Feb 17, 2009

Works for me: Photo cards for invitations and thank you notes

Ever since Alex was born, Marc and I have taken pride in, and enjoyed, creating the boys' announcements and invitations ourselves. Usually he does the design and I do the execution. But we are both busier than ever, and lacking the time to do these projects.

For Tyler's birthday party last year, I ended up including Cars-themed invitations in my craft kit order from Oriental Trading Company. I printed out the pertinent info on large shipping labels like these,because I wasn't going to hand write the same info over and over again.

Historically, it's still cost us over $20 per project, depending on how many announcements or invitations we've needed. So when I realized that I could order 4x8 photocard invitations for our son's upcoming birthday party for $18.36 including tax and shipping, I knew that was the way to go. I used a photo of my son in his firefighter costume, and the invitations turned out great. (Lest anyone think that's my son, the picture is just a sample invitation from the Shutterfly site.)

For thank you cards, my plan is to take a photo of my son holding each gift and order prints using credits I have for free prints. I can jot down a quick personal note using a marker, or have Alex write on the back of the photo. It'll be about as inexpensive as sending thank you notes can possibly be.

Find more Works for Me Wednesday tips at Rocks in My Dryer. Starting next week, Works for Me Wednesday will be at We are THAT Family.

8 comments:

Dawn said...

You can also just make your invite a jpg image and upload it as a photo. You can print it as a 4x6 or 5x7 for only the cost of the print...not the photocard.

annies home said...

great idea I have an aunt who has always sent out photocards as we

Anonymous said...

I have used www.photopostos.com to turn my photo into a photo postcard. Works great for many different occasions.

Mommy Shoes said...

You have to try scrapblog! You can create great personalized thank you notes with the writing right on the card. You can also make fun cards to email. They are easy to print to Target or Costco and they are only the cost of a regular photo. All the people I have sent them to have been thrilled. Here's an example of one I did: http://www.scrapblog.com/226afc90ae/06795AE9-39D3

Chief Family Officer said...

@Dawn - I love that idea! Alas, I'm not nearly talented or experienced enough to create my own invite.

@Barbara - Never heard of them, I'll have to check them out. Thanks!

@MommyShoes - Never heard of them either, but sounds fabulous. Thanks you!

Lisa @ Let's Talk Babies said...

What a great idea. I'll have to check that out. We always do personal invites and cards, etc, however, it can be so time consuming. I like the idea of the photo cards.

Heidi said...

I know this post is WAY old, but maybe someone out there is like me, reading your archives for money-saving tips! :)

I make my girls' invites in PowerPoint and then save as a jpeg, attach to an email I send to all the invitees.

Super easy, personalized invites. Saves money and paper. Works for me.

Chief Family Officer said...

@Heidi - That's really clever, great idea!