Should You Send Dinner Invitation Cards?

If you're hosting guests for dinner, you might be wondering whether it's appropriate to send dinner invitation cards. It's a question many hosts have asked, and the answer depends on the occasion and the formality given to it.

Business dinners

First and foremost, if you're hosting a business dinner it's not only appropriate to send dinner invitation cards it's a requirement. You want your customers, partners and colleagues to know they're dealing with a class-act organization, and dinner invitation cards are a great way to set your company a notch above the competition. In a business environment dinner invitation cards are useful not only for branding your company's image and encouraging attendance, they can also serve as conversation starters or other prep purposes. Your dinner invitations cards can ask your guests to come up with five things about themselves to share with their peers or sow the seed for creative brainstorming if it will be part of the function. They can also offer history on your organization, the event or dinner itself, or your cause.

Fundraising dinners

If you're hosting a dinner for fundraising purposes, you should definitely send dinner invitation cards that can double as donation requests. Include directions for mailing or phoning in donations, or a link to a web page where donations can be made online. Alternatively, list items that will be auctioned off at your event, 50/50 raffle directions, or other ways to donate or otherwise contribute to your cause.

Formal dinners

If you're hosting another formal dinner, such as for a wedding, engagement, graduation, confirmation or retirement party then dinner invitation cards are a good way to not only invite attendees but also to commemorate your special event. You can even create a custom design for your dinner invitation cards and have them professionally printed so they're ready for the scrapbook, album or photo frame to display for decades after the occasion.

Casual dinners

Dinners involving family and friends do not always require you to send dinner invitation cards, though milestone birthday parties (18, 21, 40, 50 and beyond) give good reason for commemoration. Other times you might just want to get creative and have a bit of fun - Christmas, New Year's and other holiday dinners are examples along with special family-only celebration such as the anniversary of a significant event. Since there are many opportunities to send dinner invitation cards, it's easier to answer the question of when it is not appropriate to send them. The answer to that, of course, is that there really is no inappropriate time to send dinner invitation cards. You absolutely should send them for formal dinners, and you have the option of sending them for fun and pleasure to announce casual dinners you're hosting for family and friends. Best of all, you can print custom dinner invitation cards cheap and easy - without sacrificing professional quality - when you order from an online printing company. PsPrint, for one, provides free invitation card layout templates and lets you instantly compare options and pricing for a variety of dinner invitation styles. They'll even mail your invitations for you if you're strapped for time.