Digital invitation: 1950s horror boat dinner etiquette

Somebody has already asked what time the boat leaves. Somebody else wants to know whether a lace mask counts as fancy dress. You are hosting a Halloween dinner on a boat with a 1950s vintage horror dress code, and the three things people actually need — boarding time, what to wear, what happens after dinner — are spread across forty messages in a group chat. A digital invitation puts them on one link you can create and send tonight from the catalogue, before the next person types 'so what is the plan?'

Order matters here. The boat is the one part of the evening that cannot be rescheduled, and the dress code is the part people worry about three days before. Write both down properly and the night runs itself.

Halloween boat dinner etiquette: the boat won't wait

A harbour at eight in the evening is a lovely place to get lost and a terrible place to arrive late. Give two separate times and say which one is final. Then describe the meeting point the way you would describe it to a taxi driver: which pier, which dock, and what you can see from there. A guest holding a pumpkin at eleven at night does not need 'at the port'.

• Boarding at 8:15 pm and cast-off at 8:45 pm, written as two lines, not one
• The exact meeting point: 'Pier B, dock 3, next to the blue hut'
• One clear warning that the gangway closes at 8:10 pm
• A phone number for the guest who is five minutes away and running

A 1950s horror dress code in three lines

Vintage horror is not the same as a haunted house. Think 1950s film set: a dark two-piece suit, a midi dress with gloves, a cameo brooch, deep red lipstick. Name two real garments in the invitation and people get it immediately; write 'spooky elegance' and someone arrives as a zombie.

Then set the limit in the same line — 'elegant with a gothic nod; no masks at the table' — and keep the costume optional in one sentence: a lace eye mask is enough. For the after on the upper deck at 11:30 pm, say where it is, that there are heaters, and what to bring: a shawl, flat shoes, a small torch. Deck air turns cold after midnight, and somebody will always read 'dress code' as 'silk dress and sandals'. If the after is only for part of the list, do not hint at it: either it is written for everyone or it is not on the invitation.

Two times, one dress code line, one plan for after. The rest can be decided once you are on the water.

What a digital invitation costs and what it fixes on deck

One digital invitation is 29.99 EUR, a single payment with no subscription, and it is a page of its own rather than a PDF. If the pier changes or boarding moves to 8:30 pm, you edit the invitation and the same link shows the new version — nobody re-sends a thing. Confirmations land in a list inside the invitation instead of a chat you have to scroll back through, and you can set the questions people answer when they reply. Guests open it in a browser on their phone; there is no app to install. This is where digital invitations earn their place: they stay correct after you send them. Pick a design from the collection, put in your two times and the dress code, publish it tonight, and get back to the pumpkins.