For the parent hosting
You are writing for another parent, reading it at the school gate with one hand while something loud happens with the other. Six lines cover what they need. The reply button covers the rest.
A kids' party invite has a specific reader: a grown-up who is not the guest. They are working out who takes the child, whether they have to stay, what time to collect them, and whether the cake is a problem for someone with allergies. Every line you write should answer one of those four, roughly in that order.
The other parent is nervous too. They have a child who will be badly upset if the party fills up, a sibling who is not on the list, and a school gate where everyone compares notes afterwards. Warm wording plus hard details is what settles them, which is why the eleven private messages start arriving before the first reply has landed.
Written for a five-year-old's party at a soft-play venue; swap the specifics for your own.
Ellie is turning five. There will be cake, a balloon dog, and a room of five-year-olds at full volume.
Saturday 3 May, 2 to 4pm at Kick Start Play, Mill Lane. This is a stay-and-go party: please stay with your child. There is coffee for grown-ups in the corner.
Collect from 4pm. I lock the door at 4.15pm, because the venue has to clear the floor for the next booking.
The cake is nut-free. If your child can't have dairy, gluten or egg, tell me when you reply and I will bring a plate just for them.
No gifts at all — your company is the whole thing. If you'd still like to bring something, a book for the class shelf is very welcome.
We're inviting Ellie's class only, so no siblings this time. The family party in June is where everyone comes.
Answer these on the page and the messages stop arriving.
The trouble with no gifts, please is that nobody believes you. They turn up with something wrapped and everyone feels slightly foolish. The fix is to give the sentence somewhere to land: say no gifts, then offer one specific alternative you genuinely want, such as a book for the shelf, an unopened toy for the class toy bag, or a drawing for the fridge.
If presents are simply what your family does, say so and set the expectation instead of pretending: small and thoughtful, please, because she will open one with candles on the cake and then want to play.
The wording is finished when the page takes it from there.
Guests open the link on their phone and say who is coming: the child, the grown-up staying, the plus-one you allowed. The list updates itself as the answers arrive.
Meal choices and allergies come back with the reply, so the plate you promised has a name attached to it before you shop.
Move the pick-up time by fifteen minutes and edit the page. The link your guests already have shows the true version.
Set a password on the page and send it with the class list, so the address and the photographs stay where you put them.
How it works
Sign up and open a birthday event, or message Jitabi on WhatsApp with the shape of it: Ellie is turning five, Saturday at 2pm, the soft-play centre, twelve children, parents stay. It drafts the sections and you correct the details.
Work down the running order, the address, the food, the allergy sentence and the pick-up time. Nothing a guest can see exists until you publish, so a half-finished page stays a half-finished page.
Paste the live link into a short message: date, pick-up time, where to reply, and by when. The same link prints as a code on paper cards if you hand those out too.
The guest list fills with names and the dietary notes arrive beside them. On the Friday you can send a reminder to the families who have not answered and stop thinking about it.
Questions
One to two weeks gives parents room to rearrange Saturday plans without leaving you a long gap of uncertainty. Put a reply-by date on the page and count heads a day or two before, rather than the night before, when the cake is already paid for.
What changes is the content, not the tone. Three-year-olds mean stay-and-go parties and a short running order. Older children mean drop-off, a longer window, and a real gift question. Write for the age the party is actually for.
State what you are serving, what the cake is free from, and invite a note with the reply. You get what you need without turning an invitation into a medical circular, and nobody's diagnosis ends up displayed to the class group.
Yes, and it is the strongest argument for an invitation that lives at a link. Edit the time, save it, and the page everyone already has shows the new one. No reprint, and no apology message sent at eleven at night.
No. They open the link, tap yes, say who is coming, and go. Anything you need beyond that, a sibling question or a dietary note, arrives with the reply and lands on your list with a name against it.
Get Started
Start free, build the invitation in ten quiet minutes, and put the pick-up time somewhere nobody can misplace it.
