30th Birthday invitation ideas
BY A PROFESSIONAL PARTY PLANNER
Ideas include:
Custom printed balloon invitations
Anaglyph 3D 30th birthday invitations
Wood / metal / acrylic 30th birthday invitations
Personalized candy bar invitations
Jigsaw puzzle 30th birthday invitations
Cookie invitations
Retro invitations
Cootie catcher invitations
Custom portrait 30th birthday invitations
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i’m matt james
professional event producer
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30th birthday invitation ideas
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‘through the years’ invitations
Bring a smile to guests’ faces by treating them to old photos of the 30th birthday boy / girl ‘through the years’ with a custom photo collage invitation
There are both black or white versions, available here, for most milestone birthdays, so all you have to do is upload your own photos. For other ages, use this monogram version here, then use the ‘personalize’ button to replace the letters of the monogram with the age you require.
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custom video invitations
Save on printing & postage and avoid lost or delayed mail with an animated custom video 30th birthday party invitation that you can send via Whatsapp, iMessage, Messenger, or email.
There are lots of different designs available, some with photos and some without, and all wording can be customized to fit your event. Check out all the options here.
For a milestone birthday, I recommend using an old photo of the birthday boy / girl when they were younger, in addition to a more recent one. It just makes the invitation more unique and interesting for party guests, who might not have ever seen what they looked like as a cute baby.
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well designed invitations
Check out this site for the biggest range of 30th birthday invitations ideas. This is probably my favorite site for invitations as there are just so many different styles available; vintage, sophisticated, lighthearted, printable etc and they’re much less commercial looking than a lot of other birthday invitation sites.
I particularly like these printable cartoon-style 30th birthday invitations (below right) where they’ll illustrate the birthday boy or girl from any photo (below center for examples).
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PHOTO INVITATIONS
This site here is particularly good for simple and modern photo-based 30th birthday invitations, although they also have some cute illustrated ones too.
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elegant INVITATIONS
If you’re looking for more chic and sophisticated 30th birthday invitations, check out this site.
Note that they have a lot of great illustrated invitations, such as the ones below, but they are not listed under the milestone birthday section on their website—so be sure to check out their general party invitations too and then just customize the text accordingly.
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LASER CUT INVITATIONS
Laser cutting can add some really intricate designs, cut outs, and patterns to printed invitations, giving them a delicate, sophisticated, and expensive look and feel. They’re often used for weddings, but I think they’re a great way to make 30th birthday invitations just that little bit more special.
Browse the full range here or click on any of the images below to view that design.
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Balloon invitations
If you’re looking for something more unusual, these balloon invitations will make a great first impression. The invitation details are actually printed onto the balloon so wouldn’t need a separate printed invitation. Check them out here.
I think a nice way to present these would be to print a custom message (something like “please inflate and save the date”) onto a decorative tag, which you can pick up here for around 35 cents each, tie it on with ribbon or string and mail them out in small gifts boxes filled with confetti or tissue paper (like in the example below right from Jenny Cookies).
There are various different size and color jewelry boxes, available here or alternatively here, that you can mail them out in.
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ANAGLYPH 3D INVITATIONS WITH GLASSES
Another fun and unusual idea for party invitations are these anaglyph 3D ones that come with old-school 3D glasses for guests to decipher the details. The examples below are from wedding invitations, save the dates, and kid’s parties but all can be customized for 30th birthdays.
Of the best 3D photo invitations I’ve found, Option 1 below, are available here or Option 2 below is available here (Note: Option 2 doesn’t come with 3D glasses but you can pick them up here). For 3D invitations without photos, the best I’ve found are available here (Option 3 below), or here (Option 4 below), or here (not pictured).
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WOOD INVITATIONS
Another fun way to make your 30th birthday invitations a little more special is to have them printed / engraved onto wood. There are lots of different styles available, including some really intricate laser-cut designs, such as the tree design pictured below.
Often these are used as wedding invitations, but again, all the text can be customized, so they can easily be used for birthdays and other special occasions. Check out the full range here.
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IN THE STYLE OF….
A great way to make attention-grabbing 30th birthday invitations is to design them in the style of something familiar—a passport, newspaper, telegram, ticket etc. It’s a trick often used by professional party planners to reinforce a particular theme.
The two best sites for these type of themed invitations are this one here and also this one here. Because both these sites have so many different designs, it helps if you have an idea of the item you want your invitation to resemble, and then enter a description into the search box on each site e.g. “cassette invitation” or “newspaper invitation”—otherwise it’s a little bit like looking for a needle in a haystack!
For any of the invitations pictured below, just click on the image to go to the relevant site.
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3D OBJECT INVITATIONS
Another trick used by professional party planners is to incorporate a three dimensional object into the design of our party invitations—which instantly makes people sit up and take notice. People just love to receive unusual invitations—and often they’re not expecting a 3D object to arrive in the mail so it really captures their imagination and gets them excited about the party. Below are some great examples from professional events, including a couple by my own company Left Field Productions.
Update: a lot of people have asked where to buy ornate keys like in the example below, so I’m including a link to these here. It’s also a good place to start for other 3D objects you might want to use as your invitations.
Alternatively, check out this site here for inexpensive novelties and party favors—such as disposable sunglasses, foam baseballs, rubber duckies etc—that you can use depending on your birthday party theme / occasion.
If you’re going to use an object as your invitation, I would suggest keeping the printed card part (with the details on) simple. All you really need to do is have the birthday party details printed onto a custom tag (like in the London Dry Gin key and rubber snake examples above), which you can pick up here for around 35 cents each, tie it on with ribbon or string, and mail them out in small gifts boxes.
There are various different size and color jewelry boxes, available here or alternatively here, that you can mail them out in.
Alternatively, if you want to make the tags a little more special you can also have them made out of wood for only $2 each, check them out here, or transparent acrylic for around $5 each, check them out there.
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READY-MADE 3D OBJECT INVITATIONS
It’s also worth having a browse on this site for ready-made 3D object invitations that you can use for a 30th birthday, such these pharmacy prescription bottle invitations, available here, real vinyl record invitations with personalized labels, available here, personalized fortune cookies, available here, or these Wonka Bar Golden Ticket chocolate bar invitations, available here.
These are just a few examples I stumbled across but I’m sure there are lots of others on that site (including different design options for the examples below) so be sure to search for specific ideas, e.g. “Flip Flop invitations” or “Vinyl Record Invitations” to see what else you might find.
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PERSONALIZED CANDY BAR INVITATIONS
These personalized printable candy bar wrappers are a great way to combine a 3D object invitation with the “In the style of…” approach to your 30th birthday invitations.
The Hershey Bar wrapper, below, is a good alternative to the Wonka Bar wrappers mentioned before if you want to create candy bar invitations for an adult birthday.
There are lots of of custom candy bar wrappers available online, but most are intended as favors so they don’t have enough space to communicate all the party details in order for them to be used as invitations. This design is different in that the nutrition information box on the reverse has been adapted to accommodate all the party details. Check it out here.
Alternatively, the same designer has other custom candy bar printable wrappers available, such as Snickers, Rolo, and Nestle Crunch (click brand name to go to that option).
While these haven’t been designed specifically to be used as invitations, the designer offers a “custom modify” upgrade option for only $5 available here, so she can add additional text on the reverse to communicate all the birthday party details.
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COOKIE INVITATIONS
Cookies are another fun way to send out unusual 3D 30th birthday invitations—just wrap them in cellophane bags, add a custom favor tag (you can edit the text online to include all your birthday party details), then mail them out in shipping boxes (or DVD/CD box mailers might work well).
In terms of the cookies, you could make these yourself using a custom-made cookie cutter based on the face of the birthday boy or girl (below left). Check these out here.
Alternatively, you can have these made for you from a photo—available here. Another option is to have a photo recreated onto a cookie, available here, or simply use a decorated cookie that fits with your birthday party theme—just search here.
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CAKE POSTCARDS
For something really unusual, how about sending a cake postcard as your 30th birthday invitation?! These hand-made almost life-like cake slices have a card attached one side and can be sent through the mail as they are—just apply postage! Check them out here.
Update: There are several suppliers offering these, but my personal favorite is this supplier here. Not only are her cakes the most realistic looking, she doesn’t use a basic looking postcard (like some of the ones below) and offers to hand-write the cards and pop them in the mail for you.
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FOIL-PRESSED INVITATIONS
This site has a range of beautiful foil-pressed invitations that have a metallic finish that shimmers as it catches the light.
I think these are stunning; so chic and luxurious. Although some of the designs are intended as holiday party invitations, all the text is fully customizable and many of the patterns are abstract, so they can be used as 30th birthday invitations.
This site also has a good range of other well-designed invitations that aren’t foil pressed. Check out the full range here.
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RETRO INVITATIONS
Another way to make your 30th birthday invitations stand out is to go for a fun retro design. The two best site for retro-style invitations are this site here, and also this one here.
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ACRYLIC INVITATIONS
These transparent acrylic invitations are another great way to create a big first impression. They’re often used as modern and unusual wedding invitations, but the text is fully customizable so they can be used for 30th birthday invitations. Check out the full range here.
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CUSTOM PORTRAIT / CARTOON INVITATIONS
Another fun way to customize birthday invitations is to have a custom portrait or cartoon made of the person celebrating. There are many different styles of portraits available here, or click on any of the images below to see more of those particular styles.
Some of these are intended as wedding invitations and so feature couples and families, but most of the designers will happily customize these if you’re looking to feature just one person to use as 30th birthday invitations.
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JIGSAW PUZZLE INVITATIONS
Sending your 30th birthday invitations out in pieces for the recipient to assemble will surely create a big first impression! This wooden jigsaw puzzle style invitation, available here, is great value. Alternatively, this seller has a number of different card designs available here, such as the examples below, or check out all card options here.
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CROSSWORD PUZZLE INVITATIONS
These custom crossword puzzle invitations are often used for weddings and save the dates, but there’s no reason why they can’t be used as 30th birthday invitations.
The clues and answers you provide are a great way to really make the invitation personal (and test how well the recipient knows the host!). Check out a range of options here, or I quite like the photo ones shown below, available here.
Don’t be put off by the cheesy stock photos used in the examples below, with the right photo I think these will look great.
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COOTIE CATCHER INVITATIONS
These custom cootie catcher invitations are also a fun way to test the recipient’s knowledge of the person being celebrated by including questions and answers about them along with the 30th birthday party details.
There are lots of different designs available, check them out here.
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METAL INVITATIONS
I’m including these fantastic metal invitations just because they’re so unique, but unfortunately they require a minimum order of 50 which might make them too expensive for some people unless they have a healthy budget. Check them out here.
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