Paperless Post Invitations

I was recently contacted by Paperless Post to try their invitations, but before I go into it, let me give you a little of my background. I’ve been an invitation snob for as long as I can remember. Many moons ago, I remember going into The Stationary Square in Hyde Park Village and being mesmerized by all of their paper invitations. The invitations would make me want to have parties just to have an excuse to buy them. Once I bought my first home and began to actually have parties, I would race to that store, agonize over which one I loved the most, buy just enough and print the details at home to save money. I would then spend hours trying to get the words to align properly before stuffing them into envelopes and addressing them with my horrible handwriting.

Along came Etsy where I could browse a zillion custom invitation designs and have them custom printed for far less than my print at home option. Game changer, for sure! I’ve purchased and printed many invitations over the years and it makes me giggle to think of how hard I made it on myself way back when.

After all these years, I still love an excuse to send invitations no matter how small the festivity. I just think it makes people feel special to get one in the mail and it adds a touch of formality to an otherwise casual affair. Unfortunately for me, that’s not always an option when we have last minute gatherings. And sometimes, with a very small event, it’s simply not cost effective to print 5 invitations. Those times usually result in me sending a text. The horror, right?! 😉

Enter Paperless Post to save the day! They offer a ton of invitations and greeting cards in all categories, including the option to upload your own design (can’t wait to try that option). Once you choose your design, you can customize the text and choose a handful of options to fancy up your delivery; they even include an RSVP card so you can keep track of everyone. They have a lot of free designs but you can also purchase coins which are then used to pay for premium cards and any upgrades you add to your invitation.

As luck would have it, their timing happened to coincide with my mom’s birthday so I decided to use Paperless Post to invite my parents and brother to a small birthday dinner at our house. It was easy to customize the design I chose. I actually liked the fonts they already had on their design so I kept them the same and just increased the size so it was easier to read.

You can send yourself a test to be sure you’re happy with your finished product, which is pretty impressive. Once you receive an invitation, you actually “open” an envelope addressed to you, get to view the pretty invitation, then choose your reply and are even given the option to send the host a private message or simply add the event to your preferred calendar.

As the hostess, I can see who has opened and replied to the invitations and export the list for other uses … like customized place cards. 🙂

I was curious to know what others would think of the experience on the receiving end and after asking my brother if he thought it was ghetto (a term I often overuse for everything), this was his response (yes, this is how we speak to each other):

Sibling ramblings aside, as much as I prefer snail mail, tangible invitations, the recipients don’t always find them as exquisite as I. I can’t say I am anywhere close to abandoning my tedious paper invitations, but I can say that I love this service and will definitely use it again. I haven’t sent Christmas Cards in, um, I forget how many years? Always the best intentions … life … time … fail! However, this is a great option when you run out of time for traditional cards yet manage to get the money shot of your family 4 days before Christmas. #beenthere

Let me know if you’ve used Paperless Post before and if so, how you liked it. Curious to know how many other old school hostesses have jumped on this bandwagon!