Passport Invites - DYI or order?

[primavera]

FI and I have decided to make DIY passport invites (might change to boarding passes if it turns out to be easier) and I can't make up my mind on if I should try and make them myself or just custom order from someone. We are on a budget but I am wondering how much I will save on doing them by myself after buying paper, paper cutter, printing etc etc. Any advice or suggestions?

[jszy10]

Honestly, I fought for this awhile myself!  It may depend on how many you need, but I know when I priced getting them done, the cheapest it would have been for me (only needing 25) was almost $200 -- which wasn't really in my budget.  I ended up deciding to make them myself and I am SO glad I did!!  I spent next to nothing to do them myself -- mainly because I think I cut corners in all the right places.

 

First -- I paid $10 for Aylee Bit's passport template, which was the BEST decision I could have ever made

                     http://www.ayleebits.com/2009/03/09/passport-invitation-template/

 

Second -- for the printing, I actually used my own printer (kodak) on best quality..and they came out great (it did take a few runs on regular paper to set all of the margins up, but it worked out really well)

 

Third -- I used precut cardstock from Joann's that came in packs of 6 (including envelopes!!) and were 40% off.  They were perfect in length and only needed a little bit cut off of the width.

 

Fourth -- I am using printer paper (a better quality paper, but still printer paper) for the inside pages...and I don't think they look cheap at all

 

All in all, because I already had the printer paper and paper cutter...I spent

 

$10 on the template

$12 on cardstock/envelopes

$5 on a corner round punch

$10 on new ink

 

Here is a link to my passport invites I made...I may add ribbon to them, but that's about it.  The reply postcards I got free from VistaPrint.  Let me know if you need help!!! It IS quite a bit of work..but it saved me almost $165 dollars.

 

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/63119/my-diy-passport-invites

 

(and if the link doesn't work, it is under the DIY forum titled "My DIY Passport Invites!")

[jszy10]

...AND I just realized you already commented on my passport invites last night!! haha I just wrote you back about how to do the postcards...you should try to do them yourself!!

[want2gosouth]

Great question cause I was looking into this myself for my sister as well!

[primavera]

 

 

Originally Posted by jszy10 

 

...AND I just realized you already commented on my passport invites last night!! haha I just wrote you back about how to do the postcards...you should try to do them yourself!!

 

Yes I did!! We were going to go the easy/green and cheaper way at first and make an e-mail invitation, but then I showed FI your passport invites last night and he was like "Wow! That's what we should do!" LOL So that is when I started this thread

First question, precut cardstock? Precut for passport size? What is the passport size (I guess I could look at mine haha)? And Joann's? Is that a brick and mortar store or online? See, I'm lost already haha! I used to be good at crafty stuff but haven't done it in a while so I will need all the help I can get.

 

I did look around for prices to order passport invites and it ranges from about $3-5 for each invite. We have not sent out STDs yet since we are still waiting for a set date and resort, but I am getting stressed since the plan is to get married in the end of April or beginning of March 2011. We have started to tell some people so they can plan but that means I will have to send passport invites to everyone we're inviting...that will be a lot of passports!

[jszy10]

Awww that's so nice that he liked them so much!  There are a lot of other ones on here too -- even better than mine :oP 

 

The cardstock that I bought were actually cut and made to be actual cards.  This is the best example I could show you, except mine are made by a different company and have white envelopes...but you get the idea  http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?pageName=search&flag=true&PRODID=xprd757228.  My cards were like 5 1/2" tall by almost 1/2" wide (folded like a normal card) -- I cut off an inch off of the width to make them 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" -- which I think is the perfect size for a passport invite.

 

Joann's is a craft and fabric store..I see you're from Texas?? they do have those stores in TX, so you can check on their website for one near you.  You can also use regular 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, which the template is supposed to be used for, and cut them the way the template tells you!  I just did it different because I couldnt' find the cardstock I wanted (in the price I wanted to pay), so I improvised! It is actually much easier than what I did.

[primavera]

 

Originally Posted by jszy10 

Awww that's so nice that he liked them so much!  There are a lot of other ones on here too -- even better than mine :oP 

 

The cardstock that I bought were actually cut and made to be actual cards.  This is the best example I could show you, except mine are made by a different company and have white envelopes...but you get the idea  http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?pageName=search&flag=true&PRODID=xprd757228.  My cards were like 5 1/2" tall by almost 1/2" wide (folded like a normal card) -- I cut off an inch off of the width to make them 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" -- which I think is the perfect size for a passport invite.

 

Joann's is a craft and fabric store..I see you're from Texas?? they do have those stores in TX, so you can check on their website for one near you.  You can also use regular 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, which the template is supposed to be used for, and cut them the way the template tells you!  I just did it different because I couldnt' find the cardstock I wanted (in the price I wanted to pay), so I improvised! It is actually much easier than what I did.

Yes, he didn't even want invites at all until he saw yours I have searched and looked around for other passport invites both on the forum on google and I do like yours the best too

 

I live in Texas, but I am from Sweden, hence my ignorance about craft stores in the US haha! I looked at the website and they have a bunch of stores in Texas so I will check them out. Thank you so much for all the help so far! I will start searching for the material so I have it all ready by the time we have confirmed the date & place.

 

I'm sure I will get back to you by then with more questions Thanks!!

[jszy10]

How many invites do you have to do??  Because I really might suggest buying 8 1/2 X 11 card stock instead of what I did...You get two covers per page that way.  Websites that some girls have used are www.paperandmore.com and www.paper-papers.com. That is technically what the paper calls for.  They actually have the orange flame metallic paper that I used for a little bit more money.  Some people also used those website to buy linen paper for the pages (where I just used nicer printer paper).

 

and thank you for the compliment! I'm glad you like them!  Like I said, Alyee's template was the best $10 I spent, and I just found pictures of the resort and put them in!

[primavera]

One more....do you need a photo printer to print these or can you use an ordinary home office ink printer?

[jszy10]

I would think any at home printer...just put it on the best quality