Types of Invitations
People can be invited to practically anything, anywhere and in any form from the junk mail inviting "neighbors" to the new store opening to a niece's graduation party. When deciding the type of invitation to send, consider the audience. Will four generations of family members be receiving your invitation? Consider the type of event. Is it more formal, like a wedding, or casual, like a backyard barbecue? There are a variety of invitations and ways to send them, but beyond that, there are many considerations that should come into play when making the decisions about what types of invitations to use.
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Evites
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Evites, or electronic invitations, offer benefits and drawbacks to both the sender and the recipients. They are informal invitations, usually used on social networking sites such as FaceBook and MySpace. Evites can also be sent via email to the sender's contact list. Some sites allow people to give a reply of "maybe" to an evite, often never allowing the sender to obtain an accurate head count for the event. Also, not everyone uses social networking or even email (think great grandma) and you may have to resort to paper invitations as well. For the Internet savvy, evites provide a way to not lose paper invitations and to keep track on the calendar they most likely use, the one on their phone, computer or other electronic device. Evites are easy to send out in mass rather than individually address each envelope. Keep in mind, evites are not acceptable for wedding invitations and other formal functions but will work for children's birthday parties, high schoolers' last-minute Friday night bashes' and even house-warming parties.
Wedding Invitations
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Wedding invitations are considered to be formal invitations because it is a formal event. Today these invitations range in style, colors and decoration but are usually hand mailed. When choosing who to invite to the wedding and reception, consider the capacity of the place where the wedding and reception will be held. RSVP information is typically printed in the lower left-hand corner of the invitation only if a response card or set is not included. The response set is smaller than the invitation but made of the same paper stock as the wedding invitations.
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Surprise Party Invitations
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Surprise party invitations can be for birthdays, anniversaries, showers, such as baby, bridal and engagement, and a host of other reasons. The most important thing about a surprise party invitation is to make the recipient aware of the fact that it is a surprise party. Colors by Design recommends using capital or bold lettering stating that the party is a surprise party. Include what time guests should arrive, where they should park their cars (so the guest of honor does not see and recognize them, ruining the surprise at the last minute) and what time the person they are surprising will be arriving. To jazz up the surprise invitation, include a cute poem about surprising the guest of honor or even write "Don't let the cat out of the bag," to remind those coming that it is a surprise party. If the surprise party is for a shower, include where the person/people are registered so invitees know where to shop for gifts the person will love.
Birthday Party Invitations
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Birthday party invitations can be handled in numerous ways. They can be sent via email, text messaging, evite or sent to school with your child. When sending birthday party invitations, consider the age of the person and where the birthday party will be held. If the child is turning 2, it is best the parents send invitations to friends and family, but if the child is turning 8, the birthday boy can bring invitations to his classmates at school, while parents can invite adult family and friends. Depending on the age of the parents, evites, phone calls and snail-mailed invitations may all be appropriate. For a 50th birthday party, more formal invitations are usually required not only because it's a special birthday but because of the age of attendees and where the function will be held. Consider your friends and family when deciding upon the method of birthday invitations.
Special Occasion Function Invitations
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Everyone has once-in-a-lifetime and special occasion functions, such as prom, graduation from high school or college and purchasing a new home. The type of invitation depends on the type of function. The more formal the function, the more formal the invitation should be. Housewarming party invitations resemble birthday party invitations. Consider your family and friends. Do they check email and use social networking sites? Would you like hard-copy RSVP cards? The type of invitation is up to you. When it comes to prom and graduations, the school and your family should send formal invitations because these are once-in-a-lifetime events. If they are the sentimental type, the invitations should be the type the students can keep in scrap books for years to come. Special occasions should have invitations that match the style of the function.
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