No, haven't tried a redirect code, but like you mention, I have a feeling it will prevent them from being able to access their profile.

Whatever is in the "activate your account" email is hard coded to go to the welcome page, which is where I want ppl to go after login...the only clue I have is the first line of code... {if $welcome eq "1"} located in invite_frients.tpl

I'm thinking the "if" statement needs to put into the login.tpl somewhere with something like {if $welcome eq "0"} and somehow make it go to invite_friends.tpl? I still think the redirect is hard coded into the login.php which we don't have access to since it's zend coded...