Whether you need invitations for a Hawaiian-themed wedding, backyard luau or birthday party, create your own cards to convey the event's time, date and place. Choose colors, objects and accents to generate the feel of the islands. Then customize the invitation style to suit the formal, relaxed or whimsical tone of the festivities.
Use Postcards
If you have access to a stash of new or used postcards from Hawaii, turn them into quick homemade Hawaiian invitations. Write the party information on the back of the postcard and mail "as is" or in an envelope. Recycle used postcards by printing party details on a piece of card stock that you can trim and adhere over the old message on the postcard or simply affix the used postcard to the front of a blank card as an easy invitation. You can also print party specifics onto a piece of translucent vellum paper and attach it over the postcard photo with small brads for a more formal look.
Incorporate Sand
Evoke the atmosphere of relaxing Hawaiian beaches by incorporating sand onto your Hawaii-themed invitations. Make a border for the front of the card by applying strips of double-sided tape around the edges or using glue to create wavy lines across the bottom. Sprinkle the areas with real sand and press the grains slightly to help them adhere. You can also add sand to segments of palm tree, shell, bottle or beach stickers on your invitations by applying a thin layer of glue with a paintbrush before coating with sand.
Make Decorative Shapes
Create shaped Hawaiian party invitations to represent the theme of the party. Try objects such as a sun, palm tree, conch shell, flip-flop, tiki torch, tropical flower, waves or sunglasses. Design your own card bases by folding a piece of card stock in half and tracing a stencil, large cookie cutter or die cut so one edge of the design rests along the fold. Trim the shape and then adorn the front of the card with stickers, rubber-stamped images or markers and add party details inside.
Go Dimensional
Although you'll need to pay additional postage, consider creating Hawaiian party invitations out of dimensional objects. For example, write the party information on a deflated beach ball with a solvent ink pen that won't smear on slick surfaces. Design your own message in a bottle by printing specifics on a piece of vellum and rolling it to sit inside a small plastic bottle. You can also print details on a colorful card stock tag and attach it to a pair of inexpensive flip-flops, a paper flower lei or plastic sand shovel.
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