Thursday, August 21, 2008

The internet is taking over the world!

I remember back in the day when you would receive party invitations by way of snail mail. A nice postcard, perhaps a flyer of some sort.

Now days, you get an email from the company with links to click to get to the party information. The who is having the party, the where the party will be, the what time to arrive and all the RSVP options you can think of, including 'Maybe'!

I recently received one such evite to a Southern Living at Home party. The hostess was able to see all the guest replies on her special page and plan her party refreshments accordingly. Also, because I had RSVP'd 'Yes', the system sent me a reminder email about the party a day or so before the date so I would remember. Remember getting that reminder phone call from the hostess? It was so personal and friendly...

Today I received an evite to an Arbonne party. This evite was a bit different. When you clicked on the link, it took you to a page where you could see everyone else on the list and how they responded to their invitation. Interesting!!! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. If you are on the fence about going and see that she has a few others already going, you might be tempted to click 'no' more easily or you might feel more obligated to go if she doesn't have many saying 'yes'. In that case, it would be a good thing to have it displayed that way. At any rate, it just seems like the internet is replacing more and more personal touches we take for granted and don't notice until they are gone. Hmmm....I do enjoy the convenience and interaction of the evite offering it's links to view the products before hand but at the same time I miss the personal touch of a tangible invitation to stick up on the fridge and that friendly phone call from the hostess. :-)

2 comments:

Marli said...

Hi there! (haha i like that "beeep"...here's your beeptalk!):)

Lia Sophia has the same system as SLAH...(I do both, sort of!) I love all the e-viting and e-newsletters!

bp said...

I guess all the evites save on postage and possibly time, depending on what is put into setting it up. But I'm like you, I like to get the invites in the mail!