Monthly Archives: February 2022

kids painting at a wedding

How to Word a Party Invitation (with Party Invite Message Examples)

Party Invitations, Postcards, , , ,

You’re throwing a party! Whatever the occasion is – whether you’re throwing a kid’s birthday party, an anniversary bash, a graduation do or something else – it’s time to celebrate, and you’re planning on sending out party invitations.

Even if your party is casual, sending out paper party invitations is one of the best ways to let people know about the upcoming celebration. A party invite will convey all the important information about when and where to go, as well as what you are celebrating in the first place.

There are various different details that you need to include in your party invitation, and it’s important to word it correctly. This guide will talk you through what you need to include on your party invitation, and give you some wording examples that you can adapt to your own needs.

What Do You Put on a Party Invitation?

Before you start thinking about how to word your party invites, you’ll need to familiarise yourself with the important information that you need to get across.

Who’s Invited?

First and foremost, you need to make it abundantly clear who’s invited to the party. This goes for any party, whether it’s a kid’s birthday party or a grand wedding. The last thing you want is to cater for 20 guests, only for 40 people to turn up because everyone’s brought their partner, or has assumed their child’s siblings are also invited.
The best way to do this is to specifically mention the invitee(s) by name on the envelope. For example:

1) “Mr John Smith and Ms Sarah Ellacombe”
2) “Master William Brooks”
3) “Sarah and Nancy McIntyre”
4) “Miss Jade Hewett plus Guest”
That way, there can be no confusion.

Why Are You Having a Party?

It’s important that your guests know why you are having the party in the first place. The wording has to be particular when you are trying to communicate a message to your guests.
For example, if it’s for a birthday party, make sure that you include the name of the birthday person, and how old they’re going to be (especially if it’s a milestone birthday, or a child’s party). Or for a graduation invitations, include who is graduating and which educational milestone they’ve achieved.
For example: “Please join us for Susan’s 8th birthday party!”
Or: “You are cordially invited to celebrate Ashleigh’s graduation from Warwick University”.

Who’s Hosting the Party?

Not only is it important to tell your invitees who the party is for, but you should also let them know who’s hosting the party, and at least one way of getting in touch with them. That way, they’ll know who to contact if they have any questions about the party, and they’ll also know who to ask if they need gift recommendations or anything else.

If you don’t mention who’s hosting the party on the invitation, your invitees will contact whoever the party is for (e.g. the person whose birthday it is). This wouldn’t be ideal if it’s supposed to be a surprise party!
For example: “If you have any questions, please contact the party host Sharon Mitchell on [phone number]”.

When Will the Party Start and End?

Your guests will need to know what day and time the party will be held. Make sure to be extremely clear, and give an approximate end time as well as a start time (especially for kid’s parties, so that parents will know when to come and pick up their children). You can typically expect guests to turn up between 5 and 10 minutes earlier than the start time you list on your invitation, so keep this in mind.
For example, you might write “3:00pm – 5:00pm on Sunday, 28th November 2021”. If there’s no specific end time, you can simply write something like “8pm ‘til late”.

Where Will the Party Be Held?

One of the most important things to include in your party invitation is the location. Whether your party will be held at:

1) The host’s house
2) The birthday person’s house
3) Outside in the local park
4) A booked party hall, such as a town hall
5) A soft play centre, cinema or other venue

It’s vital that you include the full name and address of the venue. Don’t just assume that everyone knows where “Paul’s house” is!
For example: “The party will be held at 123 Blackbird Lane, Newtown, NW1 1TN.”
If the venue is difficult to find, you can also include directions to guide attendees from the nearest motorway or main road, or even a mini map.

What Will Happen at the Party?

Make sure to tell your recipients what kind of party this is, and what is going to be involved. That way, they’ll know what to wear, whether to eat beforehand, and whether they should drive or get a taxi (if alcohol is going to be served).

You could list the theme, any activities you have planned, and what sorts of refreshments you’ll provide. For example: “Join us for a princess-themed celebration involving a royal buffet, face painting and manicures!”

How to Write a Party Invitation: 6 Top Tips

Now that you know what to include on your invitation and how to word it, it is time to put it all together. Here are our 6 top tips for writing and designing the perfect party invite, whatever the occasion may be.

1. Choose a Themed Invitation

One of the most fun things you can do when you are preparing for a party is picking the theme. Having a theme throughout the entire celebration – dress code, food, gifts, entertainment, decorations – will help the party have a cohesive aesthetic that will make for great photos, and which your guests are sure to remember for years to come.

A great way to tie the party theme together and to help spread the word to guests is to choose a party invitation that also features the same theme. For example, if you’re hosting a child’s birthday party with a clown or circus theme, this Party Clown invitation would be perfect. For a more grown-up girly-themed party with manicures and cocktails, this Fun ‘n Fancy design fits the bill.

2. Use the Right Tone

The tone of voice you use on your party invite will affect how guests are going to view the invitation, and their first impressions of the party itself. That’s why it’s important to use the correct tone when you’re writing the party invitation’s wording.

For example, if your party is going to be a super-formal black tie graduation event or wedding, you’ll want to write the invite in the third person, and avoid using any abbreviations or slang. For example, “Mr and Mrs John Smith invite you to celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary.”

For a casual party such as a child’s birthday or a house party, you can use the first person and can use a more informal style of writing that’s closer to normal speech. For example: “Come and join us for little Tom’s 3rd birthday! We hope to see you there!”

3. Address Your Recipients Correctly

When you send out the invitations, it is important to address your guests properly. The envelope should include their titles, along with their first and last names. For example, you can use Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms. You should ensure you spell their first and last names correctly, as well as mentioning if they’re permitted to bring a guest of their own, or bring their child’s siblings along to the party too.

4. Include the 5 Ws

Remember what we discussed previously: who, what, when, where, and why. Don’t forget to include the 5 Ws when you’re writing your invitation! These details are important because they are how your guests are going to know exactly what is going on, what to do, where to go and at what time.

And if there is a certain dress code, if the party is catered, or if your guests need to bring anything extra – let them know. It’s important to keep that line of communication clear for your guests.

There’s nothing worse than forgetting to put vital information on your custom party invitations. Whether it’s a name, date or number, leaving out even a single piece of information can cause invitees to get confused (and then you’ll be inundated with phone calls).

5. Don’t Forget RSVP Instructions

Lastly, remind your invitees that they are going to need to RSVP to your invitation. RSVP stands for “répondez s’il vous plait”, which is French for “please reply” – in other words, “Let me know whether or not you’re coming”. If your guests don’t RSVP, you aren’t going to know who’s coming and who isn’t – and this can have an impact on certain elements of party planning, such as how many guests you need to provide food for.

So, at the end of your invitations you should include either a phone number or an e-mail address that your guests can use to RSVP. Alternatively, you can include a reply card in the envelope with the party invitation. This is a paper slip that invitees can fill out and send back to you to indicate whether or not they’re attending.
And don’t forget to include an RSVP deadline! For example: “RSVP by Monday 29th November”.

6. Order More Invitations than You Need

One of the mistakes people make when ordering party invitations is accidentally ordering too few of them. Chances are, you’ve planned out the guest list in advance, and so you’ll know how many people you’re inviting. But it’s always a mistake to order exactly 13 invitations if you’re inviting 13 guests.

Here’s why:
1) If you’ve accidentally forgotten somebody on your guest list, you won’t have a spare invitation to give to them
2) You may lose or misplace one or more invites, or they may get lost in the post, and you won’t have any spares as backups
3) You might make a mistake while addressing an envelope, spill something on an invitation or damage it in some other way

A good rule of thumb is to order 10% more invitations than you think you’ll need, or round up to the nearest 10 (whichever number is more). So if you think you need 16 invitations, round it up to 20, to give you at least a few spares.

Where Can I Order Personalised Party Invitations in the UK?

It’s important to show your guests that you know what you are doing and give them the right information so that everyone has a fun time. If you follow this guide while writing and designing your party invitations, you have no need to worry. You will have included everything that they need to know, and given them contact details just in case they have any more questions.

As to where you can order your party invitations, we suggest a professional stationer such as 123Print. On our website, you can browse through a collection of over 300 party invitation templates – far more than you’d find in any ordinary party shop! You’re bound to find a design that works for your party theme.

Within minutes you can edit your chosen theme online, add all of your party details, and place your order. Your invites will be printed and dispatched within 48 working hours. All that’s left is to address the envelopes! Start your party planning

How to Plan a Small Birthday Party: 9 Tips for Intimate Gatherings

Party Invitations, Postcards, , , ,

Whether you are hosting a kid’s birthday party or an adult’s, you don’t need to hire a huge venue and invite dozens of guests for everyone to have a good time. Sometimes, smaller gatherings can be just as much fun – or even better.

For one thing, it’s cheaper to host and cater for fewer people. So, if you’re on a tight budget, having a more intimate gathering is a useful way of helping you save money. They’re also safer, as they allow for better social distancing. But best of all, small parties allow everyone to connect with one another, as the person whose birthday it is can spend more one-on-one time with each guest.

But if you’re used to hosting huge parties, you might scratch your head at the idea of planning a tiny birthday party. How do you keep things fun and festive with so few people? Here are nine valuable tips for planning a small birthday celebration that your guests will love.

1. Find a Small Venue or Host at Home

When it comes to small birthday parties, it’s best to scale back on the size of your venue. Booking a huge party hall for only 10 people is unnecessary and over-the-top; not to mention, a waste of money. The trouble is that it can be difficult to find smaller birthday party venues that won’t make your small gathering seem somewhat empty or lacking.
If you’re having fewer than a dozen guests, it makes more sense to host the party at home. It doesn’t matter if your house doesn’t look as perfect as a prop home out of an interior design catalogue: your party guests won’t care! As long as there’s food, drink, games and fun, everyone will have a great time anyway. Your guests will feel included and are happy they were invited.

You could even host the party outdoors – in your garden, or a local park. It’s free, there’s no need to decorate (as you’re surrounded by the beauty of nature), and it’s more pandemic-friendly, too.

2. Send Out Personalised Party Invitations

One of the great things about cosier birthday gatherings is that you can afford to spend more time on the little details. Sending out custom-designed party invitations adds a great personal touch to the occasion.

Professionally printed personalised party invitations may look fancy, but they aren’t expensive (especially because you don’t need to order very many of them for a smaller gathering). They’ll certainly make a great first impression on your invitees, compared to inviting them via text or buying a generic pack of party invites from the shop. You can design party invitations to suit almost any theme imaginable, and personalise them within minutes with the details of your party.

One huge benefit of sending out paper invitations is that it will encourage guests to take the party more seriously. They’re more likely to RSVP if they receive a physical invitation, especially if you include a reply card with it. This will help you get a more accurate head count, which is all-important for smaller gatherings.

3. Invest in Good Party Food

Virtually everyone loves food – especially when it comes to parties. If you asked the average person what’s the thing they’re most looking forward to about an upcoming birthday celebration, they’d probably answer “food” or “cake”!

So, don’t skimp on the food when you’re hosting your small gathering. Because you’ve got fewer guests, you don’t have to worry so much about catering costs, or prioritise serving the cheapest food possible. You can afford to be a little ‘extra’ if you want to, whether that’s by hiring a caterer, ordering a takeaway for everyone, or simply going all-out with a fancy home-made party spread.

You could even turn the food into a fun activity for everyone to get involved in. For example:
1) Have a make-your-own pizza party, with a selection of toppings
2) Cheese fondue
3) Chocolate fountain
4) Bake a few batches of cupcakes in advance, and set up a decoration station with different icings and sprinkles

Remember: well-fed guests are happy guests! And if this is an adult party, don’t forget the booze, too. This can really help ease the initial awkwardness of small parties.

4. Make Your Own Cake

No birthday party is complete without a birthday cake. But because you’re having a small party, it would be a bit unnecessary to order a custom birthday cake from a professional baker. These cakes are usually quite expensive, and big enough to feed at least 16-20 people, if not more.

You don’t have anywhere near that many guests, so to avoid wasting your money (and a lot of food), why not bake your own birthday cake at home? That way, you can control the size of the cake and ensure you only make enough for your party guests. You’ve also got free reign to flavour and decorate the cake to your exact liking.
If you’re no great shakes in the kitchen, no-one will begrudge you popping to the supermarket and picking up a little pre-made cake from their bakery. All you need is some party candles (and maybe a sparkler)!

5. Choose a Party Theme

Most birthday parties these days have a “theme”. Pirates, unicorns, dinosaurs and princesses are popular party themes for the little ones. A teenager might prefer a party based around their favourite book, video game, or movie. And as for the adults, your choices are almost endless – from “spa day” to “board game night” to “evening at the Oscars”. Themes always make party planning easier, as you have a central motif around which to base your decorations, activities and food. It will also make the whole thing feel more like a party, which is helpful if there won’t be many guests.

Themed paper plates, straws and balloons can really tie a kid’s themed party together. For more grown-up celebrations, you might invest in themed table centrepieces and crockery, a photo booth or tasteful buntings to hang on the wall.
Whatever theme you choose, ensure you forewarn your guests by picking a matching themed party invitation – and be sure to specify on the invite if you want your guests to dress up!

6. Think Carefully About Who to Invite

You don’t have to invite absolutely everyone you know to your birthday party to have a good time. This is something that a lot of people learn as they get older. However, what matters is who you invite.
If you know that you’re only going to invite a few guests this time – whether that’s for budget reasons, personal preference, or because of government restrictions – you should ensure you choose the right people. Pick those who you are closest to, and who you couldn’t imagine spending the day without. It’s also a great opportunity to invite people who are a little shyer, and don’t feel comfortable in big crowds.
Be sure to specify on your invitations if you don’t want guests to bring their children, or if plus-ones aren’t allowed. Having a head count twice as large as you’d planned may be a disaster at a smaller party.

7. Accept Help If You’re Offered It

You may think that a small birthday party will be quick, easy and stress-free to organise compared to a huge celebration with dozens of people in attendance. However, you might be surprised to learn that planning a smaller party can take just as much time to plan. And because there are so few guests, you may feel as though there’s a lot riding on you to make everything perfect.

So, if there are people that you’ve invited that want to extend a helping hand, let them. Whether they want to bring a side dish for your party table, pick up some decorations for you, or bring along their favourite board game to play, accept any help you’re offered. Don’t feel like you’re failing as a host just because someone else wanted to help out.

8. Plan Plenty of Party Activities

One of the problems with smaller birthday parties is that you have to plan specific activities for everyone. At larger gatherings, there are so many people there that you can almost get away with letting the party run itself – everyone will spend so long chatting and catching up that it’s an activity all on its own.

But if you’ve only got 6 people coming, you can’t rely on socialisation to take up more than a few minutes. So, plan some activities in advance that you can suggest if things start to get a little boring. For example:

1) Classic party games, such as pin the tail on the donkey, charades, musical chairs, and blind man’s buff
2) Manicures, pedicures and facials
3) Board games
4) Dance-off
5) Karaoke
6) Trivia
7) Wine tasting
8) Scavenger or treasure hunt
9) Put on a good film (with popcorn!)
10) Cocktail or mocktail making
11) Card games e.g. poker

You should base these activities around your party theme, as well as taking into consideration the personalities of whoever’s coming. If they’re party animals, they may not be interested in playing scrabble or trivial pursuit. But steer clear of dance-offs and karaoke if your friends are shy, or don’t like being the centre of attention.

9. Don’t Forget the Music

Some sort of music is absolutely vital at any party – but particularly a small party where you can’t rely as much on general chatter and babble for background noise. The last thing you want is for everyone to turn up and stand around awkwardly making small talk with no music playing help ease the awkward silences.

For a tiny party with only a few people, it’s not really feasible to hire live music or a DJ. So, make sure you at least invest in a good sound system (if you don’t have one, ask around – someone in your family or friend group will have one you can borrow) and make a great party playlist to have playing in the background throughout the day/evening. And clear a space for people to dance, just in case!

Order Your Personalised Party Invitations Today with 123Print

When you’re ready to order your personalised party invitations, head over to 123Print and browse our fantastic range of templates. We have designs suitable for a whole range of occasions, including kid’s parties, boozy grown-up bashes, baby showers and everything in between. And don’t forget the RSVP cards, especially if it’s important for you to have an accurate head count before the big day.

While you’re there, did you know that we also stock a fabulous range of fully customisable birthday cards? They’re perfect for milestone birthdays, or if you simply want to show the birthday person just how much they mean to you. You can edit the message inside with your own wording, and even add your own artwork or photograph to the card for a special touch.

We aim to dispatch and ship out all orders within 2 working days of customer proof approval. So what are you waiting for? Start preparing for your perfect birthday party today!

How Late is Too Late to Send Wedding Save the Dates?

Wedding, Wedding Invitations, Wedding Trends, , , ,

Sending “save the dates” for weddings has become standard these days. Sent before the formal wedding invitation, this card serves as advance notice of the big day. It gives guests ample time to book the day off work or arrange childcare before all the little details are finalised on the invitation itself.

Save the dates also give guests a tease of what the wedding will be like, as you’ll choose a save the date card which reflects your wedding theme, colour scheme and overall vibe.
Because save the dates serve a practical purpose as well as a decorative one, it’s crucial that you send them out at the right time. Send your save the dates too early, and your recipients may forget all about it. But send them too late, and there’s a chance that some of your invitees will already have made plans for your wedding day.

In this guide, we’ll talk you through the perfect time to send save the dates, and what qualifies as too early vs. too late. We’ll also share some general tips for how best to word save the dates, and

When Is the Right Time to Send Wedding Save the Dates?

More than choosing the design of the save the date itself, it’s very important to decide on the right time to send them to make sure that they serve their purpose.
Most wedding experts would tell you to send out your save the dates around 6 months before the wedding, and we’d agree.

6 months’ notice is usually more than enough time for your recipients to:

1) Decide whether they’d like to come to your wedding
2) Book the day or the weekend off work
3) Organise childcare for the day, if they aren’t bringing their little ones along
4) Arrange transport to the wedding, or figure out the best driving and parking options
5) Buy a new wedding outfit, if necessary
6) Mark the date in their diaries so they don’t accidentally double-book themselves

This will also give you plenty of time to answer any questions your invitees may have about your wedding, before you send out your formal invitations later on.
If you have a wedding website, we’d recommend setting it up before you send out your save the dates. Including a link to your website on your save the dates will help drive more traffic towards it, so you can get important information to your guests that will be useful during your planning process.

As you finalise details about your big day, you can update the site in real time. You can also add a Frequently Asked Questions section if you find that your invitees all have similar queries.

Local vs. Destination Weddings

The 6-month rule for save the dates is a very general one, and may not apply to all weddings equally. Depending on where you’re getting married, and who you’re inviting, you might send out your save the dates anywhere between 4 months and 12 months before the big day.

If you’re getting married in your hometown, and most of your guests live nearby, you can get away with sending out your wedding save the dates closer to your wedding day (4 months in advance). This is for the simple reason that your guests won’t have to travel, or book accommodation. They’ll also only need one day off work for the wedding.
But if your guests will need to travel for your wedding, it’s best to send your save the dates out earlier than you usually would.

For UK weddings where your guests will need to travel for more than an hour each way, we’d recommend sending them 6-8 months in advance.
For international weddings, where your guests will need to fly abroad, it’s best to give everyone 8-12 months’ notice. It can take quite some time to plan a trip to a foreign country, and they’ll need plenty of notice to book at least a few days off work, if not a whole week.

Is There Such Thing as Sending Save the Dates Too Early?

With wedding save the dates, it’s best to stick with the ideal timeline of 4 to 6 months for a local wedding and 6 to 8 months for a destination wedding.
You may believe that there can’t be anything wrong with sending your save the dates too early. Surely, the more notice you give your invitees, the better? What would be wrong with asking them to save the date more than a year in advance?
Sadly, sending your save the dates more than 12 months in advance creates two big problems.

1) Your recipients may take one look at the date and say “that’s ages away, I don’t have to worry about that yet.” They’ll then file the card away and forget about it. When the wedding invitation turns up, they’ll realise they already made plans.
2) Most people won’t be able to book the day off work as soon as the save the date arrives. They’ll have to wait until the year of the wedding in order to access the holiday rota. This means they may completely forget to do it at all.

Another important point to make is that you must book your venue before you send out save the dates. If you rush into things and send save the dates before you’ve got a venue finalised, you may have to change the date. Then the whole thing will have been for nothing.

You also need to have fully finalised your wedding guest list before you send save the dates. Once you send them out, there’s no turning back: every single person that received a save the date must also receive a formal invitation. So if you aren’t completely sure yet who you’re going to invite, hold off until you are.

When Is It Too Late to Send Save the Dates?

On the contrary, sending save the dates too late is also a bad idea. It creates a massive problem in and of itself.
First and foremost, a save the date is supposed to be advanced notice. If you wait until 2 or 3 months before the wedding to send them out, there’s a very good chance that a lot of your invitees won’t be able to make it. They may already be busy that day, or may not be able to book the day off work.

Even if they aren’t busy on that day, they may decide not to come anyway because they haven’t been given enough notice. Attending a wedding, even as a regular guest, is quite a big deal. Sending out your save the dates too close to the day may not give your guests enough time to plan their travel, save up for a new outfit or arrange childcare.
Not only would sending save the dates too late render them useless, but it could also cause confusion among your guests. They may mistake it for the wedding invitation, and wonder why some of the details are missing.

So, as soon as you have the basic details of your wedding figured out, it’s best to start thinking about designing your wedding save the dates and ordering them from a trusted supplier.

What Do I Do If I Miss the Deadline?

If you completely forgot to send wedding save the dates, and you’ve now realised that it’s too late, don’t panic.
The best thing to do is to just try and get your formal wedding invitations sent out earlier than you usually would, so that your guests have as much notice as possible.
Normally, you’d send save the dates 6 months in advance, and then the wedding invitations would go out around 6-8 weeks before the wedding.
But if you haven’t sent save the date cards, simply send out your invitations as soon as possible – ideally at least 3-4 months before your wedding. You can include a link to your wedding website that you can update with extra bits of information if you haven’t got it all sorted out yet.

Now that you know when you should be sending them, let’s go over a brief list of what you should include on the wedding save the date.
Don’t confuse your wedding save the date with your wedding invitation. Remember that the purpose of this card is to let your guests know of your wedding date and location so they can start planning their schedule around it. Leave the more intricate details for your wedding invitation.

On a wedding save the date card, you should include:
1) The names of the couple getting married
2) The words “save the date” and “invitation to follow”, so it’s clear what the card is for
3) Your wedding date, including the year
4) The name of your venue and which city it’s in
5) A link to your wedding website, if you have one

You don’t need to include things like the food menu, the ceremony start time, the gift list, or the dress code.
An RSVP card isn’t also necessary at this point since you’re still several months away from your wedding. You don’t need to know the final headcount or any dietary restrictions just yet.

Order Your Wedding Save the Dates Today from 123Print

Wedding save the date cards are essential for keeping your guests in the loop for your upcoming wedding. It is also your chance to set the right tone and mood for your wedding, so it’s very important to do it right.

If you’re looking for a trusted wedding stationer to guide you in designing your very own wedding save the dates, look no further than 123Print. With over 100 years’ experience printing professional-quality stationery as part of our parent company, CCA occasions, you can trust us to make everything perfect for the biggest day of your life.

You can choose from a range of pocket-sized save the date cards, medium postcards, large postcards, and even vinyl save the date magnets. Head to our website today to browse our wonderful selection of templates, and start the easy personalisation process! With our 100% satisfaction guarantee, there’s nothing to lose.