The Invitations by Charrisse Min Alliegro Now it's time to spread the word to the lucky people who will be invited to your special event. The invitation is often an afterthought, something tended to in a perfunctory manner and relegated way down on the To Do list below the more glamorous items such as the menu and the flowers. Or conversely, some people become too involved in the artistic aspects of the invitation and forget that its basic purpose is to convey information. Either way, the invitation is the first impression your guests will have about the event you've planned for them, so why not give the invitation some thought and make sure that first impression a good one! The first matter at hand is to decide what information the invitation should contain. At the minimum, your guests will need to know the following: - what/why (specify the purpose of the event, i.e., what you're celebrating, announcing, honoring) - who the contact people are (who is hosting the event, receiving the RSVP's and handling the questions - include a phone numbers and an e-mail address, if appropriate) - where it will be held (the name of the reception site, its exact address, and for unusual sites, perhaps even a website or background description) - when it will be held (include the day of the week, the date, the time and whether it's a.m. or p.m. should there be any possibility of ambiguity) and an RSVP - response deadline There are a few other pieces of information that guests often need and appreciate. Whether you include this information with the invitation, send them in a separate mailing or even post them on a special website is up to you: - dress code (e.g., black tie, traditionally specified in lower right corner of the invitation. This is especially important if there is a special theme or activity planned.) - driving directions and/or a map (be sure to include an estimate of driving time as well as mileage between key points) - transportation (list various options such as taxi fares from the nearest train station, airport shuttle services, or special group arrangements you've booked in advance) - accommodations (provide information about recommended hotels and whether you've negotiated special group rates. Don't forget to list the name of the room block and the booking deadline.) - questionnaire (often helpful in getting an advance guest count when planning several days of activities - guests are polled about their attendance intentions, special travel and accommodation needs, etc.) Now comes the fun part: deciding how the invitation should look. As with all the other aspects of the event, the invitation should fit with the overall scheme and goal of the party. Therefore, common sense dictates that an invitation to employees' families for the annual picnic should probably not be hand calligraphied in gold ink onto parchment scrolls, while an invitation to the Board of Directors dinner dance should probably not be in the form of an Xeroxed cartoon! For printed invitations, try your company's marketing department or the local print shop for suitable talent, or browse through invitation catalogs at your local stationery store. Invitation specialists offer a huge range of paper stock, printing techniques, ink colors, artwork and envelope linings. If your tastes are more unusual, however, seek out artists and graphic designers. Imagine receiving one of these eye-catching invitations in the mail: - canvas beach bags embroidered with the invitation and stuffed with personalized water bottles and beach towels; - thin lucite slabs laser-engraved with invitation text, enclosed in a translucent envelope and sealed with a merlot-red wax emblem; - invitations on balsa wood jigsaw puzzle shapes and mailed, dissembled, in a tube; - CD-ROMs featuring a talking, 3D-animated character that personally invites each guest by name to the event; various buttons would then link to appropriate pages such as driving directions, etc. It is worth mentioning that there already exist several online services that will put up personalized websites dedicated to your event. You can link up Mapquest, weather forecasts and hotel websites, and put up your own graphics and information to your special party website. These services vary in price and sophistication so it's worth investigating each one in detail. Some of the better ones are eParties.com, iParty.com, Evite.com, Mapblast's timedance.com, and the soon-to-be-launched CyberInvite.com. Now you'll need to address the invitations. How you choose to do so should again be in keeping with the formality and style of both the event and the invitation. Mailing labels, especially clear ones laserprinted in an appropriate typestyle, are fine for mass mailings. There are also special machine calligraphy systems such as Inscribe that offer a huge choice of ink color and typestyle. And of course, there is always hand calligraphy. (One note: my personal opinion regarding hand calligraphy is that simple handwriting or tasteful mechanically produced addressing is infinitely preferable to mediocre hand calligraphy.) Finally, the mailing! Don't forget to take the entire invitation to the post office to be weighed and measured. Even though an invitation may weigh only an ounce, its unusual size or shape may necessitate extra postage. I found this out the hard way once, and you can be sure I will never forget it. And to make absolutely sure your invitation doesn't get lost in the shuffle, consider having them FedExed or hand-delivered. Now you can sit back and start tallying the RSVPs. But no matter how well-designed your invitations are, there will always be some guests who do not respond by the specified deadline, so be prepared to make some phone calls to track down the stragglers! back to ideas