Need Opinion on Type of Invitations

Updated on June 01, 2010
M.G. asks from San Antonio, TX
20 answers

Hi everyone,

My sister is planning a birthday party for my niece who is turning 8 next month and we were talking invitations. She wants something different and was looking into personalized, custom designed ones. She went online and found they were a bit more than she wanted to spend so she's thinking of making her own and printing them herself. I suggested she go ahead and create one and then send it to a drug store/wholesale club to get them printed there. She wasn't too thrilled about it cause she feels they may be too thin and doesn't look like a normal invite but rather a picture. Okay, 1) what is a normal invitation? (lol), 2) IMO, they look better majority of the time than the ones you buy online or print at home and 3) there SO much cheaper.

So my question is, which is your preference....invitation printed at home/online using a regular printer or an invitation printed like a picture from a drug store/wholesale club? What do you think of these type (drug store/wholesale club)?

Thanks so much!!!

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K.G.

answers from Fort Wayne on

I just made invites for my daughters 1st bday. I used powerpoint and added a recent pic of her. I printed them onto card stock I chose white but there are a ton of colors to choose from. I actually made them into post cards with the addresses printed on the other side. and mailed them off. they looked cute they were hand made so the address positioning was a little off but looked really cute when all was said and done. I printed off 20 invites 4 per page at a cost of about .50 you cant beat that...gl

1 mom found this helpful
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L.M.

answers from New York on

Don't mean to sound rude, but this is a little girls birthday party, not a formal reception. What's wrong with the one's you buy at the $ store?

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P.G.

answers from Dallas on

I don't think anyone cares but her - LOL. We obsess about our own stuff, but when we get stuff from others, I don't think most of us care. And if someone I know reacted with "oh, my, this cardstock is so thin. She sent me a cheap invitation", I wouldn't want to hang out with them anyway ;)

I really like the homemade by the kiddo idea!

1 mom found this helpful
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R.J.

answers from Seattle on

Grab some cardstock and print at home, or have the printing place use cardstock.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.O.

answers from Boise on

I could care less what the invite looks like, nobody should really. My favorite is one a little girl made by hand she drew a picture and wrote her name and the date. It was really cute.

1 mom found this helpful

P.W.

answers from Dallas on

For an 8 year old birthday party..........simple and inexpensive!

Save the fancy stuff for when she get's confirmed or married.

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J.H.

answers from Dallas on

I have done lots of invitations by creating them myself and uploading to Costco. I have often received compliments on them. If you need a lot, you really can't beat the price. You can get 50 6x7 prints WITH foil lined envelopes for only $14.50 and $5 for each additional 25. I always do my Christmas cards this way.

If she doesn't like that they aren't thicker, she can paste the photo paper invitation onto a colored piece of cardstock paper. This will also give it a framed look. If she does this, I'd probably print a 4x6 size so with a 1inch border it would be about 5x7 and you can find 5 3/4x8 3/4 greeting card envelopes at any office supply store.

I have also created my own before and ordered from www.vistaprint.com. These came back looking VERY professional and were pretty reasonably priced ... assuming you don't have to pay extra to have them rush the delivery. You can also have signs and banners made and other customized things she might like for the party.

In the end, the invitation will probably be stuck on the guest's refrigerator so I think what's really important is how it looks more so than how it feels. Good luck with the party!

1 mom found this helpful
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S.S.

answers from Chicago on

places like office max and office depot have really nice themed paper for the printer. one of them has party balloons and horns etc. we used those one year and another year we got the ones that are a thicker cardstock that are the size of postcards and did those. they were nice 1 pc of paper put a stamp and your good to go.

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M.F.

answers from Phoenix on

Try www.vistaprint.com. I did my daughter's birthday invitations there and was able to creat custom, folded invitations on thick, glossy card-stock for a very reasonable price. Plus, custom invitations have all the wording and directions already printed and the time that saved me was worth a little more. Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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J.H.

answers from Waco on

I work at a small print shop in Waco. We do all sorts of invitations. She can design it herself and save it and take or send it to a print shop or copy shop where they can print it out on card stock. It can be a flat or folded card. She should call around to find a shop with a color copier and ask them what standard size envelopes they carry and what program she should use to set up the invitation. We have done lots of graduation invitations with photos on them in a 5x7 card or a 10x7 that folds to 5x7. The standard envelope for that size would be a #7 baronial env. or she could mail it as a postcard, but postage is more for that size.

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S.O.

answers from San Antonio on

I kind of echo Mom of 2 girls here....it's an 8 year old bday party, not a wedding. It's nice that you 2 are spending time together working on this party. That is very awesome. Inviting friends over to have a great celebration, also important.
I, personally, don't spend much time at all on invitations---no one keeps them---they end up recycled and forgotten later on. Just my opinion.

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D.C.

answers from San Antonio on

Your question was actually what do the guests prefer? In my opinion, if the person is going to judge me on HOW invite them, I'm either not inviting them or not caring what their opinion is. I don't care what kind of invitation I receive. I am honored and happy to be invited.

I have received individually handmade cards, inexpensive white paper invitations, store-bought-8-to-a-pack invitations, even flyer-style printouts just folded and mailed (similar to the landscape flyers you get on your door). A lot of my family have even gotten to where they only send out emailed invitations. You can check out www.mypunchbowl.com. You can choose themes, enter your info, email them out and keep track of replies for those who rsvp yes, no or maybe. And it's free. There really isn't a "normal invitation" any more.

I have made my kids' invitations when I can't find store-bought ones in the theme they have chosen or I don't like the ones I do find. I print one up or write one up, depending on what I want. When my printer was working I printed them my self on whatever paper I wanted. Right now my printer is not working so I take them to Kinkos to have them printed. I think you can choose your paper and take it in, but I'm not sure. I have emailed invitations and just called people to personally invite them.

Whatever she wants to do is fine. She just needs to decide her budget (which she has, you said) and research what falls into that.

Good luck and have fun!

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F.J.

answers from Houston on

I have purchased a box card stock paper and envelopes from Sams Wholesale. These might also be available at an office supply store. The paper is thick like greeting card paper.

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J.D.

answers from Philadelphia on

oooh... i just did this myself! They came out really good!!!!!

I designed the invite on Microsoft Publisher (but she can use whatever program she has... they should be able to print up any file type), then I went to Staples and got their email address, and emailed them my document. they printed them up on card stock, 4 to a page (the size I designed), and it was $1 a page... so 25 cents per invite. They also had cute envelopes that were the perfect size!

For anyone wondering why you would make a "fancy" invite for a child's birthday party... I make them myself because I don't feel like hand writing every invitation... it's so much easier to print them off! :-)

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S.G.

answers from Corpus Christi on

I have done the invite printed like a picture and printed at Walgreens. My family loved them. Seeing my son on a spiderman body was fun! Its all in the details in my eyes, otherwise just another boring party!

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J.T.

answers from Victoria on

did she actually say anything about printing them? when i think of homemade invites i think about peices of paper cut out and stacked up...i found an example of what i am talking about. its a baby shower invite but you will get the picture. http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/baby-boy-shower-m...

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A.S.

answers from Odessa on

I make invitations myself, usually make them by hand, If wanting to print something I use Shutterfly. (sorry if i'm repeating) but they are cheap and free to sign up and they have all different types of styles to choose from or you can create your own. something look into. Hope this helps. Also its much better qaulity than most stores.

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M.M.

answers from Jacksonville on

I make al of our invites to birthday praties with construction paper and stamps, markers, stickersm, glitter glue, you name it.
That way I can custom design everyone.
I have had bowling balls, roller skates, bugs, Batman, fancy girl with feathers and balck and pink.

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M.A.

answers from Houston on

OK, you asked... I have never cared what party invitations look like. This is for an 8-year-old's birthday. I do dislike e-vites for a child's birthday party though. The kids will just be thrilled to have an invitation in the mail!

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A.B.

answers from San Antonio on

Any kind of invitation will be just fine. I've received drug store picture invitations and fancy ones too. We have also ordered some from Vistaprint and they were not so expensive, and we were very pleased with them.

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