DIY invitations are not only fun, but can be even more affordable than you thought!

I recently made some bridal shower invitations for a friend (personal information has been changed in the example shown for privacy), but these tips can apply to birthday party invitations, wedding invitations, or really any sort of party invitations!

I have been making invitations friends, family and clients for years. I always start by asking for details…all the information that needs to be included, as well as the color scheme, style, theme, etc, and perhaps most importantly, the budget. The cost of an invitation can vary greatly so it helps when my client can give me an idea of what they want to spend. This helps me narrow down the supplies I will use. I always try to find the most cost-effective way to produce the perfect invitation that fits my client’s vision.

TIME SAVING TIP:

Purchase graphics from places like Etsy & Creative Fabrica. (NOTE: If you’re going to be selling your invitations/printables be sure you understand the terms of use for graphics you purchase…commercial licenses are usually required if you are including these graphics on projects you sell.)

I’m not going to go into detail about graphic software (I usually use a mix of Corel Draw and Adobe PhotoShop) because there are a lot of options out there…You honestly could design beautiful printables in MS Word or even Google Slides! Just use whatever you are most comfortable with so long as you can save/export as a JPG.

Today’s example is a simple, but elegant bridal shower invitation with a navy blue and rose gold color scheme. Rose gold foil is beautiful, but invitations with real foil is not cheap! I found a way to recreate the look without breaking the budget.

MONEY SAVING TIP:

One way to save money and still get a nice rose gold look is by incorporating printed rose gold brush strokes accents and graphics rather than actual foil.

I found a cute Bridal Shower design that was available as an SVG, so I knew I could change the text and other elements to navy, and replace those pink accent areas with the rose gold texture.

This simple centered layout uses the following fonts: Arial, Georgia, and Baby Giovani. I added a small section at the bottom to take up the remainder of the available space and filled it with the same rose gold brush stroke in the header details.

If you want to print these at home, I would recommend using a color laser printer and print on a pretty white metallic paper.  However, you can save a lot of time and money by outsourcing your printing when you print them as photo prints!

TIME & MONEY SAVING TIP:

If you size your DIY invitations at 4×6 and save as a JPG you can print them at a local Walgreens or Walmart photo department for around $0.22 each! (NOTE: Sometimes I get an error uploading to Walgreens because the file size it too large, so you may need to compress your graphic or adjust the dpi to get it to work.)

Whether you print at home or outsource, you can level up the elegance factor by mailing the invitations in these gorgeous rose gold or blue metallic envelopes. (Don’t forget you’ll need a silver Sharpie to write on metallic envelopes!)

I hope you’ve found some tips and tricks you can use for the next time you DIY invitations or announcements! Also, if you like this style invitation I’ve added some FREE template files in the Resource Library for you! You can import the JPG as a background into your favorite graphic editing software, or as an alternative you can use the slides template and customize in MS PowerPoint or Google Slides.

A lot of people have asked me to make my files editable, and so far this is the best way I have found…If you know of any other FREE option to make these files editable, please let me know! =)

WANT TO REMEMBER THIS? POST THIS GRAPHIC TO YOUR FAVORITE PINTEREST BOARD!