Creative Party Blog

These invitations we used for a kid Halloween Party but could easily be used for adult ones as well. We were encouraging the kids and moms to dress up and have a fun time. And they did!

The wording was as follows:
“The night is dark and the goblins are out
the witches and black cats are prowling about
Costumed creatures the strangest I’ve seen
are knocking on doors….
cause it’s Halloween!”
“Anne and Olivia will be ghoulishly dressed
so moms and kids come in your Halloween best”
Date
Address
RSVP info

Then at the party we had a prize for the best adult and kid costume. Take care when picking your invitation because no matter if it’s a sure to be fun party like a Halloween party or not, the invitation sets the tone and expectations for the party!

Resources: The invitations were found at Paper Rabbit Designs.

Wording for a Pirate Birthday Party is not rocket science but sometimes the creative juices don’t flow! Here’s a suggested wording for your Pirate Party Invitation. Choose some old looking paper maybe already done with the burnt edges or burn them yourself……very carefully. Use the Old English font and you are good to go.

Pirate Birthday Party Invitation Wording:

Ahoy me hearty…
You’re invited to a Pirate Party!
Pirate Captain (your child’s name)
is turning 4~
Come board our ship
for some grub, games and a
while lot more!

Then details like address, time and RSVP info.

Have fun with your Pirate Party.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Pirate Birthday Parties allow for you to use all your creative juices. There are so many home made items that can be make that look cool and are appealing both to the kids but to the parents as well!

These party invitations are the perfect lead in for a birthday party when you can hand deliver them all. Wouldn’t work so well if you needed to mail any……..although I guess you could get a bigger bottle and put a cork in the top. Ooooo. You could even use old wine bottles and wine corks. That would be super cute for a party for any age kid or adult! Start saving those empty wine bottles.

Anyway, they are super simple. There are all kinds of bottles like these available online or even in your dollar store. Put in a little sandbox sand (preferable without bugs), a shell or two and your invitation that’s been wound with some twine.

I can never say too much that an invitation sets the tone for a birthday party. So, please put some thought into them!

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

A Creative Art Birthday Party can be done for a myriad of ages. This party happened to be for a 3 year old but you could easily host a Creative Party for almost any age……even 40 year olds. As a side note, I want to go to a glass making class with friends and there is no reason something like this could be done for older “kids”.

My 3 year actually painted the design on these invitations. We purchased large sheets of paper at a local art store that had natural rough edges. I had her paint the large page completely with broad strokes. I helped and guided just a bit but she did most of it! I then took the paper back to the art store and they cut them for me on their large paper cutter!!!

Fold in half, print your invitation on the inside and you are ready to send your Creative Art Party Invitations. I always like to match the stamps I use as close to the event as possible and these Happy Birthday Stamps seem to be readily available these days.

Resources: Card Stock, envelopes, and paint can be purchase at many local art supply stores. We bought ours at Art Media in Portland but they have an online store as well. They were very knowledgeable and very helpful.

Photo take by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Finding just the right Princess Party Invitation can sometimes be challenging. If not because you can’t find the one you like but can’t narrow down the ones you like. I hope the latter is not you because we are about to introduce a great card site. For this Princess party we were invited to, the hostess found Inviting Company and their invitations are too cute. You should take a look at their site.

This was a party for girls and boys so the wording in the invitation reflected such.

“Here Ye! Here Ye!
Calling all Princesses,
Calling all Knights:

Your company is requested at a Royal Birthday Tea!

Olivia’s 4th Birthday
Date
Castle de Reger
RSVP”

Resources: Invitations can be found from Inviting Company.

Because I made such a unique invitation and it was so large, I needed to make my own envelope as well. Now you can purchase all kinds and sizes and colors of envelopes. At the time, I didn’t know that. So, I jumped in to making my own.

It’s so easy to make your own envelope. Below you’ll find a template for a smallish envelope. Take it and develop your own. The key is to fold the sides with an overlap. Unfold and cut the corners and then refold and glue.

Directions: To make your own envelope, print out our template and adjust to size. (This is for a square envelope) Cut your paper and fold along dotted lines. Use a glue stick type glue so it doesn’t make the paper pucker once the glue dries. Close with a sticker or more glue. Decorate or leave plain. These really lend themselves all kinds of custom possibilities.

Resources: Click here for our Free Envelope Template.

When reading this invitation wording, keep in mind that it was a joint party for 2 friends. AND the party was very close to Christmas as both their birthdays are only a few days before Christmas.

Our Dance Party Invitation Wording went like this:

Because our Birthdays are so close
We decided to make the most

Of the Holiday Time of Year
And ask our Friends all to Cheer

For Anne & Charley’s Birthday Toast
We’re going to ask you to Strike A Pose!

Date
Time
Location
RSVP

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

My daughter for her 5th birthday had a joint party with a friend and we all decided upon a “Dance Party” theme.

I couldn’t really find an invitation I liked with an image already printed on it. So, I decided to purchase blank cards and to draw a little girl striking a pose on the front. She is a child not afraid to strike a pose, so it was perfect.

I’m not an artist at all! But once I came up with a cut looking little girl, I was able to replicate her on each of the invitations. I found these great plain cards that I felt embodied the tone of the party. To draw the figure, I used Jelly Roll pins that moved very nicely over the paper and made a nice image.

I totally feel that the invitation sets the tone for the party. If you don’t spend much time on the invitation, guests will assume that you won’t be spending much time on the party. And if they have to make a choice between coming to your child’s party or another scheduled at the same time……guess where they might go?

Have a fun Dance Party. No matter if you find a preprinted invitation that you love or you draw on a blank card like this one, kids love this type of party.

Resources: Blank Invitation came from Paper Source.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

When you are planning a Dance Party for your child, it can go in many directions. It’s almost tough to reign in this type of party because there are so many directions you can take it!

A Dance Party can also be hosted for a 2 year old up to a 70 year old. Now, the parties will be a great deal different, obviously but there are elements that could cross over many age ranges. Invitations could be one of them.

These are Photo stock invitations that are customized with your own photos and invite wording. The top invitation is a “Rock Star” party. Wording is such: “Our little rocker is turning 2! To complete his band, Ryder chooses you! Date, Time, Place and Regrets only.”

The bottom invitation is for a Rockin Birthday and wording is such: “Join Us for a Rocking Birthday!” It was as simple as that and then included date, time, location and rsvp info.”

Photo invitations can be a wonderful way to announce a birthday party. Especially with kids, not only do they love to see their own picture plastered all over everywhere but they love to also see their friends in “lights.” My daughter has been known to carry around pictures of her friends for weeks.

Resources: For Custom Party Photo Invitations, Cutie Pie Custom Creations.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

There is nothing more important for a young child than to receive mail. It really doesn’t matter what kind of mail it is and it doesn’t matter if they can read yet or not.

So, what do you do when you are sending an invitation to a child and their sibling is welcome? Well, it is very important to make some kind of notation somewhere so that the mom doesn’t have to wonder or contact you to ask that uncomfortable questions if little Gary is invited to come!

These are two examples of good ways to invite siblings. The above photo shows the inside of an invitation where the following words were simply included…”Siblings Welcome!” The below photo is the back of an envelope and states “P.S. Harris is welcome too!” For me either works. There may be even other creative ways to let recipients know that siblings are welcome.

The big thing I want to impress upon you here is to state it somewhere. Please don’t put your guest in the uncomfortable position of having to ask. It’s just good Etiquette in filling out the invitation for your child’s birthday party invitation.

When you have a bug birthday party, you can take it many directions. You can go with little squishy bugs or you can use all the major cute little kid bugs……butterflies, ladybugs, bumble bees and such. This was just one of those parties.

The invitation was a simple preprinted butterfly invitation where you fill out the major details. The color is so much prettier than in the photo I’ve taken. The pink is just right on. Made by Creative Expressions. The point is that you can get away with almost any bug type invitation for a bug birthday party.

Another big decision to make when doing a bug party is where you have the party. This party was at a local park and that was perfect. Outside, plenty of room to roam around and there was plenty of room for the kids to look for bugs on their own if they wanted to.

Resources: Invitations from Creative Expressions.

It can often be hard to come up with appropriate invitations for a twin birthday party. This is a cleaver idea to incorporate twins without screaming TWINS. The invitation is one of the preprinted and you fill in the invitation but I thought it was very cute and it can lend itself to lots of directions in a theme.

This particular party was for two very active kids and was at a Pump It Up facility. It was a perfect 6th birthday party idea.

Resources: Invitation found at Paper Source.

All super heroes are colorful and this invitation is a reflection of that. Produced by Tiny Prints, this was an invitation that we received for a 4 year old’s birthday party. My kids could not wait to go. You will hear me say over and over……the invitation sets the stage for a great party!

Wording for this super hero birthday party invite was such:
calling all superheroes
WILLIAM IS TURNING FOUR
join us for a super time &
dress as your favorite superhero
Date
Location
Regrets Only

Simple as that! It’s always a good idea with any card company to order invitations with a little time to spare. You just never know if they are going to be backed up or not and you don’t want to wait too long to get those invites out risking that families make other plans.

Resources: Tiny Prints

Photo of invitation taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

This is the second invitation we used for my son’s truck and car birthday party. Using both this design and the dump truck allowed me to be more creative since I was making so many! You’ll see the design for the dump one in another post. To have a unique feature, we attached blinking lights to the front of the garbage and dump trucks for the headlights. You can’t mail the invitations with the lights shown so you’ll need to hand them out or mail in a small box.

Wording for this invitation was as follows:
Cars & Trucks….Trucks & Cars
Harris’ New Road Leads to
A Birthday Playdate
’cause He’s Two!

Destination: Harris’ Home
Date and Time

To make the trucks, use yellow, blue and black heavy scrap booking paper. After cutting the truck out, the window and shadow are glued on. Cut a small hole in the center of the wheels and then in the body of the truck. I used a small hole punch for this. Attach the wheels with small scrap booking brads. If you want to add the light, start with a small hole and make it bigger as needed. Turn on the light right before delivering the invitation.

Resources: Scrap Booking Paper and brads can be found at any craft or hobby store or where scrap booking supplies are sold. Blinking lights are found in the bridal area of Michaels. They come in a pack of two. Garbage Truck Party Invitation Template.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

We used this invitation for my son’s truck and car birthday party. I couldn’t decide between the dump truck and the garbage truck so we used both! You’ll see the ideas on that one in another post. To have a unique feature, we attached blinking lights to the front of the trucks for the headlights. If you decide to add the light it pretty much makes the invitation not mailable unless you put it in a small box which could be neat.

Wording for this invitation was as follows:
Cars & Trucks….Trucks & Cars
Harris’ New Road Leads to
A Birthday Playdate
’cause He’s Two!

Destination: Eddie’s Home
Date and Time

To make the trucks, I used heavy scrap book stock paper in yellow, red and black for the wheels. After cutting the truck out, the cab, windows and red line at bottom are all glued on. Cut a small hole in the center of the wheels and then in the body of the truck. Attach the wheels with small scrap booking brads. If you want to add the light, start with a small hole and make it bigger as needed. Turn on the light right before delivering the invitation.

Resources: Scrap Booking Paper can be bought at any craft or hobby store. Brads can be found at scrap booking stores or where scrap booking supplies are sold. Blinking lights are found in the bridal area of Michaels. They come in a pack of two. Dump Truck Party Invitation Template

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Another alternative to making your own invitations or using printed paper invitations is to use Custom Photo Birthday Party Invitations. The sky is the limit with these. You can be as creative with the photo, background and wording as you want to be. These invitations were created by Cutie Pies Custom Creations.

Wording for each of the top Princess Birthday Invitation is as such:
Please join us for
some royal fun
as Princess Esme
is turning One!

Date
Location
Regrets Only

Then the Princess invitation to the right is worded in this way:
Ooh La La!
Mademoiselle Elena is turning 2!

Join us for an afternoon
of oodles of Pink Poodles
and Parisian delights

Date/Time
Location
RSVP

Even if you aren’t doing the work yourself, there can still be a great deal of creativity used in these types of cards.

Resources: For Photo Birthday Party Invitations – Visit Cutie Pies Custom Creations.

Photos taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Don’t have time to make your own invitation? No problem. If you are having a Princess Theme for your daughter’s birthday party, there are tons of invitations to choose from. This is one we like made by Paper Rabbit Designs.

Wording for this Princess Party Invitation:
Princess Alex invites you to join her for a
Royal Princess Jumping Party
in celebration of her 4th Birthday

Date
Location
RSVP

This particular princess party was at Pump It Up. The hostess has not only included the facility in the invitation but the theme as well! Perfect. Even with pre-printed party invitations, you can have a fabulous birthday party. Pick your theme and run with it.

Resources: For Custom Birthday Party Invitations – Visit Paper Rabbit Designs.

Photo by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

Whether you are planning a Princess Birthday Party or a Queen of Hearts Party, this invitation idea would totally work. We decided to name the party a Queen of Hearts party because we were inviting more boys to the party than girls and I wasn’t so sure the boys would be fired up about going to a Princess Party. To change the invitation for a Princess party, I would just change the colors a bit. With Queen of Hearts we used a lot of red and yellow or gold colors with favors and decorations.

To make these invitations, I bought these square invitations and envelopes at the stationery store. I drew and cut out the crown shaped invitations from the square knowing that it would already fit in the envelope. I seem to always have trouble finding envelopes for the invitations I make. Nice I didn’t have to make this one. Once I cut out one I used it as a template for the other invitations and for the than you notes with a little twist.

For the invitations, I cut out the crowns and then lightly painted around the edges with a pink color that coordinated with the envelope. The points were adorned with clear rhinestones. Because of the rhinestones, you’ll need to take them to the post office to be hand stamped and the cost will be a little extra for postage.

Thank you notes were dirived in a similar manner. I took the template and rather than cutting out the image, I painted lightly around the template. Since my daughter can’t write yet, I wrote the note and let her sign it.

Invitation Wording was done in a gothic type font and read like this:
Anne
AKA: Queen of Hearts
Commands you, her Knights & Maidens
To attend her 4th Birthday Party

Date
Time
Location
RSVP

These birthday party invitations were perfect and very easy to make!

Resources: Template for Crown Shape, Plain stationery paper and envelops found as many local stationery stores, Stones for embellishment found at Michaels.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

You can have a princess party for a birthday or just for fun. This invitation was for a princess tea party that my daughter had in the middle of the summer for fun but the invitation could be easily used for a birthday party as well.

The wording goes like this:
Princess Anne Invites You
To her Tea Party
Don your Favorite Princess Dress
Accessories are on me.

Date
Time
Location

RSVP
RSVP Name
Phone
Email Address.

You know we didn’t think of it for this party but it would be too cute to set up a yahoo email or a gmail email with something like “princessanne@gmail.com” for party RSVPs .

Three little girls were invited to this summer princess party and it really was the perfect number to do things with. A Princess Theme or Princess Tea Party or a Princes Tea Party theme lends to many ideas for parties, we will be posting many more ideas in the days to come as well as in the future on Princess Parties.

Photo by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

This was so much fun to make and create! This invitation was for my son’s first birthday party. I totally wasn’t going to have a party until the last minute and a week or so before the party, I started humping it!

I created the invitation and realized the only envelope it would fit in was a office supply store type envelope and that just wouldn’t do! So, I made the envelopes. I created the envelope first because you are limited on what size of paper you can get. Once I saw how big the interior of the envelope was, then I knew what dimensions I could make the pig. I still had to turn the piggie invitation sideways to get it in the envelope properly.

The envelope for the pig party invitation is just a chocolate brown. Now the invitations did take a bit of time to make. The tail in particular was a bear to cut out. I only needed to make like 6 of these so it was worth the time! The pig body is out of a pink polka dot paper. Ear interior nose and tail of the pig is out of a solid pink paper. The pig’s eyes, nostrils and hooves are out of the same chocolate paper as the envelope. I cut everything out freehand and then punched the eyes out with a hole punch. Just easier and looks better.

The tag line on the pig party invitation wording went like this…..”Join us for an Oinkin’ great Playdate. To Celebrate our Little Pig’s First Birthday!” Make sure you use a brown ink pen. Have fun with your own pig birthday party invitation.

Resources: Scrapbooking paper can be found at almost any craft store these days. To make a pig like this one, use our Pig Invitation Template to make it easier!

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.