Today I’ve partnered with Basic Invite to share with you how to design your own party invitations.
This is a sponsored post. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view.
Just in case you haven’t heard about Basic Invite, they’re a custom invitation company that offers cards for almost every major life moment including weddings, birthdays, showers, and more.
So if you want to:
- make creative birthday invitations that stand out
- add a personal touch to your design
- create surprise party invitations that reflect your style and party theme
- find a place where you can get started
- learn basic design principles that will add wow factor to your invitations
Then you’ll love this new guide.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
How to Create Your Own Birthday Invitation
Undoubtedly, after making a lot of birthdays party decisions like setting a budget, choosing a date, creating a guest list, it’s time to prepare and send surprise party invitations.
This year you want your birthday party to be unique and memorable. You know that the first impression is everything. For that reason, you decided to make personalized invitation cards.
One of the most popular ways to customize birthday invitations is to DIY.
However, when you hate getting crafty, it may be not a perfect option for you. Besides, all of the DIY projects require a lot of time, especially if you work alone. Even if your birthday party budget is tight, sometimes you can spend a lot of money on craft supplies and tools.
On the other hand, you can create your own party invitation by designing custom birthday cards online.
Where Can You Design Your Own Invitations?
Basic Invite is a website where you can custom your birthday card in over 180 colors. With instant previews online, you change the color of each element within a few seconds!
There are so many creative birthday invitation templates to choose from that will fit your party theme, style, and aesthetic.
Also, you can even go for foil cards (available in gold, silver, and rose gold). Truly, as Lawrence Jones said, “The only limit is your own imagination”.
Don’t forget about envelopes. Basic Invite offers over 40 different colors of envelopes so your party invitation stands out even before it’s opened.
As well as that, Basic Invite allows you to order a printed sample of the actual invitation. Before you place the final order, you’re able to check the paper quality and see exactly how it will look like.
Additionally, you simply share a link on your favorite social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to request your friends and family’s addresses. They will be stored in your customer account. During the design process, you can simply select them. Easy, peasy.
Last but not least, personalized party invitations don’t have to drain your budget.
Basic Invite is offering 15% off with coupon code: 15FF51 right now! So check out their custom templates and plan your own invitations.
How to Design Your Own Invitations in 10 Super Simple Steps
Now, when you know where to design the birthday invites, it’s time to learn some basic design rules. It’ll help you create perfect birthday invitations that leave a lasting impression.
1. Determine Your Party Theme
Without a doubt, it’s the fun part of planning a birthday party. The party theme defines the style and aesthetic of the event. Definitely, you want to create a birthday invitation that will fit in.
Before you start looking for inspiration, you may want to consider:
- the location of the party
- time and season
- birthday person gender, age, hobby, favorite things
2. Find Inspiration
After you decided on the birthday party style, it’s time to gather inspiration.
3. Select the Shape and Size
It’s worth bearing in mind how the card’s size and shape impact postage rates.
4. Choose the Type
There are several types of invites you can choose from like text with background image, illustration with text below, or text as the integrated part of the design.
5. Include the Basic Information
Obviously, there are some basic things every invitation should include:
- the birthday person name and age
- date of the birthday party
- location
- the time
- reply date
- RSVP address or phone number
Also, you can add details like dress code, party theme or end time.
6. Plan the Layout Out
Make sure that your invitations are easy to read. Organize the information from the most important (what the event is), through the date and place, to the time, address, and RSVP.
7. Choose Design Elements
Now you level up your invitation by adding personality and style with the right fonts and color palette. It’s a great way to show your guests the mood of the birthday party.
Fonts
Remember that text style should complement the birthday party style.
For example, you’ll achieve:
- modern look by using fonts with clean lines
- vintage look with quirky serif fonts
- formal look by adding elegant, traditional script fonts
- unique look with funny fonts
You can get a beautiful end result by mixing fonts. Check out the ultimate guide on font pairing here.
Color Palette
Making a color palette is usually difficult and can make you feel overwhelmed. If you’re wondering how to choose the right colors, think about the general party mood.
It helps you to narrow down your choices.
For instance, if your party aesthetic is:
- simple, clean, contemporary – go for light, bright clear pastels like yellows, lime green.
- elegant, luxurious – stick with cool navy greens, mints or lavender shades
- earthy, organic – decide to use warm, intense browns, reds, pale straw, umber
- glamorous – choose cool and strong blacks, neons, metallics, and ice blues
8. Choose the Right Paper
What does even the right paper mean?
Generally, there are two important factors you should pay attention to paper weight and thickness. In other words, the higher the weight paper is the thicker your cardstock.
There are two main paperweight metrics: lbs. (The U.S. system) or gsm. (the European system). In general, the best paperweight for a birthday invitation is 100 lbs.
Before you decide which paper you’d like to use, order free samples to:
- see how your invitation look when printed
- check if the paper is smooth enough
- feel the texture
9. Add Details
For the most part, the difference between an ordinary invitation and a one with its wow factor is your attention to detail.
How to Make Your Party Invitation Unique
- include photos of the birthday person
- use a colorful font
- add elements like flowers, cute doodles, etc
- fill the envelope with confetti or glitter
- foil printing
10. Spruce up Envelopes
Don’t underestimate the power of envelope art. That is how you (and your creative birthday invitation) make an unforgettable first impression.
Artistic Envelope Elements:
- illustration
- doodles
- hand lettering
- calligraphy
- sketch
- decoupage
- stamps
- stickers
- washi tape
- embroidery
Before you send your fancy invitation, make sure that:
- you didn’t put 3D embellishments on the outside
- the zip code is legible
- there are no illustrations over post stamps
- it is addressed correctly
How to Design Your Own Invitations – Final Thoughts
If you’re not one of the super crafty people in order to invest your time, energy, and sanity in a DIY project, making your surprise party invitations online is a perfect solution. Altogether, all you have to do is to choose and customize creative birthday invitations to fit your birthday party aesthetic.
All photos courtesy of Basic Invite.
Thank you Basic Invite for sponsoring this blog post. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view.