Etiquette Be Damned!

Why in the world has the R.S.V.P. part of invitations gotten so popular? Twice this year my daughter was sent invitations that said R.S.V.P and were followed by an email and, in one obnoxious case, a phone call by the mother to confirm. R.S.V.P. which is an acrynym for the French Reponde si'l vous plait, translates to "respond if you'll like". Whether you take this as meaning, "respond if you want to" or "respond if you want to attend" it doesn't really specify that a "not attending" needs to do anything. But just in case I'm wrong, can we please accept two simple truths? 1. This isn't a wedding, funeral, graduation or anything you might invite a business acquaintance to, who might require special attention, and 2. A first grader can't possibly eat enough to ruin your plans.

These are birthday parties. Your child is going to turn a year older whether we show up or not, and if you make the number of friends that show up seem important, you will reduce the importance of the birthday itself and your child will notice. Here's an idea: Plan a fantastic party that anybody would love to attend, send your invitations and when the day comes have fun, with or without a bunch of sugared-up little snot-noses. As a parent, you have just as much to celebrate as your child. Not to mention your child is going to remember how much fun they had, no matter who it was with, why can't it be you? Besides, who wants to field 16 phone calls anyway? (Actually, the one chic that called me sent out 32 invitations. That woman must have been going through something.)

I can, however, accept the fact that this is my opinion only and nobody else's. I have a hang-up about this sort of thing. If you tell me I have to do something, I probably won't do it. The invitation is pushy enough in my mind, but when I already know that I don't want to talk to you for the five minutes it takes me to drop off my kid, you can sure-as-shit count on the fact that I'm not calling to chat about it. Etiquette be damned. You should focus more on your kid and less on the people around them.

This Little Woman turns six this week. She'll know how special she is long before the party.