Julie Finn
Evites definitely have a place in our world. In fact, they’re the most eco-friendly way to send a party invitation, as they require the fewest resources to manufacture, send, and dispose of.
But of course there’s still a place for the printed invitation, especially one that’s hand-crafted from eco-friendly materials, perhaps even hand-delivered. If you’re sending an invitation for a very special event, a physical invitation is a great way to help your guests feel special from the first moment. And if it’s a theme party that you’re inviting your guests to, then a handmade invitation is the best way to get that theme started weeks before the party date.
If you’ve got a party that you’re planning, check out this list of DIY party invitations. They all use eco-friendly materials, and they can all be adapted for a variety of party themes:
1. cardboard block. This invitation consists of a cardboard cube embellished to look like a block. In the tutorial, the cube is made to represent a Minecraft grass block (for those of you who know what that is!). The cube would also be super cute decorated like a building block and used for a baby shower or young child’s birthday party invitation.
2. DIY envelopes. Here’s how to make your own envelopes to go along with your handmade invitations.
3. doily dress. Add this doily dress to the front of your handmade card–it’s perfect for a bridal shower or princess-themed party.
4. hand-punched embellishments. With a good design program and a nice printer, you can DIY tons of fancy-looking invitations using sustainable materials, but it’s the little details that make them stand out. Hand-punching embellishments makes even the fanciest invitations look like they cost way more than they did.
5. message in a bottle. This is a really fun invitation, because your guests have to physically break the seal on the bottle to recover the invitation and read it. It’s perfect for a pirate party, but can be adapted to anything beach-themed.
6. pocket invitation. You have to have a lot of paper supplies for these, but you can source them sustainably and save money by doing all the assembly yourself. These invitations work well when you want to enclose something else, such as a menu or RSVP card.
7. scroll. For these invitations, you need dowels or sticks, paper, and the creativity to come up with a royal invitation. To make these invitations fancier, you can write the message by hand with lovely ink and calligraphy.
8. tea party invitation. For all your tea party needs!
9. tiny bunting. The tutorial calls for washi tape, but you could use any material, especially fabric scraps–just glue the two sides of the bunting together. This is another embellishment that would work well for a baby shower, but it would also be cute for a small child’s birthday party or any summer event.
10. translucent invitation. The secret to this invitation is vellum. It would work with any theme or style, as long as you’ve got an interesting background for the vellum.
11. watercolor. Use this method as an easy way to embellish simple printed invitations.
12. wax seals. The trick to DIYing this is to use crayons!
Great tips – especially for all of the great summer outdoor events to come. Great work, keep it coming!