When our good friends at Mpls St Paul Magazine asked us to pull together a few holiday invitation guidelines, we jumped at the chance to share our thoughts on modern holiday invitation etiquette. However you decide to invite your guests this year, be inviting with these 5 welcoming tips.
- Get it on the calendar. The holiday season is short and sweet. To maximize your party's potential, send early, send often. From e-mailed save the dates to post office delivered invitations, now is the time to get this party started! 3-6 weeks is the ideal lead time; especially if you are shooting for a prime time, weekend night party. Which leads us to our next point...
- Spontaneous Fun! Thanks to technology, you can email and/or post stylish + graceful invitations with the same ease of sending an email. Modern etiquette suggests giving your guests adequate time to prepare for your party, but there are no hard and fast rules around timing. Just use common sense. Is holiday attire required? Give your guests time to dry clean their finest. Heading to the lake for ice skating + hot chocolate? Give them time to sharpen their blades. Darting out for a festive snowball fight? How about now...
- Style + Wording say it all. Choose an invitation that extends the formality of your event. Include the essential elements :: type of party you are throwing, who the party is given by, the date/time/location, the host’s name + preferred RSVP information. Include favored attire if the formality of your event isn’t 100% obvious. Great invitations inform + invite.
- To Mail or E-Mail? That is the Question. Consider how you normally interact with your guests, how far away your event is + how formal your event is, and then distribute in a way that will accommodate everyone's lifestyle. Paper invitations are always chic, but require time to create and physical addresses to send. Digital invitations are a fun, eco-friendly way to pull together a last minute get-together and are great when gathering close friends. Torn between trend + tradition? Send both ways to accommodate different guests + schedules.
- Invitation Trimmings. When mailing paper invitations, your envelope creates a lasting first impression. Handwritten addresses are always lovely, but if you are tight on time, skip the white computer labels + run your envelopes directly through the printer. These days, there are lots of stylish fonts to choose from. And if you already have the lists in your database, it's a breeze to do. {Click here for a full how-to!}
And speaking of invitations....we invite you to check out our fabulous selection of holiday invitations. Hurry, time is ticking and we are currently offering 15% + FREE rush shipping on our holiday invitations now through 11/14/2010 with promo code RUSH15.
Questions? Comments? Leave your thoughts below or ping Erin Newkirk at erin@redstamp.com or on twitter @redstamp_erin. We look forward to hearing from you!
