If you’re like me, email is a monkey on my back. It’s a constant challenge “to get my email cleaned out” and a sense of accomplishment when it does get cleaned out. But then, just like laundry and yard work, it’s never ending, and starts all over the next day. Throw an email invite or two in the mix of work emails, junk emails and social emails, and it gets lost. And it certainly doesn’t lend importance to me when my goal is to get through emails so that I can actually “start work”!. So I keep it in my inbox, but don’t open it for a day…or two…or three…or ever sometimes.

But if you’re like me, when I get the mail and there’s a handwritten envelope with a tangible invitation, I rip it open immediately, ignoring my “list of things to do”. Why? Because an invitation sent in the mail lends importance NOT ONLY to the event, but to the friendship that is between the invitee and the inviter!

Our reasons to SKIP the digital and send out a printed invitation:

1. Customization - From the paper weight/quality to color, font, and design, a printed invitation gives a world of options to make the invitation everything that the host wants it to be. The more the creative with your invitation, the better! People will know it was made JUST for you. Recently, a creative bride requested a “party bus with all my girlfriends on it for a bridal party weekend”. She wanted custom, she got it!

2. Acknowledgement - Since creating, printing, and sending a printed invitation takes time and effort, the invitee feels their requested presence at event has value. The invitee is not just another email address on a long list. Receiving an invitation in the mail is like getting a small gift among all the ads and bills that engulf mailboxes. It makes the invitee feel special!

3. Keepsake - A tangible invitation gives you lots of options to “remember” the event after it’s done. It can be added to a scrapbook, matted and hung in a great frame, or put in a memory box to be looked at later on. The printed invite is a great way to see a child’s history - from a princess party when she’s 3 to ponies at 8, to a glamorous gala at 16 - it will give a visual reminder of her personality as she grew up! In the following example, this mom wanted to create a memory book for her daughter’s Sweet 16 party. She was only one phone call away from getting what she wanted, and here’s the result of her request!

4. Importance - A printed invitation gives your event more value in a way. The host has put thought and effort into picking out the right invite, stuffed and addressed all the envelopes, and made a trip to the post office to get them off to the invitees! The host didn’t just throw everything together in a quick email or post - they took their time to plan a great event, and that means something. Yes, it is fun to do a spur of the moment kind of thing, but when so much effort is put in to really throwing a great party, why not go all the way and do the printed invite. It is a classy touch!

5. Reminder - You can’t hang a digital invite on the fridge or tag it onto your bulletin board. It can just “sit” and wait to be opened again. Having that tangible invite gives the invitee the option to actually look at it on a regular basis. By actually having an invitation in hand, its a good way to continue to think about the event and a reminder of maybe getting a present picked out or figuring out the perfect outfit to wear.

So next time you are gearing up to host another party, make it special from the invite to the actual party and everything in between! PJ Greetings has been creating invitations for their customers for 10 years! There isn’t an occasion that we can’t take on, and we welcome all requests! See all our invitations at www.pjgreetings.com. If you don’t see what you are looking for, we can and we will create the perfect invite for you!