Digital invitation: Halloween etiquette for neighbours

It's 23:40, the doorbell buzzes in the flat below, and someone on the third floor is standing in slippers working out which landing the noise is coming from. That's the moment a decent invitation should have prevented. A digital invitation is a page you choose from the catalogue, fill with your own words and photos, and send today as a link or a QR code: your guests open it in a browser, no app to install, no envelopes. If you're hosting a Halloween party with neighbours two walls away, the etiquette of a small flat belongs in the invitation, not in a group chat at midnight.

Two things decide whether the evening stays friendly: how many of you there are and when the music stops. Put both in writing and nobody has to knock on your door to ask.

Halloween party etiquette for a small flat starts with a number

Swap 'we'll see who turns up' for a figure. Fourteen is something your neighbour can picture; 'a few people' is a surprise at 22:00. Say how many of them live in the building and how many come from outside, because that's what decides how crowded the stairs and the landing will feel.

• The headcount in numbers: 'We're 14 — nine from the building, five from outside.'
• The plus-one rule: 'Each neighbour can bring one person, tell me by Thursday so I don't overfill the living room.'
• Children get their own slot: '19:00 to 21:00 snacks and games, adult party after that.'
• A reply deadline: 'Let me know by Thursday.' In a small flat, the difference between 12 and 18 is a chair and a bottle of wine.

The music has a leaving time, and it goes in writing

'We won't be too loud' means nothing at 00:15. A time means something. Write the line you've already decided on: at 00:30 the volume comes down, and everyone knows it before they arrive.

Split the night in two so nobody has to police anybody: loud music until 23:30, then a quiet playlist and conversation. Add when the door closes, 'door shut at 01:00, last lift at 01:15', and your neighbours get a timetable instead of a hope.

Fourteen of us, music down at 00:30: one line in the invitation that saves more arguments than an apology on Sunday.

The landing, the lift and the bin bag are invited too

Pumpkins stay indoors, and so do the cobwebs. The landing is the only part of the building everyone shares, so keep the decorations inside your own door and say it in the invitation. Add who clears up and when: 'At 01:30 we take the glasses down and drop the bags in the bins, so there's nothing left in the entrance hall.'

How to create a digital invitation for a flat party, and what it costs

Pick a design from the collection and personalise it in the browser editor: your words, your date, up to six photos, the music, and the RSVP questions you actually want to ask. You can try the cover free before paying, and publishing takes one button. The price is 29,99 EUR, a single payment with no subscription. If the headcount changes or the music time moves, edit the invitation and the link stays the same, so nobody needs a new message. Replies land in one list inside the invitation instead of across three chats. Digital invitations also help the neighbour who reads messages once, at breakfast: the details sit in the same place all week.

Write the headcount, the hour the volume drops and the time you start collecting glasses. Then add the way out: 'Thanks for coming. At 01:00 we start tidying and we'll walk down together.' If the second floor has a baby, ask people to take the lift in twos. Open the catalogue, pick a design and send your Halloween invitation tonight, while you still remember the date.