This got long. There's a summary at the bottom.
So my SiL is expecting twin boys this summer and my MiL is throwing her a baby shower and has asked me to help.
These are her first grandbabies and I'm an only child so they're my first nephews. So we're very excited.
We decided on a Dr. Seuss "Thing 1 & Thing 2" theme.
She made a point on Sunday of asking my husband to remind me to think up possible wording so we can get invites together quickly.
We were going to buy them online but when I discovered most of the existing Thing1/2 invites are just people on Etsy that'll sell you the file for $10 that you have to print yourself anyway, I decided to flex my very small creative muscles and make my own (and stayed up way too late doing so).
Assuming they print well, they actually turned out pretty cute and I came up with this wording:
"Blankets and booties and everything blue,
A baby's the greatest,
But better is TWO!
Join us April 20th
At the two o'clock hour
For Melissa Last-name's
Twin baby shower!
At Mary's house is where we will be
*address*
So call her up to RSVP:
*phone*
Toys and clothes and fun abound!
Amazon is where the registry is found."
I was pretty proud of it but I got a note back from her this morning that is spawning my questions.
1. She mentioned wanting to add something about a raffle (bring diapers or baby wipes to enter).
We'd never discussed a raffle before... is this common? I feel like it's asking guests to cough up even more stuff.
2. About the invite she also said she wants it to be RSVP regrets only.
Now in my rhyming world I can make it work:
"To Mary's house, you must get
Or call her up to send regret"
But what's the deal with Regrets Only? While everyone should probably RSVP regardless, I feel like it's more pushy to make the people who can't come call you than the ones who otherwise would.
3. She wants this added:
If unable to attend, the gift of thoughts and prayers with safe delivery for all.
This I'm kinda iffy on... I can make this work too. By moving registry to a business card (I found out she's also at Target so the line is kinda long now anyway) and then putting this at the bottom instead:
"If unable to join in our shower time play,
Please give your thoughts and your prayers for delivery day."
But even if she likes that, I feel like maybe I shouldn't put it on there.
I feel like we're saying "If you aren't coming you should think about sending a present anyway, but we'll pretend to be gracious by telling you not to... and ONLY people NOT coming should even think about not bringing a real present, btw."
She's very sincere and I know that's not her intention at all. Am I worrying about nothing?
4. Then she sent this which I'll quote:
"One invite I ran across:
'Why yes! Yes, it is true!
The LastName twins are almost due!
You could not, would not want to miss.
A celebration quite as special as this.
April is the month, 20th is the date.
The Party starts at 2:00 PM. Please don't be late.'
address:
RSVP regrets"
So this is were I'm not objective. My feelings were kind of hurt that she'd rather use a canned thing she found on the net vs something I wrote specifically.
But I'm thinking... even in cute Seuss talk, should one ever put "Please don't be late" on an invite? I'm thinking no.
So are any of these things against etiquette?
If so, any suggestions on how to gently broach the topic? It's her house and party and she only asked for suggestions from me; not the whole invites, so maybe it isn't my place?
And also... I feel like if she didn't like my wording then what's the point in taking the time to find a way to get the custom invites printed (why bother if only half of it is original?). And I really don't want to use mine if there's things against etiquette. If she likes the canned invites so much better she can get those instead, but since they'll likely be a little more expensive I feel like I'd be taking my ball and going home.
I know I'm getting too emotional about some stupid invites, but that aside, input on the rest would be great.
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Summary:
I designed invites for SIL's baby shower and my MIL:
-Wants to add info about raffle (entry of diapers or wipes. Don't know what prize is)
-Wants to change it from RSVP to "RSVP, Regrets Only"
-Wants to add information akin to "If unable to attend, the gift of thoughts and prayers with safe delivery for all"
-Doesn't seem to like my invite and suggested something she found online instead which has the phrase "Please do not be late" in a rhyme.
Are any of these things an etiquette violation? And if I can't get the wording I wrote on the invites am I just a big quitter baby for suggesting we just buy the more expensive, canned invites instead.