Birthday Party Invitations

Pirates have never been more popular. Take your child's birthday invites to another level with these exclusive treasure map party invitations. Using a map of your own neighborhood as a guide you can create personal antiqued invites that are fun to make and sure to impress! And the best part of these do-it-yourself invites are that they are quite forgiving so don't worry about making a mistake!

Makes 18 invitations

SUPPLIES:

6 Cardstock Sheets (8 ½ x 11)
20 Business Size Envelopes (#10)
5 Black Tea Bags
Medium Saucepan
Shallow Baking Dish
Candle
Fine-tip Permanent Marker
Scissors
Scanner or Copier
Printer

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP ONE: ANTIQUING THE PAPER & ENVELOPES

• Bring water in a medium saucepan to a boil - remove from heat
• Soak tea bags for ten minutes
• Pour tea mixture into a shallow baking dish (8 ½ x 11 or slightly larger)
• Individually soak cardstock for two minutes each
• Hang dry on line with paper clips - OR - dry flat on newspaper
• Repeat process for envelopes soaking three at a time
• NOTE: this step can be done days in advance - DO NOT continue to step two without paper being completely dry

STEP TWO: CREATING THE MAP (INVITE FRONT)

• Print a small-scale map of your party address using a map website such as maps.google.com or mapquest.com to use as reference
• Cut one piece of cardstock into thirds vertically - this will be the template for all the invites
• Draw freehand (using the fine-tip permanent marker) the major streets and intersections in your town - don't be too hard on yourself this is just for effect and
certainly not meant to be fully accurate or to scale
• Be creative! Draw sea monsters in your town pond or pool and a skull and crossbones at the school. Rename mountains, woods, and monuments in pirate fashion. And of course put a giant X where the party spot will be.

STEP THREE: FILLING IN THE DETAILS (INVITE BACK)

• Choose a pirate name with your child or just add "Captain" in front of their name
• Hand write the details on one of the remaining 1/3 of cardstock (Date, Place, Time)
• And of course: "RSVP or walk the plank"

STEP FOUR: SCANNING & PRINTING

• Scan in the map for the front of your invitation
• Set print settings to print three to a page
• Print on five remaining pieces of cardstock
• Repeat the process for the back side of the invite
• Print details on the backside of the cardstock with maps

STEP FIVE: ASSEMBLING

• Cut cardstock into thirds vertically making three invites (don't worry about being super straight you are going to burn the edges anyhow!)
• Using the candle carefully burn the edges of invitations
• Address the envelopes and mail