How to Word an Invitation for Bringing Food

Potlucks are a great way to bring people and communities together by sharing diverse food, drink and celebrations. Each person, couple or family can bring a dish to share, but they will need to know that everyone will be pitching in when they are invited. This alert can be achieved via a phone call or text, but in some situations, it may need to be more formal. You can create a "bring and share" invite for this, which is a nice way to let invitees know about the event.

Tact is imperative when letting guests know that they need to bring a dish to share at an event. The invitation needs to include the basics, like the name and purpose of the gathering as well as its date, time and location. You can call it a "potluck dinner for Jo-Jo's birthday" or something similar. Putting the words "potluck" or "bring and share" in the title will let everyone know that they should bring something.

Try keeping the wording for such an invite on the shorter side; otherwise, it could be distracting. You don't want to write that everyone needs to bring a dish to cut down on costs or that you want to create a wonderful sense of community. In short, you do not need to justify why you are having a potluck. People generally get the message and are fine with contributing. If they are not, they can decline the invitation.

There are a few clever openings you can use for a bring and share invite, such as "You've heard of tough luck and beginner's luck, but we prefer POT luck!" Another option is "Calling all hungry monsters. Join us at our spook-tacular Halloween potluck."

While it is not mandatory to include the word "potluck" in the beginning of the invite, guests still need to know that they have to bring a dish to share if that is the intention. If you want to put this part toward the end of the invite, it definitely needs to stand out. No one wants to show up empty handed and feel embarrassed if everyone else has brought something.

You can write "please bring a dish or drink for everyone to share" in the middle or closing of the invitation and put it in bold or another colored type. If possible, you should also include the number of people you expect to attend. You could write "Please bring a covered dish for (number of people)."

You have the option of keeping things open in terms of what kind of dish people can bring, but that means you may end up with five desserts and no side dishes. Instead, ask people to let you know what they will be bringing when they RSVP. To do this, you can make a form on the bottom of the invitation. It can include a blank where they can write what they are bringing. Also remember to include an RSVP date.

Another option is to ask your invitees to email you and let you know what they are bringing. The perfect way to word this is to say "Please email abcdefg@xyz.com by (date) and let us know what you can bring. We hope you can join us!" Then, you can keep a running list of the food and drink. Some guests will ask what you need, which is always a big help.