The Successful Party Evite

We’re officially in holiday party season, friends, which means that your calendars are probably already filling up. But if you want to squeeze one last open house or office party in, here are some tips for how to successfully create an evite.

Pick your party evite software

Of course, evites are synonymous with, obviously, the company Evite. It has long been the go-to for creating easy invitations and RSVP capability. But they are no longer the only game in town. If you want better RSVP tracking and the ability to update guests easily, Punchbowl is a great alternative. Alternatively, if you want to be able to upload your own photos and designs for the evites, Pingg is a great choice (you can also use it to collect donations for a joint gift!). If you have a large number of evites to send, but still want a free software, then pick Paperless Post, which gives you the capability to send 2000 evites on the free option.

Get people excited

Depending on what kind of event you are hosting will depend on how you promote it. Assuming it’s a free event (there are different ways to promote a paid event), you want to create a sense of excitement and even FOMO (fear of missing out) to tempt people to come. Whether it’s food, entertainment, a cool venue, special prices on your offerings, prizes or a bunch of really cute cats, you want to highlight the reasons why people should add you into their already busy schedule. Use images and bullet point lists. Convey the reasons that your party or open house will be worth their valuable time. Shockingly, simply saying “I’ll be there” doesn’t work so well for anyone outside of Beyonce. And you’re probably not Beyonce. Unless you are Beyonce. In which case, “HI BEYONCE I LOVE YOU!”

Get those sweet, sweet RSVPs

Of course, not all parties require a numbers tally beforehand. For those that do, this can be the worst part of any party-planning endeavour. Lean into the functionality of the software you chose to email your evites so it can do the heavy lifting. Don’t even think of using the “are you coming?” feature on a Facebook evite as an accurate count. Very few people take it seriously when they click “yes.” It’s more effective to drive invitees to an external link through one of the evite sites we mentioned above, with an RSVP function.

Most importantly, follow-up and remind. And then follow-up and remind again.

Share memories

Use your online presence, including your website and social media, to share pictures and appropriate stories from the event. Help people that were there remember that they had a lot of fun, and you will make next year’s invites a whole lot easier. Plus, showcasing how enjoyable the party was makes sure those that didn’t, or couldn’t, attend will remember you next year when it comes to organizing their holiday schedule.