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" Last year, you invited all your daughter&amp;#039;s classmates to her birthday party, and the invitations clearly stated RSVP. Only a fraction of her classmates&amp;#039; parents responded, and many kids showed up unexpectedly! You ended up short on birthday cake -- and some children didn&amp;#039;t get goodie bags. What should you do this year?  1) Forget the party and just take your daughter and a few friends out for pizza. 2) Include the RSVP in your invitations and call those who don&amp;#039;t reply to ensure a more accurate head count. 3) Order a larger cake and get enough goodie bags for every child you invite. The correct answer: (2) The failure of people to respond to RSVP is one of the most frequent complaints I hear. The obligation implied by an RSVP is specific: Please reply -- whether you&amp;#039;re accepting the invitation or declining. If your daughter has her heart set on a big party and you&amp;#039;d like to give it to her, invite her classmates (though you both may find that a smaller gathering is more enjoyable and easier to manage). If parents fail to RSVP, get on the phone. You can politely say: &amp;quot;We hadn&amp;#039;t heard from you, and I&amp;#039;m putting together a final count for the party. We hope Sarah will be joining us.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/q-and-a/a21127/rsvp-no-reply-mar06/>