directions for travelers
If you're inviting house guests who don't come by car, be sure to enclose time tables and say you'll meet the train or bus they choose. If they come by car for the first time, write explicit directions for finding your house, and suggest that they telephone you at once if they get lost, so you can rescue them.

your own map
If you live in real country, without sufficient road signs or easily identifiable landmarks and you have motor-borne guests, it's not only worthwhile, but essential to send a clear map. One attractive way is to have post cards printed with a map of the immediate neighborhood, starring your house. Whether this is an elaborate job in color with your own fine art work on it, or printed inexpensively on one of Uncle Sam's best postal cards, the purpose is to be helpful to your guests, and it's another instance where cost bears no relation to good entertaining.

telephoned invitations
Invitations by telephone are the most common kind nowadays. It's easier for most of us to convey our eagerness to entertain prospective guests by warmth of voice than it is to get that feeling into words on paper.

don'ts
But there are don'ts and pitfalls to avoid. Never telephone a friend or acquaintance to ask him to a party and start by saying: "Are you doing anything next Saturday night?" or however you may put such a question. In the first place, if you pause to think about it, whether or not he's doing anything is certainly not your affair. In the second place, if you want to invite him to do something, begin with that, so he knows where he is and can accept or decline as his inclination or previous en­gagements dictate. If you call and the lady or gentleman to whom you wish to give the invitation is not home, don't ask to have the call re­turned. Find out to whom you're speaking, and, if you can trust that person to give a message, ask to have Mr. and Mrs. Whatever informed that you would be delighted to have them come to dinner at seven next Saturday night, and will Mrs. Whatever please let you know whether they can? If you're talking to a small child or someone else who is likely to get the message wrong, to try to learn when the Whatevers will be in and call them then.

do's
When you get the person you want to invite on the telephone, start by saying, in your own words, as cordially as you know how: "Could you and Jim (or you and Mr. Whatever, if you're on a last-name basis) come to dinner next Saturday night?" If they can't, say you're sorry. If they can, tell them when you'd like them to appear and just how formal the occasion will be.