Emailing your invitation is not only free, but it gives you the advantage of tracking who you have invited, who has RSVP’ed, and who you will need to follow up with. This will also give you a chance to personalize your invitation with information about your program – where it’s located, how many children are being served, activities provided, etc. 

Send an email invitation using your own email system, or using an electronic invitation service such as evite.com. The advantage of your email system is that you can get rsvps right in your inbox without checking an outside service; the advantage of a service like evite is that all of the event rsvps are tracked for you in one place, so they won’t clog your inbox or slip through the cracks if you happen to miss it. You can also use more graphics in your email invitation.

From your email – Keep it short and sweet with one or two nice but simple color graphics (too many graphics will make your email large, and some people may not receive it). Use our email header below. Try to make it brief enough that readers will see most of the information in their email preview screen. 

SAMPLE:

Subject: Come Celebrate Lights On Afterschool Oct XX

YOU’RE INVITED TO A CELEBRATION!!

Join [organization/program name] and the Afterschool Alliance to celebrate the importance of afterschool programs on [date]!

Lights On Afterschool!

In communities today, 15.1 million children take care of themselves after the school day ends. Afterschool programs keep kids safe, help working families and inspire learning. Join us, along with 7,500+ afterschool programs nationwide, in celebrating our afterschool programs. 

• Who: [Lucky Kids Afterschool Program]

• What: [An open house event with food, fun and entertainment]

• When: [Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 – 3 pm until 5pm]

• Where: [Johnson Elementary School, 1234 Main Street]

• Why: [Come and experience first hand what fantastic activities the Lucky Kids Afterschool program is providing the youth of Johnson Elementary. The children will showcase their talents for art, dance and reading by providing participants with an art show of recent projects completed in the afterschool program; provide a talent show featuring African dance and ballroom dance; and read original stories entitled “What Lucky Kids Has Done for Me”.]

• RSVP: [If you want people to rsvp for the event, be sure to tell them how and by what deadline]

[Lucky Kids] would like to thank the following for making this event a great success!

[Corner Pizza Store]
[ABC Party Supplies]

Consider using photos from your program, past events or artwork by afterschool students. (NOTE: typically art files must be either a .JPG or .GIF format with maximum size 500 KB).