Digital invitation for a hen do: stop late dropouts

It's 23:40 on a Friday. The house for twelve is paid, the deposit on the private karaoke room is gone, and your phone buzzes: 'girls, I can't make it after all.' Then a second message, from the friend who booked with her. A digital invitation for a hen do handles those late dropouts better than anything you can print, and you can pick a design and send it today from the Send The Joy collection.

Most hen do budgets break for the same reason: you plan for the people who said yes in week one and pay for them in week six. Here's where the money goes, and where the invitation gets in the way of it.

Digital invitation for a hen do: dropouts land late and in pairs

The message never arrives on a Tuesday afternoon, when you can still call the restaurant and move the booking. It arrives the Friday before, when everything is already confirmed. And it rarely comes alone.

• 23:40, four days out: 'I can't make it after all,' with the deposit already on your card.
• The friend who said yes without opening her calendar and then found out that weekend already had another wedding in it.
• Two at once, because they signed up together and they drop out together.
• The one who goes quiet and says 'probably' three days out, so you hold a place you can't count on or pay for.

How much a digital invitation costs when the headcount moves

The usual mistake is splitting the budget between the people who said yes on day one. The brunch table for fourteen is held on a card, so if nine of you turn up, you pay for fourteen. The minibus and the private karaoke room run on deposits that don't come back because three seats are empty. A digital invitation from Send The Joy costs €29.99, paid once. It doesn't change when three people drop out - but the numbers inside it do.

The RSVP sits inside the invitation. Confirmations arrive in one ordered list instead of scattered across five chats, and you choose which questions the form asks: name, coming alone or with someone, which day they arrive. Nobody installs an app. The link opens in the phone's browser and your friend answers while she's still reading it.

The point isn't a nicer invitation. It's knowing on Thursday exactly who is coming.

Digital invitations: change the time, the place or the number

If the weekend drops from twelve to nine, you edit the text once and nothing gets reprinted. If the restaurant changes, you swap the scene and the map. The link stays the same, so nobody has to dig through the chat for a new version: they open it and see what's true today. For anyone who wants something on paper, print a few copies for the people who keep things and give the link to everyone else. Pick a design, test the cover for free, and send yours before you hold a table for fourteen.