When should dinner party invitations be mailed out? I would say it depends on the time of year. If you are trying to do something at Christmas, I would mail them out early; at least a month and a half before the event.
There are two factors related to your dinner party which will help you decide when you should send out your dinner invitations. These factors are the timing (the date) and formality of your event. During certain times of the year people's date books fill up much faster than at other times. Parties thrown between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve should be given more advance notice along with events in the month of June since this is the month when many weddings and graduations take place.
Brian Hay, a chef and culinary instructor at Austin Community College and a sommelier who also teaches for the International Sommelier Guild, says, "I would say it depends on the time of year. If you are trying to do something at Christmas, I would mail them out early; at least a month and a half before the event. When we have Christmas events, everyone is doing holiday parties. So if you are having one, you want everyone to put the date down and get it logged in."
This is also true for weddings or any other kind of formal event. You want your guests to not only have time to reserve the date, but to make any preparations they need to make for the ocassion too. Formal events require formal apparel and not everyone has a tuxedo or evening gown hanging in the closet just waiting for the next invitation to arrive.
It is also important to remember that even with enough advance notice, it doesn't mean all of your guests will be able to come just because they received your invitation first. If an event comes up that it is more important for them to attend, your invitation may have to be turned down to attend another event instead.
If you want to have a theme party or informal dinner party just for the fun of it, pick a time in the "off season". If you plan on renting a location, you may get a better rate during the "off season" as well. Caterers may ofter specials at different times of the year that will also save you money. Not to mention, more of your guests will be able to attend because they don't already have a previous engagement.
Hay says, "If it's at another time of the year (other than June or the Christmas holiday season), I would say you should send the invitations out 2-3 weeks beforehand so people can recieve it in plenty of time to plan to attend."
When you send out your invitations make sure you include a date by which they should RSVP. A final count is necessary for most banquet halls a couple days before the event so they can prepare the correct amount of food for your party and for billing purposes. If you are planning on cooking the meal yourself, you'll also want to know if you are feeding 10 or 25 people for the same reason. Nothing is more disappointing than cooking for a large crowd when only a small one attends your dinner.
