Digital invitation: when to send Halloween invites

It's the 28th, you're in the kitchen with a bag of tea lights, and your phone is full of half-answers. 'We might come.' 'Is it at yours or down in the square?' The party is on the 31st and you still don't know how many chairs to carry down. A Digital invitation fixes the first half of that today: pick a design from the catalogue, type the date and the meeting point, send the link. The second half is deciding when to send Halloween invitations. That's what this page is for.

For a neighbourhood party, the date that works is 15 October. Not for superstitious reasons. It leaves room to close the list on the 26th and buy candles knowing the number, instead of guessing on the morning of the 31st.

Send the Digital invitation on 15 October, not on the 30th

Count backwards from the 31st and the order sorts itself out. The 15th is the send date. The 22nd is the reminder in the square's WhatsApp group. The 26th closes the list. The 29th is the hand-out of candles and folding chairs at the decorated doorway. If the weekend of the 25th clashes with another do in the village, move the send date to the 12th: two plans on the same Saturday eat each other's yeses.

• 15 October: link published and opened on your own phone before it goes to the group.
• 22 October: one manual reminder in the neighbourhood chat.
• 26 October: confirmations closed, so you count chairs and buy candles.
• 29 October: candles and chairs handed out at the doorway by the square.

When to send Halloween invitations for a party in the village square

The neighbour decides in about 48 hours. They see the link, check whether they're on shift, and answer. One folding chair, one candle and one torch per household — that's the count you need before you go to the shop, not on the morning of the 31st.

So put one message in the street group with the link and one clear line: 'Confirm inside the invitation, so no name gets lost.' The answers arrive in the invitation itself, in an ordered list. No chasing stray maybes through three different chats.

The good scare is the gate creaking at eleven, not the list you're still chasing on the 30th.

What the link has to say before the candle hand-out

The exact time the pumpkins are lit, and the meeting point by the decorated doorway, with the map in place. A dress code in the key of funny mystery: dark fabrics, a lantern, nothing that will genuinely frighten the children. And what each house brings — candles, chairs, a plate to share — so on the 29th two neighbours aren't carrying the same thing down the same street. If you want a line about the little ones or about who's driving, write it in the text of the invitation, or set it as one of the RSVP questions yourself. Your sentence, in your words.

How to create Digital invitations for a village square party

Choose a design, personalise the texts, add up to six of your own photos, publish with one button. A shot of the cobwebbed doorway and one of last year's pumpkins will frame themselves. Guests open the link in a browser — no app to install — and answer from their phone. If the weather turns and the party moves to the porch, change the place and the hour: the link stays the same and nobody re-sends anything. 29,99 EUR, one payment, no subscription. And if someone on the street wants paper, do the mixed version: one link for everyone, three or four printed copies for whoever will keep it in a drawer. The invitation doesn't print or post anything.

Your party already has a date. The only urgent job is the send: pick a design, write the hour, the place and the map, and let the confirmations arrive on their own. Do it before 15 October and spend the last week on the doorway, not on the list.