To RSVP...or not to RSVP, that is the question...

Let's get something straight first off... I love hosting parties. LOVE it. I even use renovating my house as an excuse to have one. (come to think of it, the renovation work is a whole other blog in itself) What do I love about them? I love planning. I love decorating things in such a way that people will wonder if I hired Maaaaartha to come over and do it for me. I love designing a menu which I then press my husband into executing. (hey, I didn't marry a chef for nothing, you know!) I love gathering family and friends and filling them full of food and drink. (I love doing this to myself even more, but a party's a GREAT excuse to do so.) 

But, in all of this silver lining, there's a black thread. The R.S.V.P. - which, as you may or may not know, is French for Repondez, s'il vous plait. Merci beaucoup. In other words, if I take the time and effort to invite you to my party, then please, do me the courtesy of responding, so I know how much brie and wine to purchase. I mean, don't get me wrong. I LOVE brie AND wine, but I don't really want to consume my body weight in both, just because you couldn't be bothered to let me know you wouldn't be attending my little shindig. I'd gladly do it, but really, I can do that any old night of the week. 

It's really not that difficult, especially with the advent of social media like Facebook. I create a swell little events page, and lovingly choose the people I want to spend my evening with, come up with a catchy little phrase to invite them, and voila! (There's that French again. It's SO good that I took that in school instead of typing.) I hit "invite", and there you have it. So then WHY, for the love of all that is good and Holy, is it so freaking hard to hit "yes", "no", or "I don't know you, so please eff off"? I even send updates and reminders to people, and if you knew how much I hate looking desperate, you'll know how much I hate doing that. Nothing smacks more of desperation than "oh, hai, I see you haven't responded to my invitation, so could you please head over to my events page and reply? Because otherwise, it's going to be me and my 14 cats enjoying the salmon ball for the evening." 

And, people can't even use the excuse that the invite hit their inbox and they didn't know about it, because Facebook did me the great service of explaining their new messaging system, which I thought was exceptionally timely. And for all you old-fashioned folks who think that using social media as a invitation tool is lame, what exactly am I supposed to use it for? Updating my kid's bowel movements? Sharing that lame-ass "what colour is your bra" thing? That's why it's not called "anti-social media". You dig? Now, next time? Just grab your French'English dictionary, and Repondez, s'il vous plait.