Old Fashioned, Out of Date, or just Rude?

So this one's about the good 'ol RSVP... You know, we all get those invites and the person has kindly asked for your to respond by such and such date.. That's snail mail version. Then there's the lightning quick online version where you simply have to push a button, yet NO ONE DOES!

Now guilty as charged... I have Definitely!! skipped out on some RSVP's and still attended the gathering (albeit, a bit sheepish at first, because I know I didn't tell the host I'd be there). We've all done that... but I am starting to realize how incredibly inconvenient I am being. Because I have finally realized this, I have worked really hard to actually RSVP for events and in a timely fashion (as in, by the time they ask me to respond).

Here's why this topic came up today....

My wonderful husband wanted to do something nice for my birthday this past weekend. From what I have gathered, he sent out a nice little invite via facebook to our friends. Not sure how large he extended the invite but I expect that roughly 20 people were likely invited (all the usual suspects). He asked people to let him know if they'd be attending and I *believe* he told them that food was involved. Now Chris did this and waited.... he apparently received a reply of about 3 people saying yay or nay... no one else responded... What did this lead my amazing husband to do? Buy enough food to feed them all, if they all showed up.... He'd never let a person go hungry!

As a result, I have enough pizza toppings in my fridge to make like 20 more pizzas! Granted, even for the amount of people invited, he probably overbought, but still! He didn't know whether or not people were coming, so he decided he better be prepared. Luckily, the toppings are pretty versatile and I ate them in some version or another at every meal today (omlette, salad, and stir fried). Is it too much to ask that people respond a simple yes or no... It can't get much easier when we're using social networking people... accept or decline.... Sorry for the rant

Please see comment above that I have rather recently come to the harsh realization of the inconvenience that I impose by not replying, so please take this as a lesson learned... just reply for goodness sake...

All that aside, the day was nice starting out with celebrating a different friend's upcoming wedding. Then having people over to my house for barbecued pizza and red velvet cake. Yummy! Wish the weather was nicer, we could have been outside. All in all, it was a great day, but it just got me to thinking about whether or not people really think about the impact these responses can have. They are obviously for planning purposes so that people don't end up with pizza toppings bursting out of the fridge!

When you're event planning do you hope for a response, plan based on it, or do you just expect that people won't respond and plan for enough people that you invited? Are we just a generation of people that won't expect it?...

**P.S.- for those friends that do read my blog :) If you're reading this thinking, whoops, I'm one of those people that Jenni is ranting about... no harm, no foul, just know for next time :) Or make up for it, by giving me creative ideas for my pizza toppings.... And if you're one of the friends that DID respond to Chris, give yourself a pat on the back... (go ahead no one's looking, you can do it :)