What does RSVP mean these days?

[HKfornow]

If you receive an invitation with RSVP do you?

Respond only if you are accepting the invitation
Respond only if you are declining the invitation
Respond whether accepting or decling the invitation

 

[snagito]

I think you respond whether you are accepting or declining the invitation (either way)

 

[HKfornow]

According to http://www.emilypost.com/everyday/invitation_etiquette.htm
"RSVP - From the French, it means ?R?pondez, s?il vous pla?t,? or, ?Please reply.? This little code has been around for a long time and it?s definitely telling you that your hosts want to know if you are attending. Reply promptly, within a day or two of receiving an invitation. "

I received an invitation requesting RSVP, and when I called the hostess to decline the kind invitation, she sounded mad that I was phoning a decline.

On the other hand, I recently received a call on THE DAY OF the party accepting my invitation (that was sent over 3 weeks prior to the party). While a bunch of others just did not respond at all.

So now I'm curious as to what R.S.V.P mean in today's society, how do you handle the invitations you receive?

 

[HKfornow]

I think you respond whether you are accepting or declining the invitation (either way)

Snagito, thanks for the quick response, I was trying to edit my post, but got distracted. . . and saw that you already responded to the post.

 

[ELT]

Guess it really depends on the nature of the invite. If it is to a friend's party, it is likely to get response either way but if it is invite to xxx label summer collection preview, then definitely respond ONLY if accepting.

 

[somebodyfamous]

We had our daughters Baptism invites sent out with a date to RSVP by and still I had to ring around and ask if people were coming or not. Then really annoyed at the handful of people who said they would come but didn't!

 

[jane01]

I invited parents, siblings and my daughter's friends to her 4th birthday party last week. Most parents were very good about replying. All they needed to do was a quick phone call or mention it to me at school or something.

I was rather put out to not hear from one mother at all, then on the day of the party, she sent her helper with her daughter (no, she doesn't work). Daughter behaved badly at the party and the helper was totally ineffective.

I didn't even know the parents, my daughter just liked her daughter and asked me if we could invite her. NEVER AGAIN ! Rude woman, spoilt brat daughter, not coming to our house again.

 

[rani]

We had D's birthday today. He invited the entire class as they're all moving to big school in Sept. Only half called and that was to confirm and 1 boy showed up.

 

[somebodyfamous]

oh how awful!! Only 1 boy showed up?!?!?! Was your DS upset?

 

[rani]

Sorry meant, only 1 boy showed up without RSVPing. He was upset, as I had all the loot bags on the table labelled with their names and he couldn't find his. I had to scamble and find something to give him. Was way too stressful.