To begin with, give a thought to the birthday boy or girl and his/her age; after all it would be silly to design a pop up card for anybody over the age of 10. You should also consider his/her likes and dislikes and the theme of the party because the invitation can be based on any of these factors.

For instance, if it is a kiddy party and the highlight of the evening will be a magic show; think about how you can convey this information creatively on your card. Similarly if the beach is the theme of a grown ups party, you need to decide on how you can depict the sand and the sea on your cards.

The next thing to consider would be the number of invites; if you are only inviting a dozen people or kids; get out your scissors, coloring pens and sparkles out along with some magazines and craft paper to make your very own invitations. However, if the figure exceeds twelve, it may be cumbersome to make so many invitation cards and in this case it would be more appropriate to simply download printable card templates in a theme of your choice.

Handmade cards:

You will need to decide on the message that you intend to include in your birthday card so that the size can be chosen appropriately. The information should include what, when, where why, how and why. Start with a catchy line that reflects the mood or the theme of the party; remove any extra words so that the space can be used for decoration

Now, choose the supplies that you will need; there are a myriad of paper types and colors available in the market that can be used to design amazing cards, after the size and the paper has been chosen, cut out the invitation cards and think about the embellishments. You can use pictures to decorate the cards or use your computer to download templates of a specific object, which can then be cut and glued to the cards. Also decide on glitter, beads etc that will add a touch of personality to your cards.

Cards made from birthday invitation templates:

If you are using an invitation template available online, print out several dummy invites in various themes, as folded or single page invitations with the inclusion of any additional images or clip art that you want to insert in the template. You should get what you are looking for in a few attempts; with the design ready, you can the add words to the invitations.

When I am creating invitations, one of my favorite things to do is shop for paper.  There are a few places you can go for this, but the best place to go is to a scrapbooking store. You will find hundreds and hundreds of designs. If you don’t have a scrapbook store, then go to a big Walmart, Hobby Lobby, or other craft store.

The weight of the paper, in my opinion, is very important.  You don’t see Hallmark creating their cards on 20lb paper. I go for no less than 24 lb, and if I can get to 60lb that is all the better. Generally, 24lb or a bit thicker is more than enough.

Another thing that is just as important as the weight of the paper are the colors you choose. I like my colors vibrant or to contrast so they stand out.  When a guest pulls their invitation out of the envelope, I want it to grab their attention.  I want it to “pop!”

For example, there was a group of us who were going to do one of those fancy “How to Host a Murder” parties. It was formal, where a suit or dress, dinner, and then the game. They asked me to create the invitations for this.  I chose both 24lb and 60lb paper for this. The card was all black and white. It was almost like a tuxedo.  The words were in black on the white part of the card. Then, down in the bottom right corner of the card, on the black paper, was a small knife with a drop of red fingernail polish on it.  It was great. The contrast of the black and white, along with the shiny silver and drop of red.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I had a friend send my son a Batman party invitation.  It was very creative with the folding, great paper. It was in black except for the batman logo in yellow and black.  Very nice!

The primary thing I am saying is that you will need to think ahead. You cannot procrastinate.  Get to your craft store and find the paper you need.  If you check out the video on this page you will see vivid colors in the circus or dollhouse invitations.  I really like those. You will hear compliment after compliment, and it all begins by taking that visit to the craft store to get the right paper.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.