I don’t know the last time my  4 year old daughter and 7 year old son were invited to so many birthdays.  We get written invites, e-vites or simply an e-mail inviting them. But I have found that some of my peers are unaware of basic etiquette. Did I get influenced by my parents’ ‘olden day’ etiquette stories or what is the missing link for some of my peers?.  When an invitation is addressed, the guest (or in this case…the parent) should understand that only the mentioned individual on the envelope or in the invite is invited.  This goes for ANY type of invitation, but it drives me nuts when I invite my son’s friend to a party and suddenly the friend plus his siblings come to the party.  MOMS- please pay attention to the envelope. It is one thing if it is to the ‘Wilson Family’ or to “Friend and Brother Wilson”.

Now evites and e-mails- that’s a tough one for me unless it specifically states who the party is for.  I always assume it is JUST for the child whose friend it is. It’s another cringing moment when I read RSVP’s that ASK ‘is this for Friend and siblings’or ‘Can Friend’s brother come- we can pay for his entrance to the bounce house’.   The party is, afterall for the friend and not a playdate for siblings.

But the thing all invites have in common is they usually have some sort of RSVP.  Now MOMS- ­R.S.V.P. stands for a French phrase, “répondez, s’il vous plaît,” which means “please reply”.  This means you reply whether or not you are coming.   REPLY.

Last thing to get off my chest today- now this one I’m a bit weird, but giving my 2 cents on the subject of gift giving- I feel that if you can not attend a wedding or baby shower, it would be nice to still give a gift.  These people were willing to spend time and money on your presence at such a unique occasion.

I also feel if it is a nice gesture to provide a  gift even if you don’t attend a birthday. But wait- before you pounce on me- this is where I get really strange-  I only provide a gift to my kids’ good friends or for any written invitation we recieve. Think about it- these good friends in boyscouts or classmates are going to be in his/her everyday life for years! They generously considered him important enough to invite so I teach my kids to still buy a gift (maybe not spend the full amount we usually do).  I also think that written invites shows they really took the time to think of my child and spend the time and energy to send a written invite so we provide a gift.  BUT with bulk e-vites or e-mails that are from pepole we don’t know well then no gift is needed.

Well, that was it…my 2 cents.  What  is yours?