Slab
Occasional Tour Caddy
Because I occasionally like to roll my eyes and sigh at the world, I sometimes end up on the daily mail website
Today there’s a column about the lack of RSVP in society (which might actually be a problem) however the real example used to highlight this ‘issue’ was the lack of RSVP’s a mother received to a birthday party invitation for a 4yr old.
Having only some contact details for the friends the 4yr old wanted to invite she gave the remaining invites to nursery staff to give to parents (clearly the child doesn’t associate with those particular kids outside nursery otherwise parents would’ve previously shared contact details) As it happens those parents of kids that didn’t RSVP didn’t turn up, so a kind of ‘I didn’t say I was coming so I’m not’ type of RSVP and this pee’d off the mother trying to organize the party
But reading it I couldn’t find any sympathy for the mother (easy to find sympathy for the kid though) and if you’ve ever organised a golf event/group of players of any scale you’ll know already what a pain it can be getting responses etc (look at the ‘arranging a matchplay tie’ thread)
Basically mum made no other efforts to confirm who was coming, instead relying solely on the social etiquette of receiving an RSVP… but then bought wasted extra party stuff anyway just in case and now wants to moan about it! (I don't know but I'll guess mum didn't add any date the RSVP was required & if not she bears some added responsibility)
I get there are formal functions where an RSVP really makes a difference but for me a party for a 4yr old is not one of them. Get the hankies out, but I can’t remember ever having a birthday party as a kid, let alone one formal enough in nature to require an RSVP. In fact I don’t think I even had a party for my birthday at all until well into adulthood and as a social event sure I wanted to get an idea of numbers but I wouldn’t dream of simply issuing invites and waiting to see who turns up (just like organising a golf event) You need to put a bit more effort in to follow up with people simply because as an event its importance does not warrant the full invite/rsvp thing
And when parents start throwing out invites for this, that and the next thing (especially to people they don’t even know) and try and elevate the stature of a toddlers birthday bash into a actual function, they can’t really expect other parents to see it the same way
For this type of event mum doesn't want an RSVP so that seating plans, transport, overnight accommodation, capacity issues etc etc could be arranged & catered for, she just needs to know whether to get another bag of sausage rolls!
Not sure if I'm ranting about the fact some parents think a screaming mob of 4yr olds represents a function befitting the social etiquette of an RSVP or self-pity that I didn't have any parties
but it did make me roll my eyes and sigh
Today there’s a column about the lack of RSVP in society (which might actually be a problem) however the real example used to highlight this ‘issue’ was the lack of RSVP’s a mother received to a birthday party invitation for a 4yr old.
Having only some contact details for the friends the 4yr old wanted to invite she gave the remaining invites to nursery staff to give to parents (clearly the child doesn’t associate with those particular kids outside nursery otherwise parents would’ve previously shared contact details) As it happens those parents of kids that didn’t RSVP didn’t turn up, so a kind of ‘I didn’t say I was coming so I’m not’ type of RSVP and this pee’d off the mother trying to organize the party
But reading it I couldn’t find any sympathy for the mother (easy to find sympathy for the kid though) and if you’ve ever organised a golf event/group of players of any scale you’ll know already what a pain it can be getting responses etc (look at the ‘arranging a matchplay tie’ thread)
Basically mum made no other efforts to confirm who was coming, instead relying solely on the social etiquette of receiving an RSVP… but then bought wasted extra party stuff anyway just in case and now wants to moan about it! (I don't know but I'll guess mum didn't add any date the RSVP was required & if not she bears some added responsibility)
I get there are formal functions where an RSVP really makes a difference but for me a party for a 4yr old is not one of them. Get the hankies out, but I can’t remember ever having a birthday party as a kid, let alone one formal enough in nature to require an RSVP. In fact I don’t think I even had a party for my birthday at all until well into adulthood and as a social event sure I wanted to get an idea of numbers but I wouldn’t dream of simply issuing invites and waiting to see who turns up (just like organising a golf event) You need to put a bit more effort in to follow up with people simply because as an event its importance does not warrant the full invite/rsvp thing
And when parents start throwing out invites for this, that and the next thing (especially to people they don’t even know) and try and elevate the stature of a toddlers birthday bash into a actual function, they can’t really expect other parents to see it the same way
For this type of event mum doesn't want an RSVP so that seating plans, transport, overnight accommodation, capacity issues etc etc could be arranged & catered for, she just needs to know whether to get another bag of sausage rolls!
Not sure if I'm ranting about the fact some parents think a screaming mob of 4yr olds represents a function befitting the social etiquette of an RSVP or self-pity that I didn't have any parties
but it did make me roll my eyes and sigh 
