An invite not only communicates the logistics of a party, it entices your guests to attend! It is one of the most important components of your party. It is a glimpse into the memories your guests will be making and is (of course) the first impression of your event. Your invite needs to deliver your party’s details with some zip! Being the luckiest person on earth, I have an incredibly talented graphic designer for a sister-in-law who helps me do just that. Grace Bettino expertly translates my parties into two-dimensional bundles of perfection! I always gasp when I see her finished designs, they encapsulate my parties so completely!

Our collaborations usually go something like this… I ask if she would be willing to design an invite. She graciously accepts. I invite her to my current Pinterest party board and send her the invite’s text, a digital concept board and the party inspiration details. We usually have some back and forth and then Grace takes it from there!

After her design is complete, she sends me the digital files, which are always splendidly bundled and professionally presented. Once we have looked everything over one last time, the project rests in my hands for completion. I print, cut, glue, tape, embellish, package and address every last invite. No detail gets overlooked. Check out this intensely detailed moment where I decided to write a post basically about postage. After completion, we usually collaborate on other small details for the party like signage to create a graphically uniformed experience.

For the Le Voyage Dans La Lune inspired birthday party, I had asked Grace to make our first ever interactive invite. After talking through a couple of ideas, Grace designed these amazing invites:

I couldn’t help myself! We used selections from 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: The Year We Make Contact for our party playlist.

The invite was so amazing! I could not have been anymore thrilled by her design! She captured the essence of the party perfectly. The interactive component visually emphasized the party, Thea & Ansel’s Trip to the Moon. It also had some number play. You can read the rockets as “31” or “3 and 1”, which represents all three birthday celebrants. Love!

Interactive Invite DIY

1. Have your invite printed with a print service. I always use Sir Speedy. There is no comparison to a professional print job. Your printer at home is ok, but once you use a professional print service… you will never look back!
2. Cut your invite as precisely as possible. I wanted to use die cutting for this intricate interactive invite, but waited too late (allow at LEAST 2 weeks). I ended up hand cutting all the components. For cutting the circle I preferred Martha Stewart’s circle cutter over the Xacto compass blade.
3. For the interactive piece, I encased it in a pouch constructed from lightweight paper. This ensured a smooth movement.
4. I used double sided tape to adhere the invite components.
5. I packaged them in pre-printed white envelopes to save time.
6. Voilà! Magnifique!

Components + Credit

• design – Grace Bettino
• printing – Sir Speedy
• envelopes – Minted
• postage – USPS
• photos – Erin Catlin
• video – Erin Catlin
• soundtrack – Richard Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra