How to Make a Digital Debut Invitation in the Philippines (Free)

A debut invitation has to answer five questions fast: whose 18th it is, when, where, what to wear and how to reply. This guide follows the real steps of the Imbitasyon Ko builder for a debut, so you can see what you fill in, what guests see and what the builder does not do.

What you will find here:

• What to have ready before you start.
• The 8 steps from /create to a shared link.
• What guests see on a debut invitation, including the opening line you cannot change.
• What the Free plan covers.
• Which debut traditions the builder has no section for.

Have this ready first

Only the first three rows are needed to publish. Everything else can be added after the link is out.

What	Where it goes	Needed to publish?
The debutante's nickname	Names & photos step	Yes
Event date, start time and venue name	Date, time & location step	Yes, at least one event
A theme	Theme, colors & fonts step	Yes, one your plan allows
Full name with titles	Names & photos step	No
Parents' names and child number	Names & photos step, under details	No
Address and Google Maps link	Date, time & location step, under details	No
Dress code note and up to 6 motif colors	Dress code step	No
Cover photo and gallery photos	Cover & greeting and Photos steps	No
Co-hosting names and a closing message	Family & closing step	No
Guest names and phone numbers	Manage Guests & Send Invites	No

Step 1: Choose Debut and enter one name

Open /create. Under What are you celebrating?, tap Debut. The name box becomes Debut celebrant's nickname. Type one name, up to 50 characters. There is no date field here; the date comes later in the editor. Tap Continue to themes.

The picker first shows only the free themes. Tap the show-all button to preview the rest. Each preview cover shows the heading THE DEBUT OF above the name you typed. Standard themes need a Standard plan or higher when you publish, but you can design with any of them.

The demo invitations on the themes page are wedding examples, so use the cover previews in /create to judge how your debut heading will look. There is no debut category. Filter the themes page by what matters for a debut instead:

Filter on the themes page	Options
Category	Catholic Elegant, Rustic & Boho, Beach & Destination, Filipiniana, Garden Floral, Modern Minimal
Color	Gold, Red, Pink, Green, Blue, Purple, Brown, Neutral
Plan	Free, Standard, Premium
Tone	Light, Dark

More on picking a look: how to choose a wedding invitation theme.

Step 2: Sign in to save

Tick the box that agrees to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, then continue with Google or ask for a 6-digit code by email. The code is valid for 10 minutes; check Spam or Promotions if it does not arrive. Nothing is saved on the server until you sign in. Your invitation is then created and the editor opens with the name and theme already filled in.

Step 3: Fill in the celebrant details

The first editor step is Names & photos, titled Who's the debut for?. Upload a photo, which shows as a circle, and add a full name if you want one. Open Add details to enter the father's and mother's names and a child number.

Guests see a line under the name only when you enter at least one parent. It reads Child of followed by the parents; with a child number it becomes, for example, First child of or Second child of. The builder adds Mr. and Mrs. in front of the names you type, so enter them without titles, and tick the deceased box for a parent who has passed away to show "the late" before the title. The line says "child" for every debut, never "daughter".

Step 4: Add the date, time and venue

Open Date, time & location. A new debut invitation has no event yet, so tap + Debut. The other button, + Other Event, adds a second event for a separate venue or time.

Event field	Required?	Notes
Event name	Yes	Starts as "Debut"; you can rename it
Date	Yes	Starts empty on purpose, so a wrong date is never published by default
Start time	Yes	Starts at 2:00 PM
Venue name	Yes	The place guests will search for
End time	No	Under Add details
Address	No	Under Add details
Google Maps link	No	Without it, guests still get a Google Maps search from the venue name and address
Session label	No	A short label for a time slot
Dress code for this event only	No	Only if it differs from your overall dress code

An event with a missing required field is not saved, and the editor tells you which field is missing. For a full walkthrough of the map link, see how to add a map to your wedding invitation.

Step 5: Set the dress code and motif colors

For a debut, the third step is a Dress Code step instead of an entourage step. It has a free-text note and up to 6 motif colors, which guests see as swatches under a Dress Code heading. The field's own example reads "Semi-formal attire. We'd love to see you in our motif colors." For ways to word it, see the wedding dress code guide.

Step 6: Add the cover photo and the optional extras

In Cover & greeting, upload a cover photo, then drag it to reposition and use the slider to zoom. The gallery in Photos is separate from the cover. In Family & closing, list co-hosts one name per line under Also inviting, and replace the standard closing text with your own message if you like.

What guests see

Part of the page	What a debut invitation shows	Can you change it?
Cover heading	The Debut of, above the name	No
Opening line	Please be our guest as we celebrate the debut of:	No
Name section	One celebrant: nickname, full name, photo and the Child of line	Yes
Event card	Name, date, time, venue and a map button	Yes
Dress Code	Your note and motif swatches	Yes
RSVP	Name, whether attending, number of guests, and wishes	Fixed form
Closing	Standard closing text or your own message, plus Also inviting names	Yes

The editor shows the opening line as read-only text labelled "set by the type of celebration". It is adapted from a sample on the page of Invitations by Dianne Tan + Design Studio, a Philippine invitation studio, which gives this line:

"Please be our guest as we celebrate the 18th Birthday of (girl’s name)" — Invitations by Dianne Tan + Design Studio, "Debut 18th Birthday Invitation Wording Samples"

Imbitasyon Ko replaces "18th Birthday" with "debut" because the builder has no age field.

Step 7: Preview and publish

The editor shows a live preview beside the form. There is also a private preview link for you and family to check before publishing; do not send that one to guests. Check the spelling of the name, the date and the map button on your phone.

Choose the invitation address (lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, 3 to 40 characters) and publish. The address can be changed only once after publishing. Publishing needs the celebrant's name, one saved event with a date and venue, and a theme your plan allows. If the theme is locked, the editor tells you to pick a free theme or upgrade.

Step 8: Share and track replies

On Publish & share, tap Share invitation to open your phone's share sheet. On a browser without one, the button copies the link instead. You can also tap Copy invitation message and paste it into Messenger, Viber or SMS. Guests need no app or account.

To see who opened it, open Manage Guests & Send Invites. Add guests one by one, many at once with one name per line, or import a CSV with the columns name, group, phone and persons. Then send each guest a personal link one at a time by SMS, Viber or WhatsApp. For a guest with no phone number, copy the message and paste it into Messenger. When a guest replies by text or call, record the answer yourself so it counts in the summary. More on sending: how to share your digital invitation.

To decide how many people each guest can reply for, set a limit per guest: the Max persons box when you add a guest, or the persons column in the CSV. It can be 1 to 10, and is 2 if you do not set it. On a guest's personal link, the number-of-guests menu in the RSVP form stops at that limit. A link opened without a guest's name offers up to 4.

Ceremo's debut guide gives these timing and reply practices:

• Set the RSVP deadline 4 to 6 weeks before the event.
• Follow up once "at the 2-week mark." The guide does not say whether that means two weeks before the event or before the deadline, so check it against your own dates.
• Pair the link with a printed card for grandparents.

Debut traditions you may want to mention

Wikipedia's article on the Philippine debut describes the traditions below. It is a general encyclopedia rather than a Philippine news or cultural source, so confirm what your own family plans.

Tradition	What Wikipedia says
18 Roses	"18 or 9 male relatives or close friends" chosen by the debutante for her court; they also take part in the 18 Roses Dance
18 Candles	"18 or 9 female relatives or close friends" chosen for her court; they typically give speeches about her and light a candle
18 Treasures	Modern debuts typically feature 18 individuals, male or female, who each present her with a gift; the group is of mixed gender
Grand Cotillion Dance	Described as the most important dance a debutante performs, often a waltz, danced by her and select members of her party

What the builder does not do for a debut

Ceremo's debut guide says that if your celebration includes 18 Roses, 18 Candles or 18 Treasures, "the invitation should mention it." Imbitasyon Ko has no section for that, so plan around these gaps:

Debut need	What the builder offers	What you can do
A list of 18 Roses, 18 Candles, 18 Treasures or cotillion participants	No section; the entourage section is for weddings and is hidden on a debut	Describe the program in your closing message and message participants separately
Your own opening line or cover heading	Fixed by the type of celebration	Nothing; the rest of the page is editable
A "Daughter of" parents line	Reads "Child of"	Nothing; the wording is fixed
An RSVP deadline field	None	Put the reply-by date in your closing message and in the message you send
Debut-specific themes	None; the demos are weddings	Filter by color and tone
A separate page for the court	One page for every guest	Send them a personal link plus your own message

Which plan do you need?

All plans are one-time payments per invitation, not subscriptions. Free stays online with no time limit. See pricing and free digital wedding invitations for the details.

Plan	Price	Themes	Personal guest links	Gallery photos	Also includes
Free	₱0	Free themes only	20	2	A small watermark band on the published page
Standard	₱499	Free and Standard themes	Unlimited	15	Background music, gift details section, no watermark
Premium	₱999	All themes	Unlimited	30	Gallery video cover, livestream link, QR check-in, custom domain

Free is enough to build, preview and publish a debut invitation. Guests can still open a published link without a personal link; the limit on Free is the number of guests you can give a personal link.

Before you send it

• Open the invitation on a phone and tap the map button.
• Read the name, date and venue aloud once; the proofreading checklist applies to any invitation.
• Put your reply-by date in the message you send, since the page has no deadline field.
• If some guests will want a card in hand, compare options in digital vs printed invitations.

Start with the name, one Debut event and a theme. Everything else can wait until the link is out.