DIY Birthday Invitations

Being born in December isn’t always fun since it’s so close to Christmas, but this birth month does have its perks, one of the perks being that you can be extra creative when making birthday invitations due to all of the Christmas-themed products! The days leading up to the holiday season can be boring, so this year I thought to myself, “Why not get a little crafty during those cold nights?” Making invitations is fun, easy, customizable, and–more importantly—personable! I, for one, would definitely be more inclined to go to the party if the invite was handmade. Plus, there’s something exciting about going to various stores, from dollar stores to high-end arts and crafts stores and seeing what you can find to create your cards with. The leftover supplies could go to future birthdays or even for making various holiday cards.

The simplicity of designing the invites is refreshing; I’m surprised that more people don’t do it. Making invitations is really a three-step process: First, find the surface you want to create the invitations on, whether it’s paper, cardboard, or flattened and baked clay. Then decorate it with stamps, glitter, rhinestones, lace, ribbons, or any other embellishment that you find attractive—they’re there to represent the spirit of your birthday, after all! Finally, write a welcoming, personal message to each person you’re inviting, including the date, time, place, and RSVP information, if needed.

Birthday Invitations Know No Age

If I were to choose my favorite part of creating an invitation, it would be the customizability allowing for the invites to be made for all occasions and any age. Allow me to walk you through this glorious process! For those of you with children at home, this is something you could easily do together with your kids as a fun family event. If your child’s party is themed, you could theme the card around the theme of the party; for example, a pirate-themed party could have a pirate flag as its card or a fairytale party could have a toadstool or butterfly shaped card—the possibilities and variations are literally endless! If you’re short on ideas, I’m sure your little one would love to be a part of the decision-making process, and it would also keep them that much more entertained while helping you with the cards.

This isn’t only for clever moms, however. Elegance and style could also be portrayed in a more classic approach to the cards—although, this isn’t to say there’s anything wrong with bringing out your inner-child when it comes to your birthday! Just grab some velvety wine-colored ribbon, perhaps some gold spray paint over lace for a glimmering pattern, and your best cursive handwriting. (You may want to practice your cursive beforehand.) Deliver the finished product in a wax-sealed envelope, and you’re sure to catch the eye and impress anyone you deliver it to! I hope I’ve made myself clear: Whether you’re sending out 1st birthday invitations or 50th birthday invitations, you can let out your inner-creativity and let your personality shine within those invitations to make your birthday that much more special.

Extravagant Birthday Invitations Don’t Need to be Pricey

Now, you may be thinking that all of those materials are going to add up to a hefty bill (even though you could just as well use them later). And it might! Depending on where you shop, of course. Either way, if you have a computer and a printer, then you could take it down a notch and not spend a dime! Well, I’m saying this assuming that you already have the printer paper and the ink. Printable birthday invitations, surprisingly enough, are much easier to produce than handmade ones. Naturally, you could go the route of the pre-made online invites and print those out, but where would be the fun in that? Go nuts! The sky’s the limit when you can make it with your PC; you could insert pictures, make digital art, and literally have any font. You could even create a hybrid card, where the text and pattern is printed with a device, but you add embellishments after it has been printed.

Maybe you’re eco-friendly and don’t want to print the invitations or buy paper for the invitations or physically deliver any sort of invitation—that’s fine! I have a plan for you, too. The layout used to print the invitations in the last paragraph could still be used… but e-mail them instead! Imagine that: completely free birthday invitations! You don’t even really need it in card-format in this case; you could have the details on a free website and set up an RSVP list after e-mailing the link to everyone. Alternately, as per the more popular approach today, you could just make a Facebook event and invite everyone in that way. In fact, another approach would be to e-mail the printable birthday invitations to your friends and family and then they could print it at home (if they want your lovely design on their fridge). The moral of the story is that with birthday invitations, there is more than just the store-bought card.

written by Rebecca, birthday December 3rd

Tagged: birthday, do-it-yourself, invitations, invites, Rebecca