Bar / Bat Mitzvah Planning with Doctor Simcha

Do-it-yourself

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  Invitations can be a major cost, especially for large parties as BM. However, with a little creativity and time, you can make your own printable invitations, even if you have no artistic skills.
  
  
• A warning: creating your own printable invitation can be more work than you would expect. Printer frustrations and dealing with mistakes is maybe not what you need now, with all the worries you already got!
  
  
• Words of motivation: it is lots of fun. You will be proud to save a few hundred dollars and they will look as nice!
  
  
• A last boost of confidence. Can you really print them yourself and will they look good? Answer: YES and YES!! Make the invites yourself - how hard can it be? Your guests will never even know.
  
  
• Let's get to work. You can use a simple word processor like Microsoft Word. Select the proper dimensions and print out a sample on some plain white paper just to make sure it is the right size. Use the word processor to insert text boxes with the words you want on your invitation. Play around with the fonts and text color.
  
  
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  Create an Invitation online (VistaPrint)
  Next, you will want to find the proper card stock to print out your invitations on. Buy a pretty paper. Your local office supply store will have these and you can purchase them inexpensively there. There are also online options for card stock. Check the pink card stock at Staples. Cute, right? They offer other colors there as well. Buy extra paper to practice.
  
  
• If you would like to add some graphics and clipart to the invitation, check our discussions about getting graphics and choosing fonts.
  
  
• If you use a background image, make sure it does not obscure the text on the card. Most word processors will allow you to select background images and make them watermarks.
  
  
• Try to stick to a central theme. Don't use too many pictures and colors. Compare your card to others at card stores to get a feel for what a good invitation should look like. Keep it simple, ok?
  
  
• Save the master copy of the finished invitation. Print out a sample copy on plain paper to see what it looks like. If it looks good, then you can start making a personalized copy for each guest and printing the invitations.
  
  
• If you do not have a color printer, save the file on a disk or CD. Take the disk to your local print shop and have them print out an invitation for each guest. A print shop will cost more than printing the invitation out yourself, but probably less than buying invitations from somewhere else.

Advanced do-it-yourself options

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  eInvite Print at Home Invitations
  The process of preparing the invitation yourself gets much easier with some advanced do-it-yourself options. You will be amazed how easy it is.
  
  
• Print at Home Bar Mitzvah Invitations by eInvite is an easy and affordable option, with boxes of imprintables (with envelopes).
  
  
• Create an invitation at VistaPrint is interactive and fun. You can fill up the details online and you will see on the screen how your invitation actually looks with the design that you choose! They have many designs and sizes, so it is good to look around. It's easy and affordable.
  
  
• Look also for Gartner Studio's stationary and invitation kits, there are some beautiful and affordable papers and invitation kits there. Invitation kits may come with invitation card stock, invitation backers, response cards, ribbons and envelopes for all. They come out beautiful.
  
  
• If you'd like to learn better about how to create your own printable invitations, Easy Invitations guidebook explains about creating invitations and personalized stationery using a home computer and printer. The book is filled with great ideas and simple instructions. Your invitations will be more original and much less expensive than anything available at the stationery store. The Doc heard readers that expressed disappointment about the need for an additional software that should be purchased seperately, so bear it in mind. The Doc, anyway, found she could implement a lot of the suggestions using applications that she already had on her laptop.

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