You’re throwing a baby shower for your sister, cousin, friend, least favorite co-worker, (I know, you got roped in!). Take heart.  You don’t have to sacrifice two week’s restaurant allowance to finance the invitations. You may not even have to leave the house! It’s easier than ever to let your keystrokes do the walking. Here are a few ideas that cost less than a tank of gas.

The Simple DIY Invitation

If your budget constrains and your imagination allows, you can create simple invitations at home. Clip art can be a girl’s best friend. I use Microsoft Clip Art because it’s free to Microsoft users and you don’t have to navigate through 88 pages of ads to get to the images. You can buy cheap card-stock at office supply stores or super stores. Check the wedding or scrap booking section for fancier ones.  A really inexpensive choice is using blank 3×5 index cards. I created the two samples below using the clip art and basic photo editing software. You can easily use your word processor program for this type.

simple invitation diy

DIY Simple Invitation with Stork 1

simple invitation diy 2

DIY Simple Invitation with Stork 2

The Simple Purchased Invitation

If time and energy restrictions limit, you might choose to purchase invitations. Some websites that offer affordable choices are: Invitation Box, TinyPrints, Vista Print, and Inviting Smiles. Don’t discount e-Bay when you search. Competition is fierce and prices are usually pretty friendly.

Because my pregnant best friend’s husband warned her at the beach, “Don’t parch the peanut,” the name stuck. So when I shopped for invitations for her shower, I looked for ones with a peanut. I found them at an e-Bay store called Candy Wrappers by Cheri. This is the one I used, sans flowers.

Purchased Invitation

Purchased Invitation

As the “Candy Wrapper” name suggests, the store also prints custom candy wrappers, which can be used for shower favors or in place of cigars when the baby is born.

The DIY Photo Invitation

To personalize the invitations, try to get your hands on some ultrasound prints. The 4-D ones make precious shots for your purpose. A photo of the pregnant lady can be a good option. Just make sure to ask her permission, unless it’s your least favorite co-worker, then all bets are off! If you have photo software of some sort, you can easily create a custom photo invite. You may also be able to download templates. For the invitation below, I used a template on Microsoft Picture It software.

DIY Photo Invitation

DIY Photo Invitation

The Purchased Invitation with Photo

If your creative juices just aren’t flowing, or you don’t have the right tools, don’t despair. Options abound for photo invitations for sale. From my go-to source, e-Bay, I found a unique and inexpensive idea. You choose a design and send them the photo you want to use.  They create a digital file and send it back to you, then you take the file to a photo finishing spot and print as many as you need.  Most prints cost around $.20. With a design price at $25, you could print 20 invitations and still come in under $40 including postage! A keyword to keep in mind when searching on e-Bay for this type of invitation is: U-print.

When your time is too limited for that type of printing, you may decide to purchase fully finished photo invitations. Besides the websites mentioned in the Simple DIY Invitation section above, Shutterfly and Kodak Gallery offer custom photo cards. A site that features lovely photo invitations is: Happily Ever After Designs. Here are a couple from that site I found particularly striking:

Purchased Invitation with Photo

Purchased Invitation with Photo

Purchased Invitation with Ultrasound Photo

Purchased Invitation with Ultrasound Photo

The Electronic Invite

I’m old fashioned and usually prefer paper invitations for more formal events. However, for some occasions, an electronic invite is perfect. The best part is, they’re either very inexpensive or free!  When I Googled electronic invitations, I found these best bets: the familiar Evite, Sendomatic, as well as Shutterfly. My favorite though is Smilebox, where you can upload your photos and choose from their music or your own.

With a little ingenuity, you can send an invitation that’s a hit with the honorees and the guests. Happy Hunting!

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