Many years ago I switched to printing my own cards and invitations. I am all about Printable Invites! I have three children, and whether it’s my grade school son, my middle school daughter, or my high school daughter, I am custom making age-appropriate printable invitations. It is not just more economical, but it saves time and let’s you say the things you want to say.
What I woule like to do is share with your 3 Tips for creating better, more memorable, and fun invitations for birthdays, parties, showers, or whatever fun you’re planning to have. These are also good tips if you are printing birthday cards, Valentine cards, or anything else. It’s a lot of fun, and I now prefer my own printable invites over anything I could find at the store. So, let’s get started.
Printable Invites Tip #1 – If you want quality and you plan on doing this more than one time, then get a software program that is designed to print cards and invitations. I use Fun Printable Cards. I have used them for the last couple of years, and it is better than the other programs I have tried. It fits all holidays and events, and it creates some of the cutest things that I continue to compliments on today. Basically, for about the cost of buying cards or invitations for one or two events, you can use Fun Printable Cards.
I sit down at my computer once a month and print all the birthday, anniversary, and holiday cards I am going to need that month. It works out great! I also may need to print out a get well card or thank you card, but over the course of a year, I literally save a couple hundred dollars. I also find that I coorespond more with printing my own than if I had to go out to the store all the time to buy cards.
Basically, don’t try and do it on your own. Don’t open up Word and try and put together some invitation or note. You will rarely be able to do better than Fun Printable Cards. It has so many graphics, borders, frames, and sayings that make the process not only fun, but you really put out some quality material.
Printable Invites Tip #2 – Don’t use regular printer paper. You can, but you won’t be happy with it, and neither will your kids if they have to go handout invitations made on 20lb white paper. Think about it. Just go to Target and browse through their cards. They use quality, thick paper.
If your printer can handle it, use 60lb paper. Get several different colors. Just don’t try and print on too dark of paper. It is hard to read. I like pastels, white, neon, and country colors. Some paper you can find at a store, some you would need to order online. Just remember to use quality paper that makes your cards show that you are creative and take pride in your work.
Printable Invites Tip #3 – Before you begin putting together your invitation on the computer, do it first on paper. It saves me SO much time and redoing things if I have first sketched out what I need and want. After you have used the software a couple of times, you will know exactly where things go, how big of a space you have to work with, and the clipart and designs that are available.
One of the things I began doing is adding extra pieces to my invitations. I would first plan it out on paper, then go into the computer and do the designing, print out my invitations, and then I would add cutout shapes, flowers, sparkles, etc. It made the invitation 3-D. There isn’t an invitation you can buy that looks better than mine.. if I do say so myself.. ha ha.
Seriously, I get compliments all the time from others who like my son’s Batman birthday invitations, or my daughter’s sweet 16 birthday invitations. I enjoy working with Fun Printable Cards and having a lot of fun creating printable invites for my family, and now even for some of my friends.