kids Birthday party invitations
BY A PROFESSIONAL PARTY PLANNER
Ideas include:
Custom printed balloon invitations
Anaglyph 3D kids birthday party invitations
Pop-up kids birthday party invitations
Personalized candy bar invitations
Cookie invitations
Cootie catcher invitations
Cartoon portrait kids birthday party invitations
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i’m matt james
professional event producer
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kids birthday party invitations
the idea
‘through the years’ invitations
Bring a smile to guests’ faces by treating them to photos of the birthday boy / girl ‘through the years’ with a custom photo collage invitation
There are several different designs, available here, so all you have to do is upload your own photos then use the ‘personalize’ button to replace the number 1 with whatever 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 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.
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the idea
well-designed invitations
Check out this site for the biggest range of kid’s birthday party invitations.
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.
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shaped invitations
This site also has some great die cut (cut to shape) invitations, such as the ones featured below, which always makes the invitations feel a little more special.
Update: The designer who created some of the examples pictured below, such as the football jersey, Vuitton bag, Barbie, and NERF gun invitations is currently taking a break so these particular designs are unavailable. You can check here to see if she is back online yet.
Alternatively, you can browse for others here.
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Balloon invitations
If you’re looking for more unusual kid’s birthday party invitations, 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
More fun and unusual birthday 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 kids birthday party invitations.
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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theme party invitations
This site has a great selection of kids birthday party invitations for themed parties such as sleepovers, camp outs, nail parties, pool parties etc.
They also have plenty of general kid’s party invitations that are just really well designed, such as the ones below.
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IN THE STYLE OF….
A great way to make attention-grabbing kids birthday party 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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PHOTO INVITATIONS
This site here is particularly good for simple and modern photo-based kids birthday party invitations, although they also have some cute illustrated ones too.
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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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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 invitation design.
The Hershey Bar wrapper, below, would make really fun and unusual kids birthday party invitations.
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.
Finally, there’s also a cute Wonka bar style invitation, available here, with the party details printed onto the famous golden ticket.
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COOKIE INVITATIONS
Cookies are another fun way to send out unusual 3D kids birthday party invitations—just wrap them in cellophane bags, add one of these custom favor tags (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 for your kids birthday party invitations?! 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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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 kids birthday party 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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CUSTOM PORTRAIT / CARTOON INVITATIONS
Another fun way to customize kids birthday party 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 kid’s birthday party invitations.
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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 birthday party details.
There are lots of different designs available, check them out here.
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elegant INVITATIONS
If you’re looking for more chic and sophisticated kids birthday party 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 kid’s 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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pop up INVITATIONS
This site also has some fun pop-up invitations if you’re looking for something a bit more unusual. Check out the full range here.
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all kids party ideas
Don’t forget to check out my main page of kids party ideas. Hit the ‘Read More’ button below.
