When an entertainment is given by a family at some place other than their home, the invitations have the name of the place and the street address put in at the usual place on the invitation, and then in the lower right-hand corner the words "Please reply," with the home address.
A bachelor or widower uses his name alone at the top of the invitation. He will, of course, provide a chaperon, who in many respects takes the place of a hostess and so acts, but her name does not appear upon his invitation, unless she be his sister or near relative. The invitation then becomes a joint one, after the usual form.
A widower with daughters may send out invitations headed in either of the following forms:
_Mr. John Marquand_ _Miss Marquand_ _Miss Estelle Marquand_
_Mr. John Marquand_ _The Misses Marquand_
For a dinner followed by a dance there are two invitations, the one a dinner invitation at an early hour for the favored few, the other a dancing party invitation at a later hour.
Clubs have blanks which may be filled in by their members when they wish to entertain. These are issued in the club name, and are like any other private invitation, except that at the bottom and to the left "Compliments of" is engraved, and the name of the member who is special host is written in.
Invitations containing the words "_Bal Poudre_" signify that the entertainment is a masquerade or fancy dress party, and the guests are expected to come in fancy costume with powdered hair.
The word "ball" is used of an elaborate formal dance, usually a public one given by some club or for charity, and rarely of a private dance.
In spite of the predominance of the engraved invitation for the most formal affairs, still small dinners, and even receptions and dancing parties, are sometimes announced by the handwritten invitations. The form should be the same as the engraved one, although to very intimate friends it should be changed to a friendly note.
Acceptances are in the form of the invitation. If that is an informal note, the acceptance or regret is sent in the same style. If the invitation is formal, the reply also should be written in the third person and be about as follows:
_Mr. and Mrs. Allston B. Sinclair accept with pleasure the kind invitation of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Emanuel Farrington for dinner on Thursday, the ninth of December at half after eight o'clock_