Party Invitation Wording - from Bar to Beach
When you are organizing a party, your party invitation wording might be one of the last things on your mind. Taken up with the to-do list of a million things to buy, prepare, decorate and talk about, it's easy to overlook the the importance of the words themselves. All too often the visual design of the invitation takes priority, and important details get overlooked. But it is your words that will set the scene for your event, and give vital clues for your guests about what kind of party to expect and how they should prepare for it.
It doesn't matter what a great party you are planning if you omit any vital joining details, such as the date, location and timings. If the location is likely to be unfamiliar or hard to find for any of your guests, some directions or even a map might be appropriate - for example in a wedding party invitation where guests might be travelling long distances to attend.
Your invite should be quite clear about any themes or dress codes expected for your event. Just because you chose a pretty beach scene background, that doesn't tell your guests quite enough - explicit beach party invitation wording will save the embarrassment of anyone turning up in a bikini if what you really had in mind was a cocktail do with a few themed parasols!
Of course you don't have to get too formal about any of it - your 40th birthday party invitation wording is just the place to gently take the mickey out of the person who's great forthcoming maturity is to be celebrated! Once you have ensured the crucial information details outlined above are included, have some fun with the rest of it! Why not try writing some of it in rhyme....
8:30 dinner, don't be late
bring a buddy or a date
champagne cocktails start to pour
when John is 21 once more!
OK you can probably do better than that! But don't forget to inject your personality into it somehow. Accompanying the words with a cute baby photo makes it even funnier.
Another thing not to forget is a response mechanism, traditionally called the 'RSVP' - 'respondez sil vous plait'. You can make it easy for your guests to let you know by including an email address and mobile phone number - if they can't let you know easily that leaves you in the dark about numbers for catering, drinks etc, even venue size. If your event is a surprise, don't forget to make that explicitly clear to your potential guests! It's so easy for the secret to get blown wide open, which will be such a disappointment - so tell them exactly who is and isn't in the know, and how to respond to you privately.
Of course there are occasions when more formality is traditional, and wedding and engagement party invitation wording has certain forms of etiquette you may wish to follow - if a formal event is what you are planning. For example, it's typical for the invitation to be worded from the bride's parents, because traditionally they pay for the lot - but in the modern day this is often not the case, so it might be more appropriate for the couple to be inviting people (even if a friend is helpfully fielding the responses). Similarly these days formal dinner party invitation wording is rarely used, in fact it's unusual for this kind of event for any written invite to be used at all.
In these days of Facebook events, email and texting, it's true to say that traditional party invitation wording and designs are potentially becoming a thing of the past... but let's hope the written invite never dies out completely. Nothing is more exciting than receiving a beautifully printed and worded invitation by good old snail-mail, and propping it on the mantlepiece to remind you of a great forthcoming event.
