Dinner invitations are issued in the joint names of host and hostess.
The master of the house occupies a prominent position amongst his guests, when dispensing hospitality as a "dinner giver."
From five to ten days' notice is considered sufficient for invitations to small and unceremonious dinner-parties.
Printed cards are in general use in town for issuing dinner invitations, and can be purchased from any stationer; these cards only require to be filled in with the names of host and hostess and guests, date, hour, and address. The united names of the host and hostess should be written in the space left for that purpose. Thus, "Mr. and Mrs. A.," and the name or names of the guests in the next vacant space.
When invitations are issued for small dinner-parties, it is more usual to write notes than to make use of printed cards.
Acceptances or refusals of dinner invitations should be sent with as little delay as possible after the invitations have been received. It is a want of courtesy on the part of a person invited not to do so, as a hostess is otherwise left in doubt as to whether the person invited intends dining with her or not, and is consequently unable to fill up the vacant place with an eligible substitute; thus rendering her dinner-party an ill-assorted one.
An answer to an invitation cannot be solicited in a subsequent note; it is therefore incumbent upon the invited person to dispatch an answer within a day or two at least. Dinner invitations are either sent by post or by a servant, and the answers are also conveyed in a like manner.
Dinner invitations are invariably sent out by the hostess.
It is not usual in town to invite more than three members of one family; it is now the custom to ask young ladies with their parents to dinner-parties.