Rsvp - Los Angeles,CA

If you have phone numbers, I'd call them up. But hey, I'm not proud! I'd guilt 'em into an answer, for crying out loud!

Sorry you have wishy-washy folks...

Call them - I'd start making phone calls NOW - don't wait for Wed.
Get direct word from them if they are coming or not.

Super annoying, right?!? I swear that people do not know what the word RSVP means. When my daughter was getting married, only 30% of the RSVPs were returned, but we had a 92% attendance rate (good thing I calculated the food on how many people we invited instead of how many RSVPs we received).

I don't have a good answer for you other than if you really need an answer, you will have to call or email people. If not, then don't worry about it.

I swear, the next party I have that requires RSVPs I am going to stop people at the door and if they didn't send theirs back, I am going to tell them "nope, you were too lazy to return a self addressed, stamped postcard on which you only had to check a yes or no box and drop in a mail slot - go home!" Ok, probably not. But I do daydream about it!

Good luck with the party!

This is such a pet peeve of mine and I've found that people are so wrapped up in themselves that they don't bother or don't care what you are spending and confirming for an event. There are so few people with decent manners anymore.

In my experience with parties and such, I called the parents and said... "I'm calling to confirm is ____ will be at ___ party? I have to give my final number of attendees to the venue and need to know if ___ will be attending."

In most cases, we had to give a final number 3 days before the event to the venue and lock in the number which also locked in my price per person. I typically had my deadline before the 3 day deadline just in case for late stragglers . STILL... even with events costing $25+ per person, some people STILL did not show after RSVP yes and others who RSVP no or had no response at all showed up.

I always made sure I allotted for a couple of no shows and a couple of unexpected shows. Frustrating.

Wait, then CALL every person who has not RSVP'd by Wed.
So rude....

I hate that people are so rude or so clueless. Honestly, one shouldn't even have to write "RSVP" because one would hope people would be decent enough to reply. Now, we have to write it, put a "reply by" date, and follow-up, and for weddings, we have to enclose a reply card, envelope and stamp?? But that's where we are.

I think you must set a "reply by" date that is 2 days sooner than you really need. You can't go to people before that date - it's annoying. So you have to wait until Thursday morning to give them the chance to reply any time on Wednesday up until midnight. Then I think you call or email saying "I hope you are able to come, please let me know so I have a final head count."

I'm appalled by Starr's experience with a 90% rate of people showing up. That's inexcusable. I'd have been so tempted to put someone at the door with a list of replies and checked their names against the list, then acted bewildered about "whatever will we do for chairs and food? Hmm. Let me think as soon as we finish with the photographer and greeting the guests who replied." But definitely a bunch of follow-up calls (even from family friends working as unofficial wedding planners) would have helped a lot there!!

I'd send out a quick message. "Hello, everyone! Ellie's birthday is quickly approaching. I know everyone is so busy with life...if you could please just take a quick moment to reply to this message with a "Yes" or "No" and let me know if your kiddo will be coming to the party, I would really appreciated it! I need to have my final numbers so I can go grocery shopping after work on Wednesday. We want to be sure that we have more than enough goodies for everyone. Thank you so much and see you soon!"

Send an email in Thurs.

Do a follow-up E-mail. There are an amazing number of parents who don't respond but still expect to be able to just drop off their kid for a party. In the long run, the E-mail will be much less of a head-ache.

If the number count matters, you will have to follow up. I suggest calling, not emailing, because a call is harder to ignore.

Keep track of how people respond and behave. Use this experience to cull some off your list for future events. Stick to the people who are considerate and ditch the 'waiting for a better offer' type.

For my son's party, only one no-RSVP kid showed up. (It was fine, I wasn't limited to a count.) Otherwise no reply meant No.

For a class reunion this summer, 15-20% of the people who responded Yes didn't show. One couple informed the coordinator that morning; they had a medical emergency so it was a legit issue. The others just flaked out I guess. A few people who didn't RSVP ether way showed up later in the night.

I follow up. I know I shouldn't have to, according to etiquette, but these are kids that my child wants at his party. So if I have to take the extra step to remind the parents, I'm ok with that. I usually have cell numbers of my kids' friends' parents, so I text them.

People don't RSVP. For a wedding I simply send out invitations and hope they join us. If they didn't...I was busy and didn't miss them.

I have and never will serve a meal or spend money like people do today on a wedding or reception. I cannot imagine wasting money on a party like that...anyway, that's not my point.

Since these people are strangers to you why even invite them at all? If you are friends with them why not just pick up the phone and call them?

People are really rude these days.Utoh, I'm about to start on my litany about how I can't stand getting texts for one hundred dollar wedding gifts and I still don't know if a gift arrived for a wedding we sent after repeatedly asking the family. ...wedding was two years ago!
Anyway, I will stop. But if you need to know, contact them and say hey I need to know how much pizza to order,h ow many ice cream cones, how many baggies to make, how many blah,blah,blah to get so they respond. Then they don't anyway.
OH AND SPEAKING OF RUDE: DID I ever tell you all about the time we were uninvited to a wedding because some out of town family guests of the bride decided they were going to come after all and they exceeded their count. However, it was supposed to help when they said we could come dance afterwards,...uh, DUH?
Never assume anything anymore. No answers, just have a couple of buckets of macaroni premade and koolaide ready

I would assume they aren't coming . A few years ago my son was invited to a party on July 5th . Only 2 boys showed up . It's summer , kids are on vacation and moms forget to RSVP if they aren't coming . I would call / email anyone not yet responded . Happy birthday to your daughter !!!

If you have used a program like Evite, send them a reminder message or give them a quick call. Otherwise, figure that they won't show but have a few extra goodie bags (if you are doing that) or crafts on hand for turnups.

Many people do not know that RSVP doesn't mean "respond only if you are coming". So annoying.

My DD is doing her guest list now and I've limited her to only kids where I have contact info for the parents so I can do an evite type invitation and I know the parents well enough to call if necessary to confirm.

I would wait until Wednesday. In my experience, people either reply right away, or wait until the RSVP date. They either know, or are waiting to finalize plans or something.

If you don't hear by Wednesday, sure - send out a reminder email. We've had that happen when we've just been a big-email invite list. The mom will just say "Sending out a reminder...". It's not rude at all.

If you don't hear back, I'd assume they are coming (just for numbers sake). We've had that happen. No response, but they showed up. At least you'll be prepared. If they don't show, no biggie.

Good luck :) have a great party.

Wait until Thursday morning, then send out individual "I didn't hear back from you by yesterday and wondered if J. can make it to Jack's birthday party this weekend? I can resend the details if you need them. Hope she can make it!"

At this point, they're not late. I wouldn't pester them until they've officially passed the RSVP deadline.

I would probably wait until Wednesday too but if you see people before then I'd definitely ask them. I usually send texts or FB messages to the people I haven't heard from just simply asking is Kid coming to my Kid's party, hope she/he can make it, please let me know! And it usually works for all parties involved. If it's a close or fairly close friend of yours that hasn't responded, I would probably just contact them now, before the RSVP date.

I find that most people respond within the first 2 days of receiving the invite, if they don't they usually forget or just aren't coming. So I wouldn't expect to hear from too many of the stragglers by Wednesday, but maybe a few.

If you have contact info for them send out an email and follow up. Otherwise assume their not coming. Last year I had a bday party for my daughters 5th bday and only 2 of the people that didn't rsvp came. Not a significant amount of ppl. It was rude and disspointing. That's why I now feel that I'm only inviting the folks that we actually know, not the whole class of kids.

I would call or email each person who has not RSVP'd yet. Just let them know you are trying to get a final head count and had not heard from them yet. Good luck.