Wanda Witch Update: RSVP Troubles?
Tue, Oct 9, 2007
After reading a few of the latest comments, I realized I neglected to post this important tip: What to do when you haven’t heard back from your guests.
An anonymous party invitation can be a little intimidating to some people. Sometimes, you have to give them a little hint to help them feel more comfortable. This has happened to me twice. When I was hosting my party in Erie, I had only heard from 2 of the 30 couples before the deadline. In Kansas, I had heard from about half of the invitees.
I knew they would come if they had some idea of who I was, so I decided to send them a follow-up invitation. In my case, almost all of the invitees were members of my ward (an LDS congregation) so I mentioned on the follow-up that they see me each Sunday and that they should join their ward friends by coming to the party. In addition to giving them an idea of who I was, it also gave them a clue as to who else had been invited. For most people, this was enough to make them feel comfortable RSVPing. Here’s a sample of the clue I gave my guests:
While forming the teams for our fun, festive game,
We noticed the absence of your names.
If you haven’t emailed because our anonymity spooked you,
You need not fear; we’ll give you a clue.
Each Sunday you see us when we’re not casting spells.
Our real names we can’t give you…but you know us well.
We’d hate to see you miss out on the fun.
We’ll give you one last chance to join everyone.
Just send us an email before Friday at eight (pm).
After that, the teams are set…you’ll be too late.
Don’t miss this last chance to join your ward friends
Email us quickly before the deadline ends.
Eerily yours,
Wanda, Zelda & Hilda Witch
WandaWitch@gmail.com
If you find yourself in this spot, don’t stress. As Christi mentioned in her great comment, a simple email to your guests from your secret account is a great way to check in with your guests. If you don’t have email addresses for all your invitees, try this inexpensive post card alternative. Use the files below to create the post cards and then print them on heavy white cardstock. After printing on both sides, cut them and use post card stamps to mail them. Whatever method you choose, just make sure that your follow-up gives your guests some idea of who you are and a little idea of who else was invited. Trust me, once they understand that they’ll be in on the buzz in no time.
I hope that helps! Good luck everyone. Let me know if you have any trouble working with the file. Just thought I’d pass it on.
| Free Download: | WW_followup_postcard_back.doc |
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| Free Download: | WW_followup_postcard_front.doc |
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Tags: halloween, party, rsvp, wanda witch
October 9th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
This is a husband posting! My wife and I are hosting this party on Oct. 19 and also invited people from our LDS ward. We sent out 35 invites, fully acknowledging that some would never attend, but we didn’t want to exclude certain folks (we have to serve with these people still…).
Our RSVP deadline is tonight at midnight and we’ve had 15 responses (including ourselves), so we’re in a great spot. We were shooting for 5 teams of 3 couples. I think some of the success we’ve had is that the starting point is a bowery/pavilion on our church property, so people figure the hosts are someone from their ward.
We’ve had tons of fun listening to and reading the RSVPs. I’m sure we’ll end up having more fun than the actual party attendees!
October 10th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Love your website. We live in WY and are anxious to try this next year on our own. we are joining a group from ID this year…. anyway, just FYI, your logo has a typo on the home page.
“Making everday life a little easier”. the “Y” is missing on everyday!
thanks for the hard work!
October 10th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Thanks for the typo tip, Lisa. Sadly, I’ve probably viewed that logo hundreds of times (I created it for pity sake) and never noticed the missing y. Now, if only I could find the original file I’d be all set.
October 19th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Thank you so much for this idea! We had our party tonight and it was a great. I can see why you said it is such a fun party. Everyone had a great time and it was fun to see people once they realized it was our house! We hope you all have as much fun at your parties as we did at ours!
October 21st, 2007 at 7:28 am
The postcard helped alot! Thank you for all of your hard work that you so willingly shared with us. Our party was last night and it was so much fun! I am so impressed with everything you shared to help make all of our parties successes. Thank you!
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:08 am
Maria- We had our party on Sat. It was such a blast. Everyone had such a great time and we loved planning it. Thank You so much for sharing this with us all. I am going to post pictures on my blog if you want to check it out. thepostoians.blogspot.com
Thanks Again- Christi
March 8th, 2008 at 12:12 am
My brother and sister in law were part of your party in Erie. She was telling me how much fun it was. Halloween had already past so we changed some things turned it into a new years party. It turned out great. I just found this web site. I wish I found it sooner, I could have used all the very detailed instructions. Thanks for the great ideas.