apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm a traditionalist (at 26!)...I always mail invitations for larger parties.

Email for parties that are small-ish, Evite otherwise but if my budget was anything but tight, I'd spring for handmade (even fill-in-the-blank style) invites from Etsy.

I agree, Facebook seems impersonal. It's ok for public events and keggers. Anything else deserves something a bit more thoughtful I think.

I admit evites are quick, easy and efficient, and I use them from time to time, but I'm not sure they have "old school charm and excitement." When I have my act together in time, paper is the way to go.

I use E-vite for almost everything, though I will stick paper cards in my neighbor's mailboxes if I'm inviting them...

I don't host a holiday party, but my father does every year and he sends out a holiday music cd (made himself with a new theme every year) along with a paper invite. The cd label is a picture of him and his grandchildren in Christmas pj's.

I love sending homemade invites from etsy. It saves me time, but still keeps the invitation personal. Although when I'm late, I do send a save the date email so that I give enough notice of the date.

we're hosting a party on the sunday after christmas. my husband designed an invitation in photoshop and we emailed the .jpg. we keep track of any RSVPs in google docs and will resend the email on the monday before christmas.

we like this set-up and have used it for everything other than our wedding events (shower, reception, etc). we have full creative control over the design of the invite and can control how many reminders our guests receive.

I started using Paperlesspost.com for invites. I love it! You can design your own letterpress-ish looking invite and the followup/tracking is great. It's not free, but a very nominal fee to send out invites - something like 4 cents each? totally worth it. Just wish they had more of a design selection, but it seems to be growing.

I am a big fan of blending the old with the new. While we don't send out physical invitations to our guests, we do put together custom-designed invitations each year which are then emailed to our friends/family and posted to our blog (ie - http://tulanerehab.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-par-tay.html) It's the best way to create something personal while utilizing technology to distribute quickly and cost efficiently.

Only paper invites for me. I have never been a fan of evites as I feel they are a bit impersonal.

I created a PowerPoint presentation full of holiday images and custom animation. I then saved it as a PowerPoint show and emailed it to me guests. They loved it!

We just used Paperless Post for our holiday open house next Saturday. It's so much better than evite but offers convenience of not having to mail proper invitations. Was challenging enough getting the Christmas cards out the door...

I try to plan the theme of the party based on a cute invite that I can make. If I'm inviting people I don't see often, I might scan the invite or try to recreate it online and email them.

Facebook events can be personalized and are helpful for keeping track of who's coming, what they're bringing, but seems more appropriate if you don't care how many people show up!

A friend of mine posted a status update on facebook listing who was bringing what to her Christmas party. I apparently was not invited, as my name was not on this list. Facebook invites are one thing, but make sure you create an actual event on facebook, and it's best to keep it private, to avoid hurt feelings. I'm really not upset about not being invited so much, but seeing everyone else on the list was kind of the equivalent of being in third grade and little Suzie puts a birthday party invitation on every desk but yours. Kind of awkward.

My roommates and I (who call our house "The Winchester") are throwing a party tomorrow and chose to use a Facebook invite. However, recognizing the impersonality of the medium, we sent out this email to all the invited:

"Look folks,

"The simple fact of the matter is that laziness is a central pillar of the Winchester Guiding Ethic. This is probably the most stringently-followed Winchester Guideline, evident in our approach to everything from stairwell closet organization to Ramen-centric menus.

"In an ideal world, each and every one of you would have received a carefully calligraphed invitation in the mail, written upon the stretched canvas of a baby seal and lovingly sprinkled with gold dust, espousing the specific wonders that you would bring to our festivities, and each envelope would be sealed with (for the ladies) a kiss in wax from J. or (for the men) a kiss from Q.

"In the more normal world of modern holiday parties, we might have at the least also created an Evite for our more Facebook-illiterate friends and called those of our friends who avoid the interwebs altogether, making sure the invitation was personal and sincere.

"But we do not hold our beliefs lightly, so we have done none of those things. (Though, in honor of another Winchester tradition, we all have agreed we SHOULD.)

"So here's the deal:

"We want you to know that you, specifically you, are the person we most want at our Christmas party. No, not that guy, you. If we cared enough to send one calligraphed baby seal-skin gold-dusted invitation to one person, it would totally be you. Because we haven't seen you in way too long and we would just love to catch up and hear how you and yours have been! And we will be sad when you, yes you, can't make it.

"So just break our hearts, why don't you?

"If you don't believe me, call me up at 555-555-1234 and I will give you a three-point structured argument for why you are the person we most want at our party.

"I dare you. Test me.

"So consider yourself humbly and personally invited to the Second Annual Winchester Christmas Party this Saturday, anytime after 7. (If you come before 7, we'll put you to work, because we have a lot of cookies to bake.)

"Sincerely,
S"

If it's small, I just email people I'd like to come individually. I used to do evites for larger parties, but I think I'd do paper invites in the future, because it does seem more special.

I find facebook invites to be annoying, particularly because I seem to get invites to things that you don't need to be invited to--like attending a concert or play.

facebook is my least favorite option - mostly because people don't really take the time to respond.

evite is slightly above facebook because you can make it seem a bit more personal - but there's still the same problem of people simply not responding. in addition, i have missed out on invites because i switched primary email addresses.

i'd say if you are really concerned about people responding then mail paper invites. if it looks like you put the time in crafting an invite people might be more serious about responding.

soh65--that is awesome!!

I design the invite, and then email it out. It's personal because I designed it and quick because I email it.

My cousin sent wedding invites over facebook...

evite is soooooo 2004. I use Facebook and direct emails to those few not on Facebook.

i think evite is a messy site with way too much advertising. i started using pingg.com about a year ago and think it's great.

they have really cute designs and you see all of the event info right in the email (don't have to click through to event page). i'm surprised more people haven't started using this site.

Text to informal parties. Most people check their phone within the hour so it's easier to know that they got the message. Almost instant RSVP. It also means I can invite both people individually in a couple.

We use www.pingg.com for all of our invitations. You can customize the invite, see when people looked at your email, when they looked at the page, and when they responded.

Hanna, I've had TWO wedding invitations via facebook. Call me old-fashioned, but I did find it a bit tacky. If you'd like me to take the time to come to your wedding and bring you a gift, you can at least spring for the $0.41 for a stamp!

I've been using Pingg lately too. Much nicer looking than Evite!

In the past my husband and I have used Evite for our annual holiday party...but this year I got my act together early and created an entire website for the party. I'm a web designer, so I was able to create an absolutely unique design, complete w/my own photography and pics from years past, as well as a built in RSVP and Comments sections and even a place for guests to vote on what we'll have for dinner. I emailed/texted/facebooked the link to invitees and it has been a great way to keep track of the party and let everyone know about any changes or updates.

For Christmas cards, on the other hand, I prefer to go the old fashioned paper route :)

normally i would send paper invitations but this year I used paperless post this year as well. it was very handy and the invitation looked so much better than an e-vite IMHO