Letter Inviting Your Friend to Your Birthday Party

An invitation letter must carry the practical facts or it fails whatever else it does well: the occasion, the date, the time, the place and how to get there. Put them in the first body paragraph, add a line about who else is coming, and close by saying you will be disappointed if your friend cannot make it.

The question: Write a letter inviting your friend to your birthday party.

The format

Put the five facts in the first paragraph

An invitation is judged first on whether it could be acted on. Occasion, date, time, place and directions all belong in the opening paragraph, ahead of anything warm.

• Give the day and the date, not just the day.
• Give a start time and an end time.
• Add directions if the place is not obvious.
• 🚨 Read the finished letter once looking only for these five.

Use the middle paragraph to persuade

Once the facts are down, say who is coming and what will happen. This is what actually makes your friend want to come, and it is the paragraph most invitations leave out.

• Name a few of the people.
• One concrete detail about the food or the music beats a general promise of enjoyment.

Ask for a reply, with a reason

Close by asking your friend to confirm either way so that you know how many to expect. It ends the letter properly and shows you understand what an invitation is for.

Model answer

Model answer (about 160 words)

Shantinagar, Dhaka

5 September 2026

Dear Mim,

I am turning seventeen on Friday and my parents have finally agreed to a proper party, so consider this your invitation. It is on Friday 18 September at our house in Shantinagar, from four in the afternoon until about eight. If you come by bus, get down at the mosque and take the second lane on the left — the green gate.

It will be a small crowd, about fifteen of us: everyone from our old batch, my cousins from Cumilla and two of my father's colleagues' children whom you have not met. My mother is cooking, which means far too much food, and my uncle has promised to bring his speakers, which means far too much noise. We are going to eat at six so nobody has to leave hungry.

It will not be the same without you, so please try. Send me a line either way so I know how many to expect. Give my regards to your parents.

Yours ever,

Adiba

What earns and loses marks

• Check the facts before you check the prose. An invitation missing the date, the time or the place loses marks no matter how warmly it is written — read your answer once looking only for those three.
• Length is not the point — a letter of about 150 words that does the four parts properly beats a rambling 300-word one.
• Keep the tense consistent: a letter about something that happened stays in the past, a letter about a plan stays in the future.
• Ask at least one question of your friend, so the letter reads as one half of a conversation rather than a speech.
• Leave a clear blank line between paragraphs — layout marks are given for what the examiner can see at a glance.

Mistakes to avoid

• ✗ I am inviting you to my birthday party. Please come. I will be very happy. ✓ It is on Friday 18 September at our house in Shantinagar, from four until about eight. — an invitation without details is not an invitation