Think outside the envelope for a creative party invitation.
To capture your potential party guests' attention, you've got to compete with a mailbox full of bills, junk, newspapers, ads, correspondence and magazines. Announce your party with a style they won't be able to miss by sending a creative invitation. Creative ideas need not be expensive or time-consuming. Take cues from around you and let your artistic side free to come up with something sure to put your party in every person's planner. Does this Spark an idea?
Invite in a Bottle
The story of someone sending a plea for help by placing a message in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean has been around for thousands of years. According to The Francis Asbury Society, messages in bottles date back to the Bible. Offer your party guests this very old-fashioned way of communication by creating your own messages in bottles as your party invitations. After washing out and drying the bottles, create your invitations on the computer or by hand. Curl them up and tie them with a thin ribbon. This will stop them from unfurling in the bottle, causing a problem with their removal. Punch a small hole at the top of each and thread a thin, pretty ribbon through the hole. Tape the other end of the ribbon to the bottle cap. When the recipient uncaps the bottle, the invitation will pull out. Place bottles in padded boxes, then take them to the post office to ensure the proper amount of postage is applied to them.
Cool Cookies
Attract guests to your party through their stomachs by tempting them with a sweet treat invitation. Create an edible invite by baking large cookies (a precut batch or roll of cookie dough saves time) and frosting them with fondant. Fondant is a specialty topping created to look smooth and take on any color or pattern you can imagine. This will serve as the base for your invitation. Fondant is made in batches, so prepare enough to top all of your cookie invitations. Press the fondant around the top of the cookie and around its sides to form a "cookie cloak." Once the fondant is sealed over the cookie, use a fine-tipped icing gel or pipette to handwrite the party details on the cookie, such as time, place, date and RSVP. After the icing sets, place cookies in plastic zip top bags and hope that guests will read and respond before devouring their invitations.
Outrageous Origami
After you've created your party invitation or filled in the lines on the generic, store-bought boxed cards, your invite may feel a little flat. Pique guests' interest and add a little bit of artwork to your cards by folding your invitation into an origami shape. Origami, which dates back centuries, is thought to have begun in Japan or China (where paper was first invented). It involves making tiny, crisp folds to create recognizable shapes, such as flowers, birds (cranes in particular), animals and other items. While specialized origami paper is available for folding, you can make anything into an origami masterpiece. The thinner the paper, the better, such as if you printed your invitation off the computer onto standard copy paper. You can make items such as the five-pointed star and the basket with cardboard invites as well. Slip your newly created work into an envelope and wait for the responses to roll in.
Tags: your party, them with, your invitation, into origami, messages bottles, party guests