Birthday Party Invitations

Birthday party invitations are the first step to a great birthday party. In addition to imparting important information about the time and place of the party, party invitations announce the theme and set the tone for the party. While there are many commercially available party invitations, it is easy to add a personal touch to your party by making your own party invitations.

You will need plenty of heavy card stock to make the number of invitations you need. Card stock is available in a variety of colors and weights. Sixty five pound weight is a good bet for children's part invitations. For a nice touch, pick two contrasting colors to match your theme. You will also need markers in a strong color to write party information. As an alternative, you can use your computer printer to print the invitations. Additional supplies are stickers, ribbons or glitter glue. You can find supplies in the scrap booking section of your local discount or craft store.

The first step in making party invitations is to cut each piece of card stock to a standard size. A 4X6 invitation is a nice size. If using contrasting card stock, cut the contrasting color to leave a ½ inch border and glue it to the base color of the invitation.

Using a ruler and a pencil, lightly line the card stock to provide guides when writing information. Then, using your marker or paint pen, fill in the party time, place and any other pertinent information. Allow plenty of time for the ink to dry. Don't risk smudging your party invitations by being in too big of a hurry.

The next step is to personalize the invitations with stickers, ribbons or glitter. A popular theme for young girls right now is a Hannah Montana themed party. Customizing the invitation with guitar stickers, music notes and gold glitter accents captures the feel and excitement of this theme.

For young boys, dinosaurs remain a popular theme. An archeology themed invitation using an olive green background with dinosaur track stamps make fun party invitations. In place of glitter, try drawing dinosaur designs with white glue and sprinkling the invitation with sand.

After the invitation has been designed and completed, punch a hole in the corner and thread a coordinating ribbon or piece of yarn through the hole and tie the ends together to form a loop. The invitation can be attached to a backpack or worn over the wrist to make sure the invitation makes it home.