Where can I Find Party Invitations?

The Third-Party Web Site e-Card: These free e-Card sites are all over the place. They allow you to select a greeting card or invitation design and add your own text message to it. Then you plug in the names and e-mail addresses of all your recipients and hit send.

The third-party Web site immediately sends your e-Card out to your recipients and you a confirmation e-mail (if the option is available). If you choose a third-party e-Card site to send out your invitations, we recommend sticking to brand-name Web sites (such as Yahoo! , Blue Mountain, Hallmark, etc.).

Also keep in mind that a "free" service may utilize the e-mail addresses you plug in for their own future marketing purposes, so be sure to read their terms of use beforehand. If your party friends are fans of your blog or social networking Web page (Facebook, MySpace, etc.), use its announcement or private messaging feature to broadcast your event to select friends. Use the same kind of format as #1, or if your network apps allow, customize as desired.

Closely related is to use your Twitter page to tweet about it. A third no-cost option to create your party invitation is to use a free online invitation generator that allows you to design, download, and then print your invitation on your inkjet or laser printer. Creativity Portal has listed resources dedicated to online generators and free invitation cards.

Worth a mention here is that most of these free services don't require an e-mail address, but the printed card you generate often contains the branding of the Web site or company if came from (as do most store-bought cards!) and they may be a lower quality graphic. Experiment with different generators and find the one that works the best for you. A final fun option to creating your invitations cheaply is by downloading and printing one of my novelty humor No Frills Invitations hosted right here on Creativity Portal.

Intermixed with over a dozen other greeting cards you may also print for personal ise is a Party Invitation, a Birthday card, and a generic Invitation card? All with blank insides for your inviting message. Oh, and you'll also have to supply the envelope.

When I say NO FRILLS, I mean it! So now you're aware of five free or inexpensive ways to get (or make your own) party invitations. Oh, now you want some advice on the party clean-up?

Hint: you know all of those people you're about to invite? Make sure some of them like doing the dishes!