Digital invitation: Halloween office lunch etiquette

It's 11:40 on a Tuesday. Someone in the kitchen says, "Are we doing anything for Halloween?" and by 11:43 the office chat has forty messages, two arguments about a restaurant nobody has booked and still no answer. Three agreements cover the whole etiquette of a Halloween lunch with colleagues: the time, who pays and whether the costume is optional. A digital invitation puts all three in one link, and you can create and send yours today from the catalogue.

Etiquette here isn't about which fork to use. It's about nobody standing alone at the restaurant bar at 1:45 pm while the rest of the table is still in the lift.

Digital invitation etiquette for an office Halloween lunch

Pick a slot that fits inside the lunch break, and write two times: when you arrive and when you sit down. "1:45 pm at the bar, we sit down at 2" stops half the table hovering by the door with their coats on. If the restaurant is a ten-minute walk from reception, give the time you leave the building, not just the address.

• Arrival time and the time you actually sit down at the table.
• Restaurant, address, and whether people walk from the office or take the tube.
• Price per head and how to pay it: transfer, card or cash.
• Dress code in plain words — "optional costume" — plus a date to reply by.

How to create digital invitations that settle the bill and the costume

Money is the part people rehearse before they ask. Split it evenly and put the number in writing: "Set menu, €25 per person, drinks separate." If the company or a manager is paying, say it in as many words — "the director is covering it, leave your wallet at your desk" — so nobody turns up with cash and a question. "We'll sort it out later" is the sentence that turns a lunch into an argument; if you're organising, decide the method before you send the link.

On the costume, aim for something you can take off between courses: a black shirt, a plastic spider on the lapel, an orange scarf. "Optional costume, nothing that needs make-up" is clearer than "spooky chic". And when the restaurant changes — and it will — you edit the invitation and the link stays the same, so nobody scrolls back through the chat looking for a new address. Replies land in an ordered list inside that same invitation, which means you're not counting emojis at the end of the day.

Three lines settle an office Halloween lunch: we sit down at 2, it's €25 each, and the costume is optional.

The message that goes with the link

Open with the plan, not the question. "We're going for a Halloween lunch on Thursday" lands better than "any ideas?", because the invitation already carries the decision. Drop the link in the office chat mid-morning, when people are actually looking at their phones, and give a reply-by date so you can confirm the table. For the colleague who groans at Halloween, add one line: "No scares, just a long lunch and a pumpkin on the table." Then send it — the etiquette sits in the link, and anyone who asks in the corridor gets the same answer. You can have it ready in the time it takes to book the table: one page, 29.99 EUR, no app for your colleagues to install.