Organising a birthday with invitations and replies up to date

For a birthday on a guest list, Carton Blanc sends the invitation and the reminder, collects replies on a dedicated page and opens a waiting list when the venue is full.

A big birthday often means a hired room, a caterer and a list that circulates between messaging apps, emails and texts. After two weeks, nobody knows who is coming. Fortieth, fiftieth and sixtieth birthdays bring together guests from several circles who do not know each other, and the host has to keep the count.

Carton Blanc replaces that thread of messages with a registration page. Each guest replies once, receives a confirmation, and you watch the total move. It suits a small dinner as well as a large party, as long as you invite from a list.

How Carton Blanc handles this event

Invitations

You import your contacts from Excel or paste addresses. The invitation, with the party flyer, goes out on the date you choose, once you have read it.

Registration

Everyone replies on the birthday page and gets an immediate confirmation. The number of registered guests updates with each reply.

Waiting list

The capacity of the venue is entered when you create the event. Once it is reached, later guests go on a waiting list and are told so, and you decide whether to call them back after a withdrawal.

Reminders

Two weeks before, the reminder goes only to friends who have not replied. The day before, a note with the address and a calendar link cuts down on forgetting.

Check-in

For a large party, the list is checked off at the door on a phone. You know at any moment how many people have arrived.

The recommended mailing calendar

Drafts are written when the event is created and dated from the day of the party, on the same weekday. For a birthday, an announcement six weeks ahead gives friends time to free their evening.

1. D-42 · Six weeks before

   The date announcement, with the flyer and the link to reserve a place.

2. D-28 · Four weeks before

   The invitation: venue, time, theme if any and directions.

3. D-14 · Two weeks before

   The reminder, sent only to those who have not replied.

4. D-1 · The day before

   The reminder to registered guests: address, time and calendar link.

5. D+2 · Two days after

   The thank-you message, with one text for those who came and another for those who could not.

Organiser's tips

1. Say what is expected in the invitation. Dress code, gift or collection, finishing time: one sentence per topic avoids individual questions. Guests reply more readily when they know what they are agreeing to.
2. Expect some no-shows. At a party of more than fifty, some registered guests will not come. A waiting list lets you fill those places without over-ordering.
3. Invite in two waves if the venue is small. Send first to close family and friends, then two weeks later to wider acquaintances. Remaining places are visible in the registration.
4. Keep the surprise off the page. If the birthday is a surprise, leave the guest of honour's name out of the title: anyone with the link can open the event page.

The flyer for this event

The birthday flyer exists as a photo style (a glass, a sparkler, the date in large type), as a classic card or as a poster. You customise it in your account, free of charge, even before subscribing.

See the flyers for this occasion

What Carton Blanc does not do

Carton Blanc is not a ticketing tool: it takes no ticket payments and sells nothing to guests. No email is sent without the organiser's approval. There is no advertising, no resale of data and no free plan.