My DS birthday is coming up this Saturday and half the invitees have not responded. I can see they opened the invite and got the auto reminder. The final auto reminder goes on Wednesday. Should I just assume they aren’t coming? I have to give the names and give the final number to the party place. I ask because we had DD’s party there two weeks ago and not only did people show up that never responded and two people who declined and then came. We didn’t have enough table and chair for the extra 8 people that showed up and for a young kids party it led to some tears. What can I do to prevent this from happening without being a jerk? |
Can you email / text individually? |
Send a reminder tonight and plan for an extra 5 people. We always have that. |
Sometimes if people don’t reply, I send a direct email to them and just say “Hi there, just checking if you are coming to the party so we have enough food, etc!” Maybe just give them a slightly higher number (unless they charge you for it) to account for any last minute folks? Sorry people are being flaky. |
This. Send a reminder tonight with an updated message. Some people may have forgotten and the reminder email will at least get them to respond. Tell them to RSVP by Tuesday. |
Is this an all-class party where you don’t really know the parents? If so, In my experience lots of people wait until the week of the party to respond. I think it’s pretty rude to leave the host hanging this late in the game but it happens to me every year. I send an upbeat message the Monday or Tuesday before the party along the lines of “hey everyone, looking forward to seeing many of you Saturday, if you could let me know either way whether you can attend it would greatly help me finalize the party plans!”
I would only send a personal email (outside of evite) if I had some personal relationship with the parent. |
Text or email individually. Address recipient by name. State that you need to finalize numbers. |
Agree that you should text them individually. |
You can also customize the reminder to ask them to reply and you need to know numbers. |
I was in your shoes this summer with my nine year olds first party. I sent the evite a month in advance, a reminder two weeks out, and with a week to go we only had 5 out 30 people respond even though all of them had opened it.
I sent one final reminder with a request for a final headcount. Five additional people responded for a total of ten, so I gave a final headcount of 15 to the place. Lo and behold, 20 classmates showed up to the party, and a few brought their siblings! You have my sympathy. |
Same here. Didn't mind but we could only order food from the place so I had to argue to get them to order more. Luckily I got a big cake. |
I find that sending an invitation via text at a date much closer to the party date gets a huge increase in immediate RSVPs. I sent a text evite out 1 week before my son's party and everyone responded within an hour. I was shocked. |
Uninvite them. I’m serious. I wouldn’t want people without class at my party. It literally takes a second to respond, so don’t tell me people get busy. If you’re reading this and you’re a person that doesn’t respond to evites, shame on you |
If you have enough “yes” RSVPs, just delete them no responses from the evite. That’s better than having people show up randomly. |
So if you univite them wouldn't they still know about the party? |