Should the age be on the invitation?

Yes, and it helps more than it seems: the age is what tells people what present to buy and what to expect from the party. On a children's invitation the number is usually the centrepiece of the design.

How do I ask people not to bring siblings without sounding rude?

By saying how many seats there are, not who cannot come. "We have room for the birthday guest and one adult" reads clearly and offends nobody. With one link per family the number is written into the invitation itself, so it never has to be repeated.

Is a gift registry appropriate for a kids' birthday?

It can be, and it is not frowned upon when it reads as a suggestion rather than an obligation. An alternative that works better with children: name the party theme or what the birthday child is into, and let people decide.

What to put on a birthday invitation

2 min readUpdated August 20, 2026

An invitation works when nobody has to ask anything afterwards. It comes down to seven details, and three of them are the ones almost always left out: the end time, whether parents stay, and what to do about siblings.

The four everybody includes

Whose birthday it is and which one, the date, the time, and the place. Two things slip even when they are included: the age matters — it decides what present people buy — and the place needs the full street address, not the name of the venue. "Sunflower Hall" forces a search; a street and number with a map does not.

The three that get forgotten

These are the ones behind every message you get the next day:

The end time. "4 to 7" answers the question you will be asked the most.
Whether parents stay or drop off. It changes the food you need to prepare entirely.
Whether siblings are invited. It decides whether you are expecting twenty children or thirty-five.

What to add, depending on the party

Not everything applies every time, and an invitation with fifteen lines does not get read. Add only what changes something: the theme or costume if there is one, whether there is a pool — which means swimsuit and towel — anything you are asking for as a gift, and how to flag an allergy.

How to ask for a reply

Give a deadline and one single way to answer. "Please reply by the 8th" works; "let me know if you're coming" gets ignored because there is nothing to do at that moment. If the invitation has a reply button, the path is already solved: one tap and it is recorded.