How to Create Perfect Invitations

Whether you're celebrating your child's birthday, your college graduation or a wedding anniversary, you need great handmade invitations to commemorate the event. Creating custom invitations for your special day doesn't have to cost a lot of money or require a lot of time; with a stack of blank cards and envelopes and some paper, stamps and pens, you can design personalized invitations that will impress and surprise your guests. Read on for tips on creating the perfect invitations for various events you're celebrating.

Making Custom Invites:

1. Bedeck your birthday cards. Celebrate your big day by sending creative birthday invitations to let your guests know about your party. If you want to save time or create custom invitations, purchase stamps preprinted with "Happy Birthday" and other similar phrases. Pick paper that suits your style and tear or cut it artfully before pasting it to your cards and using stamps. For children's birthday invitations, consider using stickers and fun sayings that fit the theme. For example, princess stickers or stamps could be a great addition to your daughter's handmade invitations, and phrases such as "royal celebration" and "the princess requests your presence" make invitations more special.

2. Give great graduation invitations. High-school and college graduations are exciting times, so you deserve crisp, stylish graduation invitations that announce your news. To keep personalized invitations dressier, look at samples of formal invitations for the proper commencement wording or create laid-back invitations that simply list the date, time and location of the graduation ceremony. For a fun look, cut small graduation caps out of black and navy blue cardstock to glue to blank cards, making them appear 3-D by attaching them with thick adhesive dots. Other invitation ideas include buying themed paper and stamps or hand-lettering fancy parchment paper for elegant graduation invitations.

3. Brag about your new baby. The birth of a child, whether it's your first or last, is a momentous occasion, so make it more memorable with beautiful baby shower invitations. Pretty pastel cardstock and paper is a great way to dress up plain white cards, and you can decorate your baby shower invitations with stickers or small cardstock cutouts of rattles, bottles and safety pins, too. Don't forget to buy stamps with phrases such as "new arrival" or "it's a boy" for other invitation ideas that make the cards unique.

4. Announce your anniversary. For a major anniversary, such as a 50th anniversary, elegant anniversary invitations can help you announce your special celebration. Purchase special gold-edged parchment or paper to commemorate your "golden" anniversary, and consider buying a unique stamp and bronze inkpad to make your anniversary invitations especially memorable. Hand-addressed cards will also make lovely formal invitations to send to friends and family.