Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Dressing Up Plain Party Invitations (DIY)

Have you ever ordered party invites online...the kind that you can print out at a photo kiosk? I love the quick turn-around of having invitations designed digitally, but don't like the look of my invites printed out as plain 4 x 6 photos. I thought today I'd show you an incredibly inexpensive and easy way to dress up plain printed invitations. No scrapbooking or crafty skills needed!


I ordered the invitations for Natalie's Tinkerbell birthday party from DIY Parties. I was hunting for an Etsy shop with decent designs, low prices, and good reviews. They have no idea that I am writing this post, but I wanted to give them two thumbs up because I had a proof to check out within a few hours, and they were most accomodating! They sent me the design in a jpeg file through email, and I sent it to Costco online and the invites were printed within an hour!

Again, really cute design, but a little plain on its own as just a photo print-out.

Here's what you need to fluff your invites a little:






















  • Colored or patterned 12 x 12 scrapbook paper
  • Scissors or paper trimmer
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • Glue Stick
  • Ribbon, buttons, or other embellishments (optional)

First, I typed up my own little postcard-sized blurb with extra details about the party (it'll be at a local ballet studio) in MS Publisher, and used a Tinkerbell clip-art file I found online. Once those were printed, I cut the sparkly purple paper to fit the photo invites and used my glue stick to adhere the invite and the party details to either side:

I spent $5.00 on the invitation design and $0.95 on the scrapbook paper...cute party invitations for less than $6.00!

I thought about adding some purple and green ribbon to a corner, but didn't want to go rummaging around in the room of boxes guest room when Michaela Byrd was napping upstairs. You could easily find a little spool of ribbon in the dollar section at Target or a craft store to further embellish your invites.

I know most of you guys have Thanksgiving and Christmas on your minds, but with girls who have birthdays in early December and January, I have to think ahead! I hope you'll save this tip for the next time you order invitations online.

Linking to Thrifty Decor Chick
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10 comments:

  1. Kelli WNovember 16, 2011 at 8:44 AM

    Amanda those are too cute! I love the purple sparkly paper...so girly!

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  2. AnonymousNovember 16, 2011 at 8:46 AM

    Beautiful! I love how it turned out, Etsy is full of so many great custom card & stationary shops. I recently used a credit I had from a giveaway for Anna & Blue Paperie to get little label tags for my shop that I used for an upcoming craft show. :-)

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  3. southerninspirationNovember 16, 2011 at 8:59 AM

    Oooh so cute!! I bet she LOVES them!
    Suzanne

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  4. Life In The Thrifty LaneNovember 16, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    Those invitations are super pretty! Love the colors and great idea to add the purple cardstock and more info about the party in the back :)

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  5. JenniferNovember 16, 2011 at 11:07 AM

    These turned out so cute! Great idea.
    Jennifer

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  6. Richella ParhamNovember 16, 2011 at 4:41 PM

    Amanda, this is a great idea! I'm constantly amazed at how much you can spend on party invitations. And while I admire the high-priced products, my budget has never allowed for that kind of money to be spent on the invitations. This is a wonderful alternative. I'm betting Miss Natalie is one excited little dancer!

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  7. MichaelaNovember 16, 2011 at 8:51 PM

    Very cute! What a great party idea, too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Paula@SweetPeaNovember 17, 2011 at 5:20 AM

    I didn't even know that you could print out party type invites as photos. I'm bookmarking your Etsy site to look at later.

    Adding the party details to the back of the photo card really makes your invite special. If I was a child and received it, I'd save it because it's so pretty!

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  9. Megan // Honey We're HomeNovember 17, 2011 at 10:41 PM

    Beautiful table Amanda! I saw those gold chargers at Target too- great buy! And the invites you made for your daughter turned out awesome! p.s. I always crack up at your "leave your comment" statement:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. ColeyNovember 18, 2011 at 7:27 PM

    I often have my invites printed that way and don't totally love them - what a great idea this is! A great way to jazz them up!

    ReplyDelete

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