Hi. I read somewhere that people are having birthday party invitations with "Call for the location" in order to force RSVPs. I thought of tying it in with Scooby Doo Mystery Party. Anyone tried this?
Last year only 2/19 replied, so I invited 12 more kids(3 replied=5). I then invited another 8 and none replied. I was required to pay for the 10 minimum which I did. Then nearly all showed up. It was at an indoor playplace and there were 35 kids and 3 employees. It was chaos, though I was as gracious as Jackie O on the outside.
Our school directory includes only those whose parents signed consent, so I don't have at least 1/3 of the addresses or numbers. I like to invite the entire class so no one is left out. It does not include email. That would be wonderful.
A birthday party for a special child
A mystery to solve for you
RSVP to this invite to find
where to party with Scooby Doo
or
The mystery machine is revving up
the scooby treats are sweet
RSVP as soon as you can
and I'll tell you where we'll meet!
I think RSVP's need to be more specific if and when you REALLY do need to know how many will attend. And to teach the rude not rsvp'rs a lesson one should not allow the last minute show-er uppers to indulge at your expense, the non rsvp'rs would need to pay their way and make necessary compensations if there is an option to. This would teach them a lesson for the future. Enabling non rsvp'rs to get away with it is just wrong..... stand up for your RSVP so they become effective once again. In the old days an RSVP carried respect.... for some reason it doesnt anymore because it's not enforced.
It is extremely important that I receive your RSVP by 11/15/10 at 5pm because:
"Due to the nature of this Bash
Dont toss this notice in the Trash.
If I dont hear from you by that Date
Please don't bother to show up Late!"
And that's the POEM you asked for ;)
I wanted to comment on your post = GOOD IDEA.. Why does NO ONE RSVP when the invitation clearly states: RSVP by (date)??? A friend of mine went to a birthday party last week at a petting farm place. Out of the 20 something invitations sent out, only like 10 kids RSVP'd so that's all the M. paid for and planned for. On the day of the party, like 15 more just showed up. She had to pay for them and some of the activities planned were not done because there were more kids than expected and timing got off. Some people think, oh it doesn't matter, it's okay, kids are happy... no matter who the person is hosting, oh yes it does.. If your on a strict budget and the unexpectant occurs - it puts the host in a terrible situation. What if you only account for 10 with food? gift bags? etc.. I've been to a few partys where WE rsvp but others haven't and the parents have no idea who will be actually there. RSVP PEOPLE!!!!! :P You're idea seems great to me!
We always RSVP and if something does come up like one of the kids gets sick we try to call before the start of the party there been a few times that my ex did not take our son after he already said he would but that is no longer going to be an issue. We have the problem that not only do people not rsvp and then show up but they also will rsvp then not come. I have found that by creating an event on fb and inviting friends that way works a little better and also doing an e-vite because it sends out a reminder to those invited.
That sounds like a clever idea. I might try this. I hate when people don't RSVP!!! :-)
hum, I'm not sure about that. Many times the location of the party will determine whether or not they will come. Some people may not be comfortable with leaving their kids at some zoo or play place, but would be fine if they were at your house. I would rather know up front where the party was.
RSVPs are always a problem! I found that if I put a phone number AND e-mail address, people were more likely to RSVP. For some reason, in this day and age, people don't want to talk anymore, they just want to leave an e-mail!
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I wish I had something to add other than I'm dealing with this right now. Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday and after reading your responses decided it wasn't rude for me to text/email the ones who haven't replied. Just confirmed one M./kiddo via text that IS coming.
I even emailed all of the moms before I sent out the handwritten invites. Seriously, how hard is it to RSVP via EMAIL????
If anything, maybe send out an EVITE like someone else suggested and then a few days before YOU need to know, send out a reminder asking everyone to respond one way or the other.
Good luck with your party and invites. I just don't understand this type of behavior.
I think this is a great idea! Far, far too many people don't respond to the rsvp and it adds undo stress on the host/hostess. I use evites a lot for the kids parties. It shows me when the guest looks at the invite. It amazes me how people look at it and never respond. Evite even sends out a reminder a a couple of days before the "due" date and people still don't respond. It's a couple of mouse clicks folks!
If you are kind enough to invite them to the party, plan the party, run around like crazy getting ready for the party the last thing you have time to do is chase people down via phone calls to ask if they are coming.
I think this works especially well with your mystery party theme. Start a new trend among your friends!
I think it's a great idea but it may cause more work for you getting back to people to tell them where etc. Unless you do it all via email... I find it funny that people say they don't have time to rsvp to parties yet have time to get on this board and answer questions all the time. It takes less than a minute to rsvp to a party. No one is that busy on a regular basis. And if someone's schedule is so hectic that they don't know till the last minute if they can attend a party, then kindly decline up front. Likely the hostess is busy too and doesn't have time to accomodate last minute acceptances. Why should the hostess potentially waste money on extra food and goodie bags? One thing I think is somewhat effective is to not have a goodie bag for the child who doesn't rsvp. Or tell the parent you're not sure if you have enough because they never rsvp'd so you assumed they weren't coming. Then have a backup so you don't punish the child but at least it makes a bit of a point.
I guess I would be kind of annoyed to receive an invitation like that. I'd rather see all the information up front and not have to call for it. I know RSVP's can be a problem. I have the same problem every year. I end up emailing those who haven't responded to ask if their child is able to come or not.
Interesting. I have never heard of that tactic. Personally, I wouldn't do it. Somehow, I feel it will backfire. There is something to be said about having all of the information written down on an invitation on your refridgerator for you to see every day. What if a person called you to RSVP and to get the location, wrote it down, and then misplaced the paper they wrote it down on? If they aren't familiar with the location, they will have to call you back, which creates more work for both of you. I know it is annoying when people don't RSVP in a timely manner (or at all), but I feel there is a hidden message of anger for whomever chooses to leave out the location. These are manipulative, angry people who are playing games by leaving out the most important detail on an invite.
Just do what I do when someone doesn't RSVP - just call or email them and ask if their child can attend. That is all you would have to do - not so bad, right? People who don't RSVP to parties are not mean people and are not doing it on purpose - they simply have busy lives like we all do and simply forgot. Get rid of that anger and don't send out invites that don't have the venue!
That is a really cute idea! Or you could write the location in invisible ink on an enclosed piece of paper (google invisible ink).
I had a party for my hubby (40th birthday) and just put that it was at our house. People had to call to find out where we lived if they didn't know. We kind of wanted a small party though but didn't want to exclude anyone...LOL So it was kind of deliberate. We got a small party and not many people RSVP'd at all. Mostly family came.
