Party Planning: Invitations

Following up a "save the date" mailing, which serves as bit of a teaser and lets people know there is more to come, the invitation gives the needed details (what, when, where, etc.). More information is always available via phone or email.

The first thing you might notice is that the colors are not what you'd expect for a party of this nature. Well, it is an off-season party! I like the incongruity of the summery colors with the skull and spooky font. One thing I'm trying to do is to use some of the things I've been collecting for all these years. I bought these fun invitations not too long ago because the main card color is pretty close to my signature color. This style of invitation is great because you can run the top card through your printer, then attach it to the base card with foam mounting tape.

I had initially planned on stamping the invitation like the envelopes, using the smaller stamp. But I realized a couple of things: 1) the skull was facing the wrong way (for my preference), and 2) I hate trying to line up the stamped image (or, if stamping first, trying to make the text line up properly). My solution: stamp the skull on white paper and scan it, then clean up the image, color it any way I wanted, and lay out the invitation and print (I used Adobe InDesign). This way I could flip the skull so it was facing the way I wanted it for the top of the page.

I've been learning to pare down what is included on the invitation. (I'm not all the way there yet, but it's better than our first party invitation!) This is not a costume party, so I wanted people to be aware (people can feel awkward if they show up to a non-costume party in costume). I also don't want there to be any questions about whether or not guests should feel free to bring hand-crafts like knitting or crochet (always fine at this house). Everyone already knows we have cats, so that info. isn't necessary any more. If we were doing a adults-only party, or were requiring costumes, that information would be important to include.

Stamps: Skull, from StampFrancisco: Large and Small
Ink: Vivid! Dye Inkpad, in Garnet (envelope only; invitation image was recolored digitally)
Font: Black Castle, from dafont.com

Text
Join us if you dare!
For a slightly spooky, not at all sinister, mid-summer “Hallowe’en” bash.
(It’s not really Hallowe’en, but that doesn’t mean much around this place.)

Why:
When:
Where:
Wear: Regular casual (although people have been known to show up in PJ pants & bunny slippers, and that is fine).

What-not: It’s not an over-the-hill party, just a regular birthday party where the theme happens to be Halloween (the birthday ghoul’s favorite holiday and year ‘round obsession).
Food, games, movies and conversation are planned. Knitting/crochet are always welcome. Feel free to get in touch with any questions!

RSVP
by
(email)

Inserts

By the time this post is visible, everyone on the guest should have received their invite, so it's safe to share the item to the right. We always show a movie or two during the course of an evening, and this time have a special surprise for our guests (more on that later). We thought it would be fun if people had a little souvenir (if they like that kind of thing), and worked up this little ticket. I don't know if you can tell, but they're actually perforated. I based the design on vintage movie tickets (like these) and used Photoshop, InDesign, card stock, a sewing machine, paper cutter and hole punch to achieve the look. (If there is interest, I could work up a tutorial.)

Fonts: Jefferson (Liberty Hall), Harting (Admit One) & Kenyan Coffee (everything else)

Not shown: an insert with additional info. We have a large yard, so people can camp overnight if they'd rather not drive home and wanted everyone to know.