Bonsai Workshop RSVP Website: Tree Counts, a Bench Cap, and a Tool Line

A bonsai workshop breaks when the nursery pulled six starter trees and eight people are waiting at the bench, or when a maybe arrives after the pots are filled and expects a juniper that was never ordered. Trees, the bench each person gets, and the tools on the tray are set before the first cut. The nursery does not pot another tree because a friend decided to come after the greenhouse list closed. A maybe does not hold a tree.

You can create a bonsai workshop RSVP that fills the benches the nursery will run for your group, records who will work a tree, and stops when those benches are full.

Ask what the nursery will actually pot

Call the nursery before you send the link. Write down how many benches they will set, how long the session is, which tree is included, and which tools are on the tray. If they will run six benches for two hours, with one nursery juniper in a training pot, about 8 inches tall, plus shears, aluminum wire, and a concave cutter, those numbers are your cap.

A bench is one person working one tree. Ask whether a friend who will not cut can sit in the room, and whether that person still counts toward the room limit. Pick one rule and write it on the page. Watching is not a second tree.

Ask the price, whether the finished pot is included, and the last time you can cut the count without paying for trees the nursery already pulled. If they charge for a no-show after that time, print that rule on the page. Write the pot, a 6-inch oval the nursery supplies, so a guest does not arrive with a ceramic bowl the instructor will not use.

Set a capacity limit on people who will work a tree, not on everyone who was invited. When the sixth bench is taken, the form should say the session is full. If the nursery has already tagged six junipers, a late friend is not in this session.

The tool line is a list, not a wish

Ask the instructor which tools a beginner may use and which stay in the drawer. Put that list on the page in plain words. Each person confirms they will use only those tools. A carving knife, a power tool, or a request for a fifty-year pine should not appear on the form.

People who want a different species, a forest planting, or their own sick tree should not take a beginner bench. You need a yes to this juniper and these three tools before the nursery pulls plants. Write the species and the size next to the question.

Standing, soil, and a bench that fits

The work is standing at a bench for most of two hours, with wet soil and wire that bites if it is pulled the wrong way. Ask about access needs the nursery can actually meet: a lower bench for someone who cannot stand the full session, if they have one, or a chair at the end of the bench. If every station is standing height and there is no lower bench, say that on the page before anyone claims a tree.

Closed-toe shoes and sleeves that can get dirty are part of the same yes. Ask the nursery's age minimum and write it next to the question. A younger guest does not share a parent's tree or their shears.

Collect an arrival window that matches the session, not a vague afternoon. The window might be 1:40 to 1:50 for a 2:00 start. Write the clock time and what happens if someone is later than that: the bench goes to a standby who is already in the room, or it sits empty and the late person does not get a tree.

The moment the tree list is locked

The meeting point is the workshop door the instructor named. Put the host's phone on the page for the person holding the booking. A screenshot of the invite is not a tree assignment. The instructor matches names to the six tagged junipers.

If you allow a guest, that person needs their own tree line, their own tool-line answer, and their own arrival window. Track them as a separate yes. One form that hides an extra worker will blow the nursery's cap. Say that on the page. A partner who picks up shears is a second bench.

Tie your RSVP deadline to the nursery's final count, the day they pull trees and will not put them back. A common lock is five days before the session. After that, a late yes is a call about a cancellation, not a promise of another juniper. If you want names ready when someone drops, keep them as standbys and tell them they do not have a tree until you write back. A maybe does not hold a tree.

Export the list the morning you lock: attending or not, tree size, tool line, party size, arrival window, access note the nursery agreed to, and phone. A bonsai RSVP is finished when every bench has a named person, the tree matches a pot the nursery already filled, and a late arrival knows whether they are wiring or going home.