Baby Shower Kit - Invitation
Ideas for saving paper and choosing earth-friendly materials for a baby shower invitation
About the party: Here’s your chance to describe the “eco-friendly” theme of the party and what it means to you. Perhaps you’ll ask guests to wear earth- or sea-colored clothing, or bring a sustainably produced treat to share. Be sure to include any instructions for a gift registry or charity for donation, in addition to the “who-what-where and when.”
RSVP postcard: Save paper, money and effort by choosing a postcard instead of a card and envelope. You can send invitations on postcards with an e-mail or phone number for RSVPs. If you prefer to use a card and envelope invitation, you might consider a postcard RSVP.
Recycle: Make your own post card from recycled paper. The Post Office will accept post cards between 5”-6” long and 3.5" - 4.5" high.
Re-use: Scour antique shops for antique postcards to use.
Reduce: Ask for RSVP’s through email or voice mail.
Earth-friendly paper:
- Unbleached paper: Look for “TCF” (totally chlorine free) paper.
- Look for post-consumer recycled (best) or recycled content (also good).
- Plain is better: heavy dyes and coatings require more resources and create more pollution.
- “Tree-free” paper made with kenaf or hemp.
- Hand-made papers weave in petals, grass, recycled cotton – or even seeds that can be planted!
Electronic invites: You can skip paper entirely and do all your invitations online! Invitation services like Evite allow you to manage RSVPs as well. Take a look at these providers:
MyPunchbowl (www.mypunchbowl.com). This site includes every tool you need for hosting a party: step-by-step event planning, a date decider, a potluck food tracker, gift registry, and an after party message board.
Pingg (www.pingg.com). Unlike most invitation services, Pingg has all the steps for building an invitation on one page. The designs are great and the many social network options make it simple to share your evite.
Crush3r (www.crush3r.com). Crush3r is simple and clean, which makes creating invitations a snap. You can add videos, music, photos, and more. Crush3r also has a date decider and sends reminder e-mails.
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