Throwing a Party? 9 Free Online Invitation Websites

December 14, 2009 by Andrew G.R. | Comments

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You mean people still actually get together? I thought all human interaction was moved online! If you still like the company of other two-legged mammals, and are thinking of having a New Year’s Eve party, there are several great Websites that allow you to invite your guests.

Planning a party is hard work. From music to snacks to drinks, you’ll have plenty to do – so invitations should be the last of your worries.

Evite – Evite has been the default party invitation service for years, and it’s terrible. The invitation does not have the address of the party, forcing you to click on the site, where you are bombarded by ads. What else is out there?

Pingg - Puts all the info you need in beautifully designed emails, and lets you RSVP directly from the website. For a few bucks you can send postcards or even text messages to your guests as well. Easy to use, good looking site.

mypunch MyPunchBowl – A clean site that gives you all the basic functionality and allows you to text invites. The cool feature is that yo can let the guests vote on the start time and see how they respond. If 10pm gets more votes than 9pm, you know when to start the party. You can also upload photos and send them around afterward as an after party feature. Depending on the party hijinks this may or may not be a good idea for you.

Shindigg (beta) – Allows text message invites, after party photo sharing and gives each party it’s own site. You can also link to photos from Flickr, MySpace or anyplace else.

Socializr – Founded by the guy who started Friendster, Socializr brings the 2.0 to party planning. Has all the features others do, plus allows you to publish and share party info on Facebook, Yelp and other social networking sites, allows contact importing from all big email services and gives users the option of customized URLs.

PurpleTrail – Gives the basic functionality of the others and allows you to send printed invitations for a small fee, either through them or by printing them at home. Unlike some of the others which have google ads on their free versions, PurpleTrail is ad free.

Crusher – If you are a committment-phobe who can’t be bothered with signing up for Websites, Crusher is for you. Keep an open guest list, poll friends for information and design custom announcements – all without ever parting with your e-mail address.

Smilebox - Unlimited photo uploads and custom skins will bring you one step closer to bringing your online friends offline. Create unique groups and seek out ‘partygoers’ with similar interests.