Crab Feast RSVP Website: Bushels, Shellfish Lines, and Seat Count

A crab feast breaks when you order bushels for the whole invite list instead of for the people who will actually eat crab, or when a shellfish allergy is still a blank on the form the morning the pots go on. Crabs are sold by the bushel, the dozen, or the person, and the seller needs a number before the truck is packed. Corn, potatoes, and a non-crab tray do not shrink because half the table only wanted the corn. A maybe does not feed a table.

You can create a crab feast RSVP that splits crab eaters from everyone else, holds the party to the seats you have, and stops when the feast is full.

Bushels follow crab eaters, not the invite list

Call the seller or the restaurant before you send the link. Write down how they sell crabs for a party, when they need the count, whether seasoning and shrink are included, and what a bushel means in their shop. Do not convert their unit into a guess about how many crabs each person will eat. Ask them how they size an order for a group, and use that method.

Set a capacity limit on seats if the yard, the picnic shelter, or the dining room has one. A crab feast can be full because of tables even when the seller could steam another bushel. When the last seat is taken, the form should say so. If you can add people only by calling the seller before a clock time, print that time on the page.

Ask each person, or each household, to mark food in the seller's categories. A household reply is useful because one adult can say which kids will crack a crab and which kids will not. Every eater still needs a line. A shared "family of four" with no food split is how you over-order crabs and under-order the other tray.

Allergies, kids, and the tray that is not crab

Shellfish is not a preference you can shrug off. Ask who cannot be at a table where crabs are steamed and picked, and ask how serious it is. A severity field is the difference between a guest who will sit upwind and a guest who should not be in the same room as the steam. If someone cannot attend because of that, that is a no for the feast, not a seat you still set with extra napkins.

Ask for a food role:

• Eating crab counts toward the crab order and toward the seat cap

• Eating, no crab counts toward the seat cap and toward the other tray only

• Not attending is a no, not a maybe that holds a dozen until the seller's cutoff

Ask the seller what the non-crab option is. Shrimp is still shellfish. Chicken, corn, and potatoes are not the same order as crabs. If kids are priced differently, put the seller's age line on the page. Do not invent one. A child who will eat two shrimp and an ear of corn should not be counted as a full crab eater, and a teenager who will eat as much as an adult should not be counted as a toddler because they are listed as a kid on the invitation.

Tables, mess, and where people sit

Crabs need a table you can cover, a place for shells, and room to swing a mallet without hitting the next person. Ask how many seats each table you own or rent will really hold once trays, buckets, and drinks are on it. A six-foot table with a bushel in the middle is not six comfortable seats. Count seats after the food is on the table, not from an empty-room photo.

If you are outside, say what happens if you cannot boil or if the seller will not set up in the weather: a covered backup you already reserved, a move indoors, or a cancel. Name who decides and how you will tell people. Old Bay on a menu is not a rain plan.

Ask whether people are bringing a side. If you are, give each dish one owner so you do not get four slaws and no extra ice. Keep that list separate from the crab count. The seller does not need your slaw inventory. You do.

The seller's cutoff

Tie your RSVP deadline to the seller's change deadline, which is often the day before and sometimes earlier for a weekend bushel. After that, a late yes is a call about a cancellation, not a promise of more crabs. If you want names ready when someone drops, keep them as standbys and tell them they do not have a seat or a share of the order until you write back.

Export the list the day you lock: seat, eating crab or not, allergy and severity, child or adult under the seller's rule, side dish if you asked, phone. A crab feast RSVP is finished when the bushel order matches the people who will eat crab, the other tray matches everyone else who is sitting down, and nobody with a serious shellfish problem is discovering the menu at the table.