Restaurant birthday invitations: the allergy mistake

You've booked a table for twenty and the invitation goes out on Tuesday. On Friday, one guest quietly slides the dessert spoon aside because there's a walnut in the cake, and says nothing about it. That's the mistake behind a lot of restaurant birthday invitations: not the menu you chose, but the allergy question you never asked.

It takes one sentence to sort out. Put the question where everyone already looks — in the same message you use to send the invitation link.

Restaurant birthday invitations: the allergy question

It's tempting to leave it to the restaurant. Surely they'll ask each guest at the table? They might. Half the people with an allergy still won't say it out loud, because they'd rather skip the cake than hold up the evening. So ask in writing, early, somewhere everybody sees it.

• Add one line to the message that goes with the link: "Let me know about any allergies when you confirm."
• Ask at the same time as the RSVP, so nobody has to remember it later.
• Write the answers down somewhere you'll find them, and pass them to the restaurant the day before.
• Keep it in one thread: the confirmation form on a Send The Joy invitation has questions you can configure, but allergies aren't one of the options, so a quick email or WhatsApp covers that.

Don't lock in a menu before you know the numbers

Booking a set menu for 30 when the table could be 20 or 40 is how deposits get wasted. Confirmations land inside the invitation in an ordered list, so you can see who's coming and adjust the numbers with the restaurant while there's still time to change them.

A WhatsApp group turns into a mess of "I'm in", "maybe" and a thumbs-up that means nothing. One link keeps the replies in a single list, and you decide what the form asks, so what comes back is what you actually need to know.

One link holds the time, the map and the confirmations. The allergy question travels in the message beside it.

Change the time without resending anything

The party moves from 8pm to 9pm. On paper that's a reprint and a round of phone calls; with a link you edit the time and everyone who opens it sees the new version, same link, nothing resent. Same for a new restaurant, a corrected map, or a dress code added late — "wear red", for example. Paper still belongs in a drawer somewhere, so print a few copies for the people who'll keep them, and send the link to everyone else. One invitation costs €29.99, paid once, no subscription, and you edit it as often as you like.

Keep every detail in one place

One link answers the questions you'd otherwise answer ten times: what time, where, what to wear, how to confirm. The date, the map, your photo, the music and the RSVPs sit on a single page that guests open in a browser — no app, no download, nothing to lose. Pick a design, add up to six photos, publish it, and get back to booking the table.