Using the Internet to Manage Event Invitations

After nearly 10 years of being the only Web site providing electronic invitations, Evite is finally getting some competition! MyPunchbowl emerged in January 2007, with the same free service, fewer ads and some features Evite is lacking.

In The Wall Street Journal article, “Invite Sites Help Start a Party”, Katherine Boehert compares Evite and MyPunchbowl to see which provides the better service.

MyPunchbowl boasts a message board, the ability to give VIP status to certain guests, better control over guest responses and the capacity to swiftly add and share Google maps and YouTube videos.

Evite has responded to its competition by planning on introducing an online and mobile part-supply store, animated versions of its invitations and collaboration with Hotels.com. Evite also has 800 invite templates, whereas the newer MyPunchbowl only has 100.

According to Boehret, other drawbacks to MyPunchbowl are its lack of various fonts and colors, an obscurely placed preview button and limited guest response options—all of which are available on Evite.

While Boehret concedes both Web sites need more variety and improvements to make their invitations both hip and easy to use, MyPunchbowl appears to provide the most potential.