20-40-60 Etiquette: Facebook party invites?

YOU ASK! WE ANSWER! YOU DECIDE!

Do you have a question for 20-40-60? Email Helen at helen.wallace@cox.net
By Lillie-Beth Brinkman and Helen Ford Wallace and Callie Gordon

QUESTION: How about email or Facebook party invitations? Is it OK to send these instead of printed invitations? I recently got a FB invite, but promptly lost it in my email and then forgot about it. It seems to me if the host really wanted me to come, he would have sent an invitation via mail. How should I handle this? Thanks.

CALLIE’S ANSWER: E-invites are much more common. Depending on the event I think an e-invite is great. Next time put it in your calendar.

LILLIE-BETH’S ANSWER: It depends on the occasion. To me, I still mentally file invitations from Facebook in a category reserved for parties that are often (but not always) more open, inclusive and casual. These are likely to be from people promoting a fun business or nonprofit event and want to spread the word that the more people who come, the merrier.

Sometimes these “invitations” get lost in the clutter that is the latest configuration of Facebook these days, and those doing the inviting probably should realize that. Although Facebook invites can be handy for certain events, not everyone is on the social media site or uses it regularly. I like email invitations through services like evite.com for certain casual events like children’s get-togethers, and they are becoming more common, too.

For parties for which an RSVP is important or affairs that are more personal or formal, I still think a printed invitation is the way to go. You can save those in your scrapbook or place them on your refrigerator as a reminder.

HELEN’S ANSWER: I still like a printed invitation. They are easy for me to keep track of and refer to since I get a lot of emails. Facebook invitations do tend to get lost in my mail, but I realize that many people are using social media in that way and I try to respond accordingly. It is also fun to see who else is invited to the event and who is coming. You could always print the invitation so that you have it handy. Your host wanted you to come or he wouldn’t have invited you, even if it was by Facebook.