Weddings
Wedding Invitations With Kids: Etiquette and Wording
How to word your invitation so children have their place without wrecking the menu or the budget. Exact phrases, the right RSVP question and the order of things.
Send The Joy · October 5, 2026 · 3 min read
The venue sends the quote back with a line you weren't expecting: highchairs, children's portions, a corner where the little ones can run around. You haven't sent the invitation yet, and now you have to decide who's coming — and say it without sounding like you're handing out rules.
Two sentences in the right place save a week of messages. One says whether children are invited. The other says what they'll eat. The rest is logistics you can sort out later.
Wedding invitations with kids: say it plainly on the cover
Guests read the first screen and skim the rest. That's where the decision goes: children welcome, or adults only. Not in a footnote, not in a message you send to some people and forget for others.
- If children are invited, put 'Children welcome' on the cover of the invitation.
- If they're not, use a calm line: 'We've reserved this celebration for adults'. Drop 'and family' — it makes people guess whether that means a partner, a baby, or both.
- Tell the caterer early. Highchairs, smaller portions and a play corner aren't things you add the week before.
- Few children coming? Name them in the invitation. Lots? Keep the blanket line and ask for the detail in the RSVP.
The kids' menu is not something you improvise
Say it in the invitation and parents stop wondering whether to feed their children before they arrive. 'There's a menu for the little ones' means one thing. 'Children share the adults' menu' means another. Pick the true one and write it.
Use the phrase field of the digital invitation, where it's visible from the first screen. It takes ten seconds and you can change it later without touching anything else.
If your invitation doesn't answer it, you'll be answering it by text the night before.
The RSVP that tells you how many children are coming
Add one question to your RSVP form: 'How many children are coming with you?' That number is what you need for the seating plan and for the caterer. A second, optional question about ages helps if you're organising something for them to do.
Names, special needs and last-minute changes
Three children coming? Write their names in the invitation. Fifteen? 'Children welcome' plus the RSVP question does the job. For anything specific — a child who needs a quiet corner, a food that has to be avoided — ask the family to tell you directly. A form is a bad place for that conversation, and you don't want it buried in a list you'll forget to check.
A Send The Joy invitation is a page you share with a link or a QR code. Guests reply from their phone without installing anything, and the RSVP answers arrive inside the invitation, in order. Try it free, set the wording and the RSVP questions in Joy Studio, and pay 29.99 EUR once when you're ready — no subscription, in 7 languages.
