It’s her party, and we decided to DIY the invitations. We made our wedding invites ourselves, so it felt right to design our daughter’s first birthday invite at home too.
We considered accepting help from a talented friend, but ultimately wanted to try it ourselves — with the help of a cute baby and a computer. We started with the same style we use for Clara’s weekly photos: simple, bright shots taken on a plain white backdrop.
Those weekly snapshots translate nicely into single images when scaled up:
For the invite shot we placed Clara in her white onesie on a plain white bed sheet we already had on hand to keep the look clean and consistent.
Clara’s weekly photos had become a theme for her first year, so we decided to echo that concept in the invitation. The party itself would center on colorful fabric and numbers inspired by those photos, so the invite needed to set the mood. To achieve that, we created a fabric-like background in Photoshop and added the party details as if they were part of the pattern — a process that required more image editing than our usual weekly shots.
In short, we layered the type over the photo, lowered the type opacity so it appeared printed on fabric, rasterized layers to erase parts under Clara, and added colored asterisks to give the pattern more visual interest. Here’s the final image (with private details blurred):
Originally we planned for just text as the pattern, but it felt empty, so we added colored asterisks to brighten it up. Also — her actual birthday falling on a Saturday felt like perfect timing.
For printing, we wanted a matte, stationery feel rather than glossy photo paper or home-printed cardstock. We didn’t want to sacrifice image quality, so we searched for an affordable online printer that accepts fully custom designs. We found a service that offered the options we needed and chose a 4.25 x 6″ postcard format because a postcard invite felt fun and allowed space on the back for a handwritten note “from Clara.”
We planned to send about a dozen invites to family, but ordered 20 so we’d have extras for keepsakes like the baby book and a framed wall. By searching for a coupon code we were able to save 60% on the order, bringing the total with shipping down to about $10.11 — roughly 50 cents an invite — which ended up being a great deal.
After receiving them we realized postcards can get scuffed or bent in the mail, especially on white stock. Wanting the grandparents to receive pristine keepsakes, we bought envelopes to protect the cards during transit. The envelope size was a bit unusual, but we found a suitable pack at Target for about $4. Coincidentally, the packaging included pre-designed invites with a tools theme — ironic, but we stuck with our homemade design.
Even with envelopes, we personalized the backs of the cards with little messages handwritten “from Clara.” It felt special and added a personal touch to each invitation.
The invites went out a little over a week ago and have been well received. We managed to design, print, protect, and mail personalized invitations for under $20 total — postage, envelopes, and custom-printed postcards included. A successful DIY project that set the tone for Clara’s colorful, fabric-inspired first birthday party.