DIY Graduation Invitations - Easy and Fun

Do it yourself graduation invitations can be easy and fun. They can also very easily tell your family and friends more about you than commercially printed generic invitations.

Take some time to consider what you'd most like to share about yourself. Some ideas for great DIY graduation invitations follow.

1. Use your current school colors. Buy card stock of your school colors and possibly white or cream. Mat the edge with one color and then place a second mat border leaving a piece of the white show between them. For example if your colors are black and orange, use a black mat, then cut smaller borders in orange - or print the border in orange - just to surround the print material.

2. Use the colors of the school you will be attending. Buy card stock of one color. Make four invitations on one sheet. Print invitation with the other school color. The name of the city - mascot - or your choice of study could be incorporated on the invitation.

3. Pick out a few favorite photos from the past few years and incorporate them into a collage. Print them onto a card stock base. On the opposite side, print the party invitation wording.

4. If you are involved in a certain type of study, sport, or other activity, incorporate that onto your invitation to tell about you. If you've always been a math bug, a suggestion would be from a simple equation from elementary school, to the complex equations of your past year. If you're a race-car, basket-ball or golf fan, your guests would know immediately the invitation was from you.

5. If you love bling, pastels, bright colors or have a favorite color that everyone knows is "your style" - utilize special fonts, or wordings to tell your story. Make your graduation hat pink with lots of rhinestones or gems!

A one-page invitation, rather than a fold-over card type, makes your invitation stand out immediately when opened. It also takes less paper. This card could also be sent as a post card.

Think about other papers you'd have fun using. Maybe an article and headline from your school or local paper could be used as a background. These ideas are just the beginning.

The usual graduation hats, diplomas, books etc. can be added in a small way. Small stickers or clip art can dress up your invitation.

Take some time to decide if you're going to request a reply. Are you going to host an open house where your guests can come and go? Will you simply serve cake and punch or will you have a buffet? Will you have other decorations and school memorabilia displayed? These items could also impact what you choose for your invitation.

Remember also, if time and money are a huge issue for you, a simple invitation will work fine. Simply use heavier white paper and ink color and font of your choice to print the where, when and time of your very special celebration. Or, you may simply choose to attach a cute invitation to an email or even simply email your friends and add a few cute icons to your message.

Be yourself. Do it yourself. Have fun. Be sure it is your day to celebrate your special occasion with you family and your friends.

Good luck to you. We had fun using several of these ideas in our invitations.