether people RSVP is another post altogether. People are terrible about that these days.
I think 2-3 weeks is plenty of notice. That being said, my daughter just got an invite this morning for April 30th. But we have spring break coming up, so maybe they wanted to avoid doing it after spring break and close to Easter.
Three weeks is my usual. However, if it is a really busy time, you could send a save the date 6 weeks ahead and then send the invitations 3 weeks or so ahead. Especially if you are inviting family from out of town. It is RUDE to not RSVP. Put a date for RSVPs on the invitation. I call to follow up if I don't hear from someone - otherwise how do you know? Generally I would say something like - oh, I was worried you didn't get our invitation and I didn't want you to find out about the party and feel left out blah blah blah.
I like to do evite, because then you can see who has viewed it and not RSVPed, or even who hasn't viewed it, so perhaps it got stuck in spam. It's much easier to follow up, shoot a quick email saying hey are you guys coming...
I typically do 3-4 weeks but I may verbally mention it to those that I see a bit sooner. My daughter's birthday is Dec 4 but we tend to have her party right after the Thanksgiving holiday while my son is home from college and so it isn't after her birthday so I definately tell people a bit early for her's.
I do 2 weeks before.
M.
Parents just don't respond. Thinking parents are going to respond is just a waste of time in my opinion. If you are doing something where you have to have an exact count then put on the invitation that anyone not responding will not be counted and not expected. But even with that there are going to be kids that show up because the parents just got busy and forgot.
Why not just invite people you know and can actually talk to on the phone. Most schools have a student phone book. Let them know you are sending their child an invitation.
So far we have had friend birthday parties. I set the date and time and my friends and I talk all the time so I knew they were coming.
My friend has had several parties where she just sent the invitations and as the kids showed up she bought more food. Those were at places like Chuck E. Cheese or other places where you can actually feed everyone and when the food is gone everyone has had at least some food.
