Hot Pot Party RSVP Website: Burner Seats, Broth, and a Protein Order

A hot pot party breaks when eight people share two burners that seat four, or when you sliced a tray of beef for guests who do not eat beef. Broth, meat, and vegetables are bought before the night, in amounts that match seats, not invites. A maybe does not hold a pot.

You can create a hot pot party RSVP that fills burner seats, splits broth and protein, and stops when the table is full.

Count burners before you count friends

A pot is not a table. Most home burners and restaurant tables seat four to six people per pot, and a second pot is a second burner, a second outlet, and a second batch of broth. Before you send the link, write down how many pots you will actually run, how many seats each pot has, and whether children count as seats. A toddler on a lap may still need a bowl. A teenager with their own chopsticks always does.

If you booked a restaurant, ask their table maximum, whether they require a set menu, and the last time you can change the headcount. If you are hosting at home, count outlets and whether two burners will trip a breaker. That count is your cap. Do not invite a number the stove cannot feed.

Set a capacity limit on people who will sit at a pot, not on everyone who was invited. When the last seat is taken, the form should say the table is full. If you can add a pot only by borrowing a burner before a clock time, print that time on the page.

Broth, protein, and who cannot share a pot

Hot pot fails on shared broth more often than on empty chairs. A spicy pot and a mild pot are two different batches. A seafood broth is not a mild pot for someone with a shellfish allergy. Ask which broths you will make, and do not offer a choice you will not cook.

Ask each person:

Which broth they will sit with, from the list you are actually making

Which proteins they will eat, in plain items such as beef, pork, chicken, tofu, shrimp, fish balls, or none of these

Not attending is a no, not a maybe that holds a seat until you are already at the store

Collect a dietary line with severity next to those choices. "No pork" and "a shared sesame oil will send me to urgent care" are not the same note. Ask whether they can share a pot with an ingredient they do not eat, or whether that ingredient makes the whole broth unusable. If someone cannot share, they need their own pot or they need a no. Do not seat them at a pot you already promised to someone else.

Who sits where

If you have more than one pot, collect a seating note that is specific: which household wants to sit together, and who must not share a broth. Seat from the broth rules first. Friendship is the second pass. A preference is not a promise if it breaks the allergy split.

Ask who is comfortable cooking raw meat at the table and who wants you to keep a separate plate of cooked items. Say if children will be at a pot with a live burner, and ask for an adult at that seat. Do not leave that as a surprise when the broth starts to boil.

Shop from the yes list, then lock it

Buy protein by portion, not by "a little extra." A half pound per adult of the items they named is a starting point you can adjust after you know the count. Vegetables and noodles stretch. Meat and shrimp do not, and they are the cost that hurts when maybes become nos at the door. Put the deadline on the page as the day you shop, and say that a yes after that day is a call, not a seat.

If people are bringing a side, name the side and the amount. An unnamed "I'll bring something" does not replace a tray of tofu you needed. Ask for a phone number in case a burner fails and you move the start.

Sauces are a second menu. Chili crisp, sesame oil, and soy sauce are not free additions if someone at the table named them as a problem. Put the sauces you will set out on the page, and ask people to flag one they cannot have near their bowl. A sauce on the side is fine only when they said a shared bottle is fine. If they said it is not, give that seat its own spoon and say so in the export.

Ask whether anyone is leaving early and will not eat a full portion. A half portion is still a seat if they take a chair for the first hour, but it changes how much beef you slice. Write the portion next to the name. Do not average the table into one number and hope.

Export the list the day you shop: seat or not, broth, proteins, dietary line and severity, who they should sit with, and phone. A hot pot party RSVP is finished when every seat has a pot that person can eat from, the protein order matches those seats, and you are not slicing meat for a maybe.