DIY Bridal Shower Invites

By Kendra Smoot

If you're planning a bridal shower and have extra time, homemade invitations will surely be appreciated by your guests, not to mention the bride-to-be!

Pretty Predictions
Along with the shower invite, consider sending each guest a small notebook, photo corners, and a note asking them to write down their "predictions" for the bride and groom. They can draw pictures or include funny photos clipped from magazines of what the future couple's home will look like, how many children they'll have, their jobs, pets -- whatever strikes them! The bride can enjoy this keepsake book at the shower, and for years after.

Seth and Kendra Smoot

Put Your Stamp on It:
You may not be super crafty, and you may most definitely be super busy, but that doesn't mean you can't send out a personalized bridal shower invite. Block stamps (available at most arts and crafts stores -- try Blockhead Stamps) in pretty shapes can make any computer-printed invite special and beautiful.

Seth and Kendra Smoot

Beautiful Birds
One of our favorite invitation ideas takes nature as its inspiration. Send each guest a sweet homemade bird filled with lavender along with with a note announcing the party details. This would be a perfect invitation for a garden shower or a party for a crafty bride. The pattern is so simple -- it takes about 20 minutes to make one bird, and since you only need 20"x10" of fabric for each, it's a perfect project for using scraps.

Seth and Kendra Smoot

Pattern Play
An easy way to incorporate pattern into your invites is to make color copies of a favorite fabric.


First, I designed the invitations on my computer (I found a festive font in Microsoft Word) and printed them onto card stock. Next, I cut out the shapes you see here with an X-Acto blade and affixed them to the front of the card with a glue stick. I then made color copies of the same pattern on plain office paper and cut it down to the size of the invite, which I glue-sticked to the left side of the invite interior (not shown).

To keep the theme going on the envelope, I color-copied the same fabric onto office labels and stuck them on the edge under the stamp.

Seth and Kendra Smoot

Sweet Treat
Who doesn't love a little candy? These mini-packs of vintage gum make a charming -- and tasty! -- invite. We double-sticked a note containing the shower information onto the back of each one (see bottom left). Another sweet treat to consider is a candy bar. Just wrap it in a pretty patterned paper -- but preferable not in summer!

Seth and Kendra Smoot