Creative Invitations for Bridal Showers

Our world is getting more and more digital, we communicate mainly through our phones, and I can’t help but feel like some things are becoming too impersonal, like inviting people to events. I know it’s very practical to just send someone a text and they will add the date to their phone’s calendar right away. I like technology as much as the next girl, but there are certain types of events that just don’t feel right not having a proper invitation.

Now that the world is getting back on track in some parts of the world, we’re eager for human contact and events like housewarming parties and bridal showers are happening again. If you are one of the lucky ones, how about sending your guests a thoughtful and creative invitation? Today I will show you two projects that I made and I hope you get inspired to do that.

Supplies used:

• 2 A4 pages of hot pink metallic cardstock
• 1 A4 page of light pink metallic cardstock
• white paper
• Printer
• Cutting machine
• White glue
• Esabox design
• Kitchen utensils designs

For this invitation, I chose the Esabox file. As you can see, it’s a Christmas design, but it’s very easy to change it, take a few parts out and add others and make it work. And then, of course, when Christmas comes around, you can use the same file again, it’s a versatile design and can be used on a lot of occasions.

Making the box

First, you will open the zip file. There are five SVG files inside it. The ones with “glitter” on the name are the ones you will NOT need this time. We will open the other three to use. I resized everything to fit the size of paper I was using, which was A4, so I had to scale it down, but if you are working with scrapbook paper size, there will be no need for that.

The file named “green” has two pieces on it, you can ungroup them and use only the larger one (the smaller one would go on the bottom of the box originally, which is where we will add the text, so we won’t need it). So to recap, you have a base (“green2” file), a lid (“green” file) and the strips (“silver” file).  I cut everything in metallic cardstock, the base and lid in hot pink and the strips in light pink, but this will work with a lot of different colors and types of paper. The design is simple and easy to cut.

The lid is very easy to assemble, you should glue that together before adding the strips (the medium strips are the ones for the lid). Then you will glue the  smaller strips on the outside of the panels on the base of the box. The larger ones go on top of the box as a bow. I also added a paper flower on top because I felt like something was missing. You can also add a tag with the guest’s name under the bow, which will look lovely.

For the inside, I measured the space at the bottom, wrote the details of the invitation, and cut it in an hexagonal shape to glue to the box. Now, the panels felt too clean without the original decorations, and I thought about glueing some candy there, and I probably would if this was a birthday invitation or something like that, but since I was doing this as an invitation for a bridal shower, I did something different.

I decided to print some designs of things that reminded me of a bridal shower. Or at least the ones I used to go to many, many years ago. I opted for a more traditional route and found some kitchenware designs  which I thought fit the theme I was going for. I opened the SVG files on CorelDraw and changed the colors to match the paper I used. I really liked the result and I hope you did too.

Attention!

Keep in mind this is an explosion box. The side panels are not glued together, it’s supposed to blossom like a flower once the lid is taken off, so it’s not going to be too firm when you’re handling it, the lid could fall off easily, so handle with care.

Supplies used:

• 1 A4 pages of navy blue cardstock
• 1 double-sided scrapbook page
• White paper
• Printer
• Cutting machine
• White glue
• Explosion Box Coffee Cup design

This one might not be everyone’s cup of tea (sorry, I couldn’t help the bad mom joke), but in my country, shower parties are called “chá”, which translates to “tea”. So, for me, this box invite has an extra special meaning, but it can still be used if you live somewhere else, specially if you word your text to match the theme.

Once again, I resized the design to fit the paper I had and the final result was a little smaller than the original, but it still worked for me. I recommend you work with 12×12 inch (30x30cm) paper if you can, the project will have the perfect size.

You also don’t have to use all of the embellishments in the design, I chose to take some out because I felt that it would become too much. So I kept it simple. I used the base of the box, lid (with the bow), the flowers that go on the edges and, of course, the teacup. On the side panels, I put the invitation text, and inside the teacup I put a teabag. You could also put some candy in there, or a flower.

For the base of the box and the bow that goes on top, I used navy blue cardstock, and for the lid, teacup and flower details I used a scrapbook paper from Jen Hadfield which was double sided. On the outside of the lid and teacup, it’s a flower pattern with navy background, and the inside is a written pattern that reminds me of an old dictionary, so it fit with the “spill some tea” theme I had imagined and used for the text on the invitation.

If you don’t feel like putting the text on the panels, you can print it on a simple sheet of paper, roll it up and glue a small oval shape, as if it would be a teaspoon inside your teacup.

Another idea of what you can do for the text: you can print it on a long piece of paper, fold it and glue just the top of the paper to the inside of the lid, so when the person opens the box, the text will cascade. Just some ideas to make your invitations even more creative.

I hope you get inspired by these projects and can’t wait to see your versions of them!