It’s the time of year where we receive numerous invitations to holiday parties. Most likely, you will see the letters RSVP on the invitation. Exactly what does that mean?
RSVP is of French origin (répondez s’ill vows plaît) meaning request for response, please reply or respond to an invitation. I have a simple 5 step guide to help with this little but impactful thing called RSVP.
1. If an invitation is addressed to John and Sue Doe, they are the only invited guests at that address. John and Sue should not bring nor ask to bring others including children. Normally, if children are invited the invitation will read John and Sue Doe and family or Mr. and Mrs. Doe and children. So, please don’t show up with Aunt Sally, Uncle Jimmy, little Kayla and little Eric in tow unless they received their own invitation. If you don’t have a babysitter, you should decline the inviation. It may not be a good idea to mention the party to others unless you are certain they were invited.
2. The RSVP date specified on the invitation is critical for planning purposes. The host may need to give a head count to the caterer, order enough seating and have enough gifts for guests. It’s critical that you respond by the date.
3. Instead of RSVP, some invitations will have “regrets only”. Here, no need to reply unless you are not able to make the party.
4. After responding yes and you need to change to no, please contact the host as soon as possible. Make sure you are changing to no because of a matter of importance and not because you don’t feel like attending.
5. The day of the party, arrive on-time which means no more than 10-15 minutes early. For goodness sake, don’t overstay your welcome. If no ending time was indicated on the invitation, use good judgement by watching other guests. When everyone else start to leave, that is your cue to leave as well.
In the RSVP world, the same rules apply if it’s a holiday party, a wedding reception, a promotion party, retirement, etc. Letting your host know if you can or can’t attend their party is just plain common courtesy. I’m sure you have an invitation lying around that you need to contact the host and RSVP, so try it.
Celebrate, Tanza
Great post! So many times I have been in the situation where people never responded & guests thought their lack of response meant they were coming, and only if they responded meant they wouldnt be coming. Very annoying that common courtesy with the RSVP has gone out the window. Even when it was time for my wedding I was chasing people down the last week before the wedding to see if they were coming or not.
Thank you Laurie. People just don’t understand the significance and the common courtesy of RSVP’ing. I certainly hope this article helps.
Oh this is a great and timely post; one that needs to be shared over and over. People just don’t understand the importance of the RSVP. I especially love your tip about not arriving early. I do so many weddings where the guests arrive an hour early and then they want to see everything that is happening. Not only is it rude but the host of the event has gone through get lengths to create a vision. No host wants the reveal ruined by early comers.
Courtney
My #1 rule is guests shouldn’t see set-up or breakdown. It is definitely rude for guests to arrive extremely early and also rude not to RSVP. Thank you for your comments – you are on point.
Great post and I just love how you broke it down with such easy to follow steps!
Thank you
This is so important! So many people do not understand proper RSVP etiquette and really should do their homework. It is not the bride/groom/host’s job to chase after invited guests to find out if they are attending!
Thank you very much for sharing. 🙂
Regina,
Very true and alot of work for the bride & groom to chase down invited guests.
Tanza this is helpful and should be shared a lot throughout the year. Thanks for the breakdown 🙂
Thank you so much for the details.
You’re welcome.