Hi Moms,
I am looking forward to all your expertise once again! :) A friend of mine has a party every year that is getting too big. Part of the reason for it getting too big is that on the invite, when the party was small, it used to say, bring a friend, the more the merrier. For the past few years, that saying has been off the invitation, but people still bring friends, which is fine, except the party is starting to get crazy big. She would like to put something on the invitation this year, stating to not bring a friend due to the party getting too large, but can't think of any nice way to say it. Can anyone help me?
Thanks so much.
I had put advice on here but after reading the other's honestly, I think Jane M.'s is the best of all.... got with that one...
How about something like "while more are merry, the house is already BURSTING with joy. This year we ask that only those specifically invited attend. Our hearts have room for endless friends, but our home, unfortunately, does not!"
"Because we have so many friends and so little space, please bless us with your presence ALONE, because we don't want the fire inspector to come uninvited!"
Well, I thought it was funny....
You could add an RSVP... then when they call just let them know that there isn't room for guests.
Try this:
We love seeing all of you and want to continue to host our holiday party. However, the number of guests has increased to the point where the party is unmanageable. In order to bring attendance down to a reasonable amount we must limit our party to invited guests only. We hope you understand and look forward to seeing you there. Thanks!
What about including "tickets"? O. per guest?
She just needs to be polite and direct: "I know that in the past my invitations said "bring a friend," however over the past couple of years, my parties have grown more than I anticipated. This year (or from now on) I decided to remove "bring a friend," so I hope you don't mind! I would love to see you, so please let me know if you can make it." Direct and simple.
J., this is such a common problem and I was so a "more the merrier" girl. I would NOT put it on the invitation but instead suggest verbally getting the word out there that your friend wishes for it to be the intimate get together of "close friends"....kind of clarify a core group of you that in a larger group would be unable to sit and visit. If you pass the message along the grapevine; everyone will understand and probably agree. Good luck.
I am looooving Jane M.'s suggestion. I could not have said it better myself... So I will not add.
Names of those being invited should be clearly listed on the envelope/outside of the invitation. The invitation could read something like "YOU are invited but please RSVP to confirm your spot".
I love party planning and have planned all types...so I can understand the concern on this one! I have used, 'You and a guest are invited to...' to try and limit the extra heads. If you can provide more details I may be able to offer some better wording. Formal? Type of party? etc.
I think your friend could handle this a couple of ways. She could very carefully pare down her list so that invited guests can bring a date.
She can say something like "we are keeping the number of attendees to those with invitations due to limited space."
