For The Busy, Professional And Distinctive Couple
How to Say No to a Party Invitation in the Rising of the Coronavirus Cases
The holidays are just around the corner and this is usually a time of festivity where most of us would be cheerful and excited as we travel around to visit with families. However, due to the times that we are in right now, some of you may have halted all travel plans in an effort to celebrate in a safe and socially distant manner.
If you are in states like California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington and a few more where businesses are mostly closed and gatherings are prohibited or limited with curfews enforced; it may be challenging to plan and host a party, event or wedding. If you have also been invited to an event, you may be conflicted on whether you want to attend or not, putting your safety and that of others in mind.
If you are a host or a couple planning an event in these upcoming months, I will share some tips on how to effectively plan for more declines than usual. If you got invited to attend a function as a guest and don’t feel comfortable attending, I will also share tips on how to respectfully decline the invite without feeling obligated to attend against your safety comfort. To see more tips on how to navigate planning an event surrounding the Covid Pandemic, check out this blog we wrote a few months back.
Planning as a Host:
- Create a means for guest to RSVP: When you send out your invitation, ensure that the tone in which the invite is sent offers your guest the option to attend or not, based on their comfort level. You don’t want guests to feel obligated to attend to where they end up not RSVPing.
- Designate an RSVP contact: You probably don’t want to be bombarded with tons of questions from your guests; so I advise that you designate a point of contact to deal with all the RSVP responses and questions the guests may have. This could be a close friend, family member, wedding party or if you have hired an event or wedding planner, they would assist with this task.
- Consider Livestreaming as a virtual option: In addition to planning an in person gathering, make a virtual option available to guests who may not be able to attend in person. One of our amazing media entertainment vendors @harmlandvisions has the ability to live stream your events for the guests who cannot physically attend.
- Inform your guest about safety procedures: Put some information on your invitation to inform your guests on how you plan to enforce safety and social distancing at your event, like providing face coverings for your guests, keeping a 6ft distancing within your setup, providing sanitizing stations etc.. check out one of our past blogs here on safety proceedings for your event during covid.
Deciding whether to attend as a guest:
- Send out a personalized message: Once you receive the invitation and you confirm that you will not be attending the invite, reach out to the host personally to let them know about your decision and be upfront with them while sharing your support and cheers as they continue in their planning, through the event day and even beyond.
- Send a gift: Find out if there is a gift registry and send a nice gift to the host. After all, you may be saving on some traveling expenses, so spare a few of those savings and get a nice gift for them.
- Schedule a visit: If you are local with the host, plan to spend some personal time with them, preferably after the event as they may be very busy with plans before the event. I’m sure having a one on one meeting is better than mingling with hundreds of guests you don’t know at the event.
- Do not change your mind: Once you’ve made you decision, stick to it! If you decline the RSVP, don’t change your mind at the last minute or worse, show up to the event. This causes more stress on the host to try to work you into the plans at the last minute
- Don’t cause additional stress: Your host is probably already stressed out having to move forward with planning this event during the pandemic. Try to refrain from asking constant questions about the pandemic updates or whether or not the event is moving forward. The host has most likely created a website for such updates, utilize that information or be patient for the host to update you with information about the events.
Wishing everyone a safe holiday ahead and safe travel through all travels and remember to stay safe. If you want to see the full list of States and restrictions to be better prepared for your travel plans, you can check it out here.
