"BaByQ" Gender Reveal Party Invitations!

When we decided to do another gender reveal party, I originally wanted to keep it more low-key, since this is the second gender reveal party we've done.  We decided to do a barbecue with close family and friends.  But then we decided I needed to do invites and games again, and I realized just how many close friends and family I wanted to invite, so the whole low-key thing went out the window!  What can I say?  I can't help myself.

However, I still liked the idea of making it more of a end-of-summer barbecue *slash* gender reveal party.  I've been wanting to do a barbecue this summer, and I thought combining the two would give it that more low-key feel that I was originally going for.

I knew, however, that I didn't want to put pressure on myself to make the invitations again like last time (I handmade gender reveal invitations for Wyatt's party), so I went on a quest for some invitations.  I originally looked into making them on Shutterfly or Tiny Prints, but that was going to cost me around 40 bucks!  No thank you.

I decided to do a little search on Etsy, and what should I spot but the perfect gender reveal party invitation.  Seriously.  Who would have thought that someone else would have decided to do a gender reveal barbecue too?

See?  It's perfect.

I ordered this invitation from a shop called PuzzlePrints.  It came as an image file, and then I printed it up from there.  

Originally the invitation was for a first-baby gender reveal, so I contacted the owner to see if she could change it up to reflect that this was our second baby, and also to see if she could include Wyatt in the invitation (though I wasn't sure how that would work, so I gave her an out in case she couldn't fit it in).  But she was able to include all the details I wanted and I think the changes she made were perfect!  

The owner of PuzzlePrints (Laura) was really easy to work with.  I was also surprised when I checked my e-mail shortly after ordering and already saw the completed invitation in my inbox!  I'm talking within the hour.  I was very impressed with how fast I got it, because it let me order the prints quicker (and the invitations were already going out late, so time was important).

I love the way it turned out!  I still had to pay to have the invitations printed (since I don't have a working printer in my house), but I think the total was much more reasonable for something so personalized.  It would be super-reasonable if you had your own printer!

I felt like the envelopes that came with the invitations when I printed them were a little plain , so I bought some scrapbook paper to add some pizazz.  This is the finished product: 

I was really happy with them!  Tip: When I went to have them printed I also included a sentence on the back saying "No gifts please, just bring yourselves!", because I forgot to ask Laura to add that to the front.  Because you don't want people to feel like they have to buy you something for a party like this, you know? That's what baby showers are for.  Just my thoughts on the subject!

If any of you decide to order an invitation from PuzzlePrints, Laura has offered a free thank you card printable with your purchase when you mention my blog!  PuzzlePrints has beautiful invitations for birthdays, Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas parties, wedding showers, wedding anniversary parties, baby showers, and of course gender reveal parties.  And she takes custom orders too, so I'm sure if you are looking for something a little different she could come up with a perfect invite!  Personally, I have my eye on her ugly sweater party invitations if we decide to have another one this year!

I'm so excited to have our "BaByQ" gender reveal party on Sunday!  Stay tuned for the details, coming next week!