As event planners, we’ve seen many a party invitation at eve. It’s an essential yet overlooked element of almost every event: quite simply, if you want people to attend, you’ve got to gain their interest.
A great corporate party invitation is your first shot at making people want to say ‘yes’ to your event. It’s all about balancing essential details like time, place, and dress code with a tone that matches your brand or the event vibe. Whether you go digital or stick to paper, the aim is the same: make it easy for people to RSVP ‘yes.’
What makes a good party invitation?
First things first, think about all the things that you’re going to need to include before whipping up your fancy design.
You want to give your guests all the information that they need to give you a ‘yes.’ Try to think about every detail of your event and what your guests might like to know when making a decision on whether they’d like to join you: travel and accommodation information, timings, an itinerary, dress code – and don’t forget to include your branding with colours, fonts, logos and styles.
Include whether your guests can bring someone along – for example, if you’re planning a corporate summer party, are partners and children invited? Do your guests need to bring anything with them? Do you need to provide a menu or collect dietary requirements? Is there a specific dress code for your event?
Giving your guests all the information that they need will help them to come to a decision much more easily and it’s likely to be a more positive one: believe it or not, if you make people’s lives easier, they’re probably going to like you!
Online party invitations
Thanks to ever-advancing technology in the events industry and beyond, it’s becoming more and more common for event organisers, party planners and even brides and grooms to send out their invitations digitally.
What with increasing sustainability efforts and awareness, you might choose to ditch the paper or card for an online party invitation instead. This is a quick, simple and efficient way of dishing out your invites – just pull together a list of email addresses, create your design using a digital design service like Paperless Post or Canva, which will also be full of templates, design tips and resources to help you design your own party invitations, and whip off all your invitations at the click of a button with your email provider. Think of all those stamps saved!
Another option, particularly popular for weddings, is to create a private website with all the information that your guests will need, and use that as your invitation. Email guests a link to your website with a password and have them RSVP there.
Party invitation wording ideas
The wording of your corporate party invitation is an important factor in helping your guests to decide if they’d like to attend. This is your opportunity to sell your event and get those all-important ‘yes’ responses!
First consider the tone of voice of your brand and the event that you’re hosting. If you’re part of a formal, corporate industry or your event will be covering serious subject matters, this should be reflected in the tone of your invitation wording. If you’re more of an informal brand hosting a light-hearted or more unique event, you should ensure that this comes across in your invitation so that your brand is well represented.
If you’re hosting a formal event, it’s wise to choose more traditional, proper language: ‘eve requests the pleasure of your company’, ‘you are cordially invited’ whereas something more casual might work better with ‘please join us’, ‘you’re invited!’, ‘don’t miss out’ or ‘see you there’. As long as the language you choose reflects your brand and the type event you’re hosting, the world is your oyster.
Free party invitation template
Download our free party invitation template and adapt it to your event and your own branding, or get in touch to find out more about how eve can help you create simply marvellous events.
Your invitation questions answered
How do I write a professional invitation?
When it comes to creating professional party invitations, it’s vital to ensure that your brand takes centre stage.
We’ve broken down each step of creating a professional invitation that won’t be binned or ignored:
- Digital or print? Decide how you’d like your invitations to be sent. There are pros and cons of each, but if you’re a business that cares about sustainability, ensure that your invitations support your core values.
- Decide on key elements of the invitation before you start getting creative. You don’t want to miss out any vital information like who, when, where or why.
- Create a design brief. Think about your brand, colours, fonts, messages, tone of voice and what you need your invitation to include. You can also experiment with templates using digital design platforms like Canva to collect inspiration or adapt to suit your event, style and brand. Be sure to include your corporate colour schemes, fonts and logo.
- Source high-quality imagery and fonts. If you include any photographs on your invitations, make sure that they are high resolution images or graphics that won’t pixelate when printed. To keep your invitations looking professional, ensure that all fonts you use are legible, high quality for print, sized effectively and not too busy.
- Ensure that your invitations reflect your brand and any other merchandise or marketing material – consistency is key.
- Think about including social media handles, a link to your website and a QR code if you’re using scanning technology on the day. Give your guests everything they need to make a ‘yes’ decision about your event.
How do you write an exclusive invitation?
The key when it comes to sending exclusive invitations is to ensure that your guests feel like VIPs. Make sure that they know that your event is by-invitation-only and that guests have been carefully selected – it should feel like an honour to have received an invite.
Think luxury when it comes to invitation design with minimalism and a carefully chosen colour palette, ideally with nothing too bold. Try to avoid anything too busy and keep your fonts clean and fresh. It’s best to avoid stock imagery and go for something more personal or specific for your exclusive invitations: try delicate illustrations instead of clunky graphics or photographs to give your invites a more fresh, clean and luxurious feel.
Be clear about what your guests can expect from your event: is it ladies’ night? Is your event specific to rugby fans? Couples only? Anti-valentines? This makes it clear to your guests straight away that if it’s a ladies’ night event, boyfriends and husbands won’t be joining and that your event is exclusively a female-focused bash. Keep up the exclusivity wherever you can!
What do I say on an invitation?
Whichever type of event you’re hosting, whether it be a birthday party, a corporate celebration or a conference, the key information you need to include on your invitations will be very similar.
Key things to say on an invitation:
- Who: who is the invitation coming from, or who is your event in aid of? This may be an individual or a business.
- What: what is the event?
- Where: where will your event be taking place?
- When: time and date of your event.
- Why: why should people attend your event? This is a vital piece of information that is often missed. Don’t become too caught up in logistics and timings without making it clear for your guests about why they should choose to say ‘yes’. What will be on offer for them? What will they learn?
Don’t forget:
- Don’t forget to include any additional information that your guests might need, such as dress code or parking or accommodation options.
- Provide an opportunity for guests to notify you of any dietary requirements or allergies if you’re providing catering.
- Are plus ones invited?
- Let people know how to RSVP.
How do you invite a prospect to an event?
Getting business prospects along to your event can feel like a difficult task if leads aren’t quite warm yet.
When it comes to inviting prospects to your event, think carefully about the value that your event will provide them – and more importantly, is there any? Encouraging prospects to attend social events can be much more difficult than inviting converted clients, because they’re far less likely to just come along for a drink or two. Instead, think about educational or valuable content that might be of interest to your prospects: is there a seminar programme? Networking opportunities? What can they take away?
Next, it’s important that your prospects don’t feel invited just so you can sell to them or butter them up, otherwise they won’t want to attend. Don’t make your invitation like a cold call! The wording on your invitation will be important here and should ooze VIP and value. Give them an offer they can’t refuse.
What program can I use to make party invitations?
There are a number of websites, programs and systems that allow you to easily create high quality party invitations. If you are an experienced designer with access to the Adobe Suite or individual software like Adobe Spark, you’ll find an array of professional templates for you to adapt as you see fit.
Alternatively, Canva provides an affordable alternative with simple drag-and-drop elements and built-in templates for quick adaptation. If you’re creating digital party invitations, Paperless Post provides a number of creative options to include GIFs, stickers and text effects for a modern approach to event invitations – or go for something slick and suave: there’s something for every event.
What is the format of an invitation?
Whilst invitations to any type of event will need to include the same information (where, when etc.), the format will vary based on how formal your event is, and who your invite is going to.
Traditionally, formal invitations tend to be somewhat emotionally detached and very factual, minimalistic and polite in tone. Dates are written in full, in letters and abbreviation is usually avoided. Informal invitations provide more scope for creativity and often include colourful imagery or photographs and more casual language, including dates in numbers, abbreviations such as ‘you’re’ and more descriptive language.
The format of an invitation should always include:
- The name of your guest
- Details on the type of event: is it a birthday party? A product launch? An award ceremony?
- The date and time of your event
- The location of your event
- How to RSVP
- Additional information such as dress code, parking or accommodation arrangements