Handmade Birthday Party Invitations

When my kids were growing up, I had several rules governing their birthday parties.  The party invitations were to be handmade by my children for all of the guests.  There were other rules, but this was an important one.

My kids always came up with pretty clever ideas for homemade party invitations.  My daughters all seemed to gravitate toward construction paper.  I always asked them to give me one of the completed party invitations. 

I have all of them saved from when they were growing up.

One year, my son sent out birthday party invitations that he wrote on white construction paper with a white crayon.  He included a red crayon with the party invitations to reveal the hidden message.  It was really very cute and was foreshadowing the magic show that his uncle put on for the children that year.

When my youngest daughter turned two, my oldest daughter wanted to make the party invitations to her party.  She decided on a ladybug theme and then made construction paper ladybug birthday party invitations. 

They were so cute.  I smile every time I look through the old party invitations and see that one.

The year that my son turned ten, he sent out unusual birthday party invitations.  He had inflated balloons and had written the party details on the balloon. 

He deflated the balloons and sent them to his friends as birthday party invitations.  That was the year that we had his birthday party at the neighborhood pool.

Another one of the birthday party invitations that still makes me smile is the cookie cutters. 

My youngest daughter has her birthday near Christmas and some years she has used a Christmas theme for her birthday party invitations. 

The year that she used cookie cutters to invite her friends to a Christmas cookie baking extravaganza birthday party was the year she turned eleven.

I had explained to my daughter how old-fashioned cookie exchanges worked and she wanted to have one for her birthday theme. 

 I thought that it sounded great and that her friends would probably get a kick out of it. 

Her party invitations were on small card stock tied with ribbon to a Christmas tree cookie cutter.   That party went really well.