The Lost Art of the RSVP

Our family hosts several large gatherings each year - a Beware of the Irish toga party in the spring, various birthday parties throughout the year, and other casual gatherings. These events usually involve weeks of planning and hundreds of dollars, both of which we gladly invest in the interest of giving our friends a good time. In recent years, however, we've noticed a disturbing, and perturbing, trend: no one RSVPs anymore. I mean, NO ONE.

R.S.V.P. is short for Re'pondez-vous, s'il vous plait, which is French for "please reply". You don't have to speak French to recognize those letters and act on them! Failing to let your host know if you can attend their event or not is exceedingly rude, and will likely insure that you won't be invited to future events. Think of it this way: If you were talking to your host face to face, and he said, "Would you care to join us for Yahtzee on Saturday evening?", would you walk off without a word, leaving him standing there wondering what the heck is wrong with you? Of course not, but failing to RSVP to any invitation is doing just that. Your host is trying to give you a gift - their event. Without an RSVP from everyone invited, your host can't calculate how much food to have, if he needs to buy or borrow extra gear, or whether to bother throwing the party at all!

Some people claim confusion about the various forms of invitations as their excuse for not responding, but this article will answer any questions you may have. When you RSVP upon receiving an invitation, you can immediately schedule that event in your planner, schedule any preparations, such as buying a gift or having an outfit dry cleaned, and start looking forward to the event. Your host will be grateful for your prompt reply and look forward to your company. It's a win-win situation. So dig through your inbox, your fridge magnets, and anywhere else you may have stashed a pending invitation or two, and RSVP now. Then enjoy your busy social life!