Adding a countdown and an add to calendar link to a digital invitation
Vishra, Vishful Studio. . About 5 minutes to read.
Two small links do a lot of quiet work on a digital invitation. One counts down to the day. The other puts the party in a guest’s calendar with the time and address already filled in. Both take about five minutes.
Why bother
Most people decide whether they are coming while looking at the invitation, and then forget the details. A calendar link turns “I’ll remember” into an entry with a reminder. A countdown gives guests a reason to open the invitation again, which is when they notice the reply-by date.
The countdown link
- Open the countdown link maker. Go to the countdown link maker. Nothing to sign up for.
- Enter the date, start time and time zone of the event. Use the time zone where the party happens, not where you are. A guest flying in will then see the right number of hours on the day.
- Write the message for when it starts. This replaces the numbers once the countdown reaches zero. Something short works best.
- Match the colours to your invitation. Pick the background, numbers and labels so the countdown looks like part of the design rather than a sticker on top of it.
- Copy the link. The date and colours live inside the link itself, so there is no account and nothing to keep running.
Putting it in a Canva website
In your Website design, open Apps, search for Embeds, paste the countdown link and choose Add to design. Then drag it into place and publish again. Canva notes that not every link can be embedded, so if yours is not accepted, add a button that says “Days to go” and link the button to the countdown instead. It is one extra tap for guests, and it always works.
The add to calendar link
- Open the calendar link tool. Go to add to calendar links.
- Fill in the event. Title, date, start and end time, time zone, location and a line of details. Write the title the way a guest would want to see it in their calendar, such as “Juniper’s first birthday”, not “Party”.
- Put the full street address in the location. Calendar apps can turn an address into a map link. A venue name alone often cannot be found.
- Copy the links you need. You get a Google Calendar link, Outlook.com and Office 365 links, and an .ics file that Apple Calendar and most other calendar apps can open.
Where each one goes
- On a Canva website: two buttons are enough, “Add to Google Calendar” and “Add to Outlook”, each linked to its own link. Apple Calendar users are best served by the .ics file, so send it with your text or email and say so on the page.
- In a text or email: paste the Google link and attach the .ics file. Phones usually offer to add an attached .ics straight to the calendar.
- On a printed card: a calendar link is too long to type, so print a QR code that points to your invitation website instead, and put the calendar buttons there. The QR code maker helps with print size.
If you set the event in your own time zone while the party is somewhere else, every calendar link will be off by the difference. Always pick the zone of the venue. Then open your own link once and check the time shown matches the card.
A quick test before you send
- Tap the Google link on a phone. The event should open with the title, time and address filled in.
- Open the .ics file on an iPhone or Mac. Apple Calendar should offer to add it at the right local time.
- Open the countdown link on your phone and on a computer. The number of days should match on both.
- Change nothing after testing without testing again. A new date means new links.
If the plan changes
Calendar links are copies, not subscriptions. Guests who already added the event will keep the old time, so if the date or time moves, tell people directly and send fresh links. A countdown link has the date inside it too, so make a new one and replace the old link or embed in your design, then publish again.
Not sure how to publish the website these links live on? Start with publishing a Canva invitation as a website.