1St Birthday Party Invitation

Everyone I know uses Evite and it is free. Also in hindsight, I would go easy on the 1 yr old bday celebration. I know it is nice to celebrate that they have reached 1 but they won't remember it and may themselves get stressed by lots of people. In addition if you have any financial issues, I would have a low key small event - cake some balloons, juice etc. I went to lots of trouble for my little one's first bday and she howled through all the photos. ahhh

Hi N. Try going to any of the dollar stores they have plenty of cards for parties . And you can also go on 123Cards on the internet and pick out a card and e-mail to the people who you want to invite.

Have you tried to design one on the computer or the EVITE service available via email?

All the Best!

Hello N. L, i am a mother of a 25 year old and I gave her a birthday party every year. And of course, there was always a theme. Here are some suggestions and good luck!

If you have a computer, go to Avery.com and download a template for a invitation, they have a variety and it is free. Second, if you have a scanner, scan one of his pictures you want on the invite. Buy a small package of card stock paper and get busy. Create your own invite, and you will enjoy doing it. If I can be of any other help please feel free to email me at ____@____.com my daughter was growing up, computers were not around so i know how you feel, but now you can do it with little money.

I always use Evite to do ours.... http://www.evite.com/

There you can design your own and insert pictures as well. I made great ones 2 years ago for my sons high school graduation and my daughters first bday. Last year I also did a very cute one for my daughters bday and themed it with princesses and put her picture in there. It is a wonderful way to get them out- especially late! Best part is it also gives everyone a chance to respond on there and keeps track of who is or is not coming!

We use this website for everything from just friends getting together to baby showers to family reunions etc!

For those of my family who do not have access to computers I send a generic invite from a package of them from the Dollar Store. Who knows the difference but you!

Happy 1st birthday to your son! Blessings to you all!

www.evite.com
nice design, fast and free, have been using it for years

Hi,
I always make mine at home and use my create a card program (from broderbund). I bought it a few years ago, (7-10 dollars) and you can add pictures and text etc. Very user friendly. I use that program for everything! All mt invites, Labels, address book, and you can print mailing labels from your address book. Makes it super fast and easy to get those invites addressed, and Christmas cards etc. LOVE IT! Also Costco has super cheap photo cards if you do not want to do them yourself! as others have said, evite is also great!

Hi N.,

If you want a printed on paper/cardstock type of piece, I would recommend VistaPrint (www.vistaprint.com). Very inexpensive, but it might be tough to get the printed piece shipped to you for mailing next week without an upgraded shipping charge. Otherwise, I'd suggest uploading a photo to www.snapfish.com or www.shutterfly.com and using one of their invitation templates. You can either have them shipped to you or you can pick them up at their contracted retailer (Walgreens, Target, etc.). Good luck & have a wonderful time celebrating your son's 1st birthday!

Use evites.com I would not worry about it being 'nice'. If the family and friends you want to ask over are all using email regularly, a LOT of people are doing online invites these days! If you don't want people to know that cost was a factor, then just say you are trying to be more environmentally friendly! It will be true and besides, remember 2 things-
1) Your son will not even remember this party. Have fun, take some cute pictures, but remember that this party is to celebrate HIM.

2)The people who love you and your family would not want you to be stressing out about how much the party costs! Bake a cake, and invite people to bring pot-luck! Say something like " We want to introduce little Johnny to his family's favorite dishes! Please bring something special that your family loves to make and eat and we'll all have a terrific birthday pot luck!' Make it about fun and family traditions- everyone will be happy!!

Make it on scrapblog.com, print it at Walmart photo.

Invitations in the mail are nice but everyone is trying to cut down on expenses so it is perfectly understandable that you will likely not choose this format ... why not send an Evite? WWW.EVITE.COM. There are so many cute ones you can choose from. Or if the guest list is local ... create an invite on your own computer and print it out on cute and inexpensive paper you can get at an office supply store or card shop and hand-deliver them to their mailboxes. There is no reason to stress, a 1st Birthday Party is truly about getting together with your friends and celebrating your blessing of a 1 yr old child ... not about the invitation.

You can always put his picture on the thank you note - a personal and treasured note that you can take time with.

One more thing, because you said you were not working and you have this child ... if you are curious about a wonderful business opportunity, take a look at my website. I love what I do alongside raising three children. And I very much enjoy teaching and training those who have joined my team.

All the best,

N.

www.nancyhoagland.myarbonne.com
1-###-###-####

I always use Evite. It's free and fast!

my family has mastered the simple mail out invite.... First we make a word document (include plenty of photos and clip art)....we can arrange the type in a variety of patterns (help is offered in some of the word templates) in plenty of color. Once the "poster" is finished, it is printed, folded in 3rds, address labels (return and addressee) and a stamp and off it goes. Thank you letters are done the same. Since we are a VERY large family, there are frequently 30 to 50 invites being sent, so this helps cut the cost. We have dropped mailings to the members of the family who are great about checking their e-mails and just attach the document to their e-mail.....awesome paperless system!

If there is a Dollar Tree near you swing by there. They have the cutest invitations, party favors and supplies (an entire section) and everything is a dollar. Hope you have a fabulous party for your son.

I went to party city and bought elmo invites nd thank us then went to jcpenney and got wallet photos of him which are cheap and put them in his thank yous

N., Not sure how many people your inviting. but one year we took a good picture of my son. Took that photo to mailboxes etc and made a copy of it on a pc of paper. put it at the top or bottom doesn't matter which. then had them make color copies of it. they were at the time about 20cents each. then brought it home and created the invitation on our own printer. cheap but cute.
S.

We bought cheap invites at a party store. if you want to use a photo, go to walgreens or somewhere local that prints out pics. Remember, he is not going to know what this party is all about and he is certainly never going to remember the day. If money is tight, dont go over the top and spend money on this rather than important necessities!

vistaprint.com this has the cheapest quality invites online. i just used them for my daughters party and my sister in law used them for a 60th party which included a photo. quality and great price.

N.,

We've done invites like that through walgreens and walmart photo shops! You can put a picture on the invite, and order larger quantities. I think when i did my son's graduation, we made 100 invites for less than $50! So i would imagine the quantities smaller than that run really cheap. PLUS walgreens also has a coupon online! Check it out.

J.

I have found a great invitation degisner (she uses photoshop to create them) on Etsy. Here is the link to her shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5409043&section_...

You pay ten dollars to have her make the proof for you. She went above and beyond, for me, to make my daughter's baptismal invitation exactly how I wanted it. She even changes the date for me after we had a scheduling mix-up.

Sara will send you the proof via email no later than the next day. You can either print these on your computer with 4x6/5x7 paper or you can have them printed at the retailer of your choice.

Sara suggested walmart, luxe finish. The prints turned out great! I paid $22 for 40 invites and they came with envelopes! (I didn't pay extra for them through the website, which was how I ordered them). My prints also came in in two days. So my total for everything was $37, which is way cheaper than what Tiny Prints charges, which is where I looked first.

Ps..Don't get the same day prints at Walmart, it's not worth the extra money- like 2x the price- for the same thing a few days later

Good luck with everything! Have a fun party!

When my oldest turned one I had a cute picture of her I copied from the computer onto white cardstock. I printed something like "look who is turning 1, please join the fun" on it. They turned out cute. I did them myself, and while I could have sent out to a photo place, I saved a lot doing them at home.

If you don't want to do them at home, what about a card from Walgreens or someplace? Like the photo Xmas cards that is just the picture and info, they do not open?

try tinyprints.com...can add photos, relatively inexpensive and can get your order pretty quick. Also, try the photo websites like shutterfly, kodak, snapfish -- all have photo cards. If those are more than you want to spend, Costco or drugstores like Walgreen, CVS would be the least expensive way to go. Happy Birthday to your little one -- healthy and happy, always.

Vistaprint.com is great! They usually have a free sale going at all times for a few invites. If you are looking for a job, let me know! I work one day a week and make $1000 a month and have great jewelry! S. www.liasophia.com/staceys

When my daughter turned one I took a cute picture of her, scanned it in as black and white and printed invitations myself using postcard paper from Office Max.

Postcard postage is less, less to print yourself and everybody loved the picture of her.

good luck.

My second child's birthday is in two months. I plan to do the same thing.

I just got some from Shutterfly-they turned out really cute. You can google shutterfly coupon codes and there is usually something out there you can use. They have cards on sale right now, but once you sign up with Shutterfly, you get emailed deals from them all the time...my invites were free! Good luck and Happy Birthday to the little guy!

this might not sound super fancy, but it's personalized, cute, inexpensive & personalized: get some nicer paper & cut it to whatever size you want. then attach a cute picture of your little one to 1 side of the card (use double-sided tape, glue stick or spray mount). for the party details, either hand write them on the other side, or print, cut & attach them to the other side. all the tiny prints kind of invites are so expensive - and this way you'll have a hand in making it yourself. :) good luck & have fun @ the party!

ps - have someone take pictures for you at the party or pass the camera around. we hardly have any from our daughter's first because we were too busy running around.

Hi N.,
For my son's 1st and 2nd birthdays I got the invitations from Walgreens using one of his pictures. There are many borders you can choose from and the size of the card. They include envelopes too. It's inexpensive plus less time consuming than doing it yourself. I'll probably use them next year too. Have a terrific party.
Bernie

Have you looked at www.tinyprints.com?
I've uses them before and have been very pleased
with their work. I'm not sure about the turn around
time, but I'm sure you can get a rush delivery
if your budget allows.
Happy 1st birthday to your lil one!

S.

N.-

I see a lot of moms have already recommended evite.com

The same website popped into my mind. I have not personally created an invitation using evite, but I have received many birthday invitations via evite.com. I love this site for getting the invitation and quickly responding to the person inviting me/or my kids.

Try not to stress out over it. You can always send a photo card of your son during the holiday season.... and that will be here sooner than we sometimes expect! I have not received evites with personalized photos of the party person, but I think you're able to do that, too.

I do LOVE using snapfish.com for organizing my photos into albums, making photo gifts, Christimas cards, etc.... It's a free site to organize albums and share with others. Sign up (free) to have them email you sales... such as half off calendars (actually that's going on today and tomorrow)Great deal-, free shipping and handling, etc... Shutterfly is simliar too, but I have not tried them. So far I have been just storing all my photos with Snapfish.

I think you should give evite.com a try first for the invitaions, though. It's free and like I said, it's so simple to rsvp and that's all online for you to keep track of who is coming, who is not coming and the "maybe" list.

Have fun with your soon to be one year old! What a fun time!

J.

If you'd like to send the pic or pics you'd like to use and the info you want on it Id be happy to make ya one that you can take to walmart to print out. I believe they are like 19 cents a print for 4x6. My email is ____@____.com Let me know your theme too if you have one.

Hi. I have used the following invitations at low cost. The dollar store, card and party stores in there clearance section and I have made them myself. There also are a bunch of emailed invitation sites you can use, some, I believe, are free (evite.com). The other thing you can always do is just make phone calls as invitations. Good luck and remember the invitation is not the most important part of your celebration. You do not have to spend a lot of money to let people know of an event!

Quit stressing he's not going to remember it any way.

For inexpensive invitations, you may wish to try the photo department at CVS. Just go to their website and see what they have available. You can upload a picture, pick an invitation, select your text, and have them within hours for not a lot of money.