Thanksgiving invitations
A holiday almost nobody sends an invitation for, which is exactly why one lands the way it does.
$65
Your details set by hand, usually back the same day. $145 to rebuild it in your own colours.
Most Thanksgiving arrangements happen by phone call and group chat, accumulating over three weeks until nobody is quite sure who is coming or when. An actual invitation, sent once, settles it. That is the practical case, and it is a good one. The other case is that a printed or designed invitation signals that this year is being done properly, which matters most in the years when the arrangement has changed.
Those changed years are the ones the wording has to handle carefully. A first Thanksgiving hosted by the next generation, a first one after a death, a first after a divorce where the shape of the table is different. In every case the same principle applies: state the arrangement plainly and warmly, without explaining or apologising for it. "We are hosting this year" is a complete sentence and it forecloses a lot of awkward speculation.
The logistics are simple but worth printing. Arrival time and eating time as separate things, because the gap between them is where the day actually lives. Whether to bring anything. Whether there is space to stay over, which for family travelling in is the question behind the question.
What changes for this one
Restrained and warm rather than seasonal-decorative. The two times, arrival and dinner, are set as a pair because that is the information a guest is actually planning around. If there is an overnight offer, it gets its own line rather than being folded into a paragraph.
When to send
Three to four weeks out, which is before people book travel. If family are flying, six weeks, since Thanksgiving flights price up sharply and late notice has a real cost for your guests.
Colours that work
Chestnut and cream, deep olive, or oxblood with bone. Warm and grown-up. The autumn-leaf clip-art register is the one thing to avoid here.
Questions people ask about thanksgiving invitations
Is an invitation for Thanksgiving overkill?
For the years when nothing has changed, maybe. For a first year hosting, or a year when the arrangement is different, it does a lot of quiet work that a group chat cannot.
How do we word a year when the usual host has died?
Plainly and warmly. "We would like to keep it going, at ours this year." No explanation is required on an invitation, and every family member reading it already knows.
Should we give an arrival time and a dinner time?
Yes, both. The gap between them is the part of the day people are actually planning around, and giving one time only means everyone guesses differently.
Can it be digital?
Yes, and for family spread across states it is usually the practical choice. A printed card is worth it in a year that is a milestone.
3,600
US searches a month for thanksgiving invitations, measured rather than guessed. Nearly every page here targets a term almost nobody is defending properly.
- friendsgiving invitation — 5,400/mo
- dinner party invitation — 1,900/mo
How to have this made
Digital and paperless invitations
Designed to be texted, emailed or posted. Not an Evite template.
From $225
Custom invitation design
Designed from nothing for one event. No template underneath.
From $285
Day-of event paper
Menus, place cards, table numbers, programs and signage.
From $95
Start with a First Look
$45 for one finished concept designed for your event, back in three days. It comes off whatever you book, and if you do not love it you keep the file and owe nothing.