Digital invitation for a blind menu dinner and allergies

You've agreed a blind menu with the chef: six courses, no descriptions, one long surprise for the table. Twelve days out, a message lands. 'Is there fish in anything? I can't eat it.' Your invitations went out three weeks ago and you have no record of who answered what. A digital invitation handles that part: you write one question in the RSVP form, guests answer as they confirm, and the replies arrive in one list. You can pick a design from the catalogue, personalise it in the browser and send it today.

The point of a blind menu is that guests don't know what they're eating. It was never meant to mean the kitchen doesn't know who it's cooking for. Those are two separate things, and only one of them is fun.

A blind dinner menu needs the allergies answered early

An allergy isn't part of the surprise. If the fourth course is tuna tataki, the guest who can't eat fish needs to be on a list two weeks before, not flagging a waiter down at table four. Ask while people are confirming, not three days before you close numbers with the caterer — by then the sauce and the garnish are locked in. A blind menu runs on two layers: the guest doesn't know what's coming, the chef knows exactly what not to serve them.

• One open line in the RSVP form — 'anything the chef should know about your plate?' — answered with a name, not a thumbs-up.
• The exact allergen, not the category: 'tree nuts' is useful, 'weird food' isn't.
• The guest's own answer on allergy versus dislike. Only the first one changes what the kitchen does.
• A clear reply deadline on the invitation, so the covers are settled before the menu is signed off.

What a digital invitation asks that a printed envelope can't

A printed card is delivered once and that's it. The RSVP form on a digital invitation takes the question you put in it, and the answers arrive together in one ordered list instead of scattered across forty conversations. Nobody installs an app: guests open the link in their phone browser and see the date, the time, the place and the map on the same page where they confirm. It's 29,99 EUR once, no subscription, and you can set the invitation content per language — the site runs in seven.

If the date moves, the time shifts or the dress code tightens, you edit it in the browser editor and the link stays the same. No second message with a correction, no reprint. Be honest about the format: it's digital and it prints no paper. If you want something people can keep, the sensible version is the link for everyone plus a few printed copies for the ones who'll actually hold on to them.

Keep the menu a secret. Never keep an allergy a secret.

Gala etiquette when nobody knows the menu

Don't ask the host what's for dinner. Ask whether there's anything the chef should know — same information, half the noise, and nobody watches you push a plate away at table six. The dress code belongs on the invitation, not guessed from the venue; if it goes from formal to black tie, you edit it and guests see the current version without a re-send. Confirming before the deadline is etiquette, not paperwork: the host needs the covers to close the menu and pass the exceptions to the kitchen. So choose the question before the tablecloth. A digital invitation keeps the date, the place, the dress code and your own question on one link you publish with a button and edit whenever something changes. Open the collection and pick the one that fits the room.