Whether you mail your kid’s birthday party invitation cards or deliver it by hand, you will in most cases, need an envelope to protect the card.
A birthday party invitation card can be an indication of the actual theme of a party, but you can go one step further and also decorate the envelopes to lend a “party feeling” to the invitation.
Take a look at the few examples in the image to see how you can decorate plain envelopes with coloured paper shapes to suit the theme of your child’s birthday party.
When you design (or buy/order online) an invitation card for your child’s birthday, the last thing you think about is the envelope. Normally you will get plain white or coloured envelopes to put the invitation card in, you write the names of the party guests on the envelope and either mail or hand deliver it and forget about it amidst all the other party planning activities.
Why not spend a little more time to decorate the envelopes as well and give an indication to the party guests about the theme of the party? It can also help the parents of the party invitees to decide upon a suitable gift for your child.
You can use plain white envelopes and just use cutouts from coloured construction paper to assemble different images. For instance, for a flower or garden party you can draw a big flower that will completely cover the envelope when it is pasted to the back of the flower.
Another idea that comes to mind is the lovable ugly face of Shrek! Just find some images online, copy and print it and attach the envelope to the back of the face. You can even use double sided tape to create 3-D envelope covers.
Colouring books are also a great source for finding images that can be photocopied or scanned before printing it out. Just imagine the delight on the faces of the kids you and your child invite to the party when you present them for instance, with an invitation that has a big zebra, giraffe or elephant face on the envelope when you host a safari themed party!
It may happen sometimes that the invitation card will not fit into a normal sized envelope. Don’t stress! Make your own envelopes from either white or coloured construction paper by just measuring the invitation card and adding a few inches/centimetres to make the flaps.
Measure the length and width of your card and add 20 mm to each. Use these measurements to draw a rectangle in the middle of a large sheet of paper of choice. Draw a bottom flap approximately three-quarters the width of the rectangle and a top flap approximately half its width. Draw two side flaps each about 40 mm wide.
Cut out the envelope, tapering the sides slightly to make folding easier. Fold in the side flaps first, then glue the bottom flap to them.
Be careful not to get glue inside the envelope. Put your card inside the envelope and glue down the top flap.
You may need to adjust your measurements slightly if your card is an unusual shape.
Please note: The image of the envelope is not an envelope template. It is purely for information purposes.
You can also design the envelopes on your computer. Again measure the width and height of the invitations cards, open the graphics program and draw a rectangle to size. Then play around with different flaps before printing out the envelopes.
The envelope that I used for the spiral invitation cards for my granddaughter’s 4th birthday party was designed by drawing a square and circles in one of my graphics programs.
Have fun designing your child’s birthday party invitations and coming up with ideas to decorate the invitation envelopes as well.
That’s definitely a fun, creative way to spice up the envelopes for your child’s party. However, I just don’t have the time I would like to personalize them the way I’d like. Is there any way I could cut a few corners or get pre-made starters to help?
Hi Sam
Thank you for the comment and the visit. I am afraid there are not really corners to cut when it comes to the kind of envelopes I have shown in the post, but you can really just use a template on your computer, add an image suitable for the party theme and print out as many envelopes as you need. Send me an e-mail through the contact form if you want some personalised envelopes for your child’s party.
Thanks again for the visit and the comment.