Popsicle Invitations

Well I worked on these invitations back in April and I’m just getting around to posting a how-to now.  Since Toby wasn’t obsessed with anything in particular and I still wanted to do some kind of theme, I decided on something that was fun, colorful, and easy to put together.  Since he has a summer birthday, we hosted a summer picnic/BBQ using the classic gingham design, some polka-dots, and lots of primary colors.  When I was searching for birthday picnic ideas on Pinterest, the Teddy Bear Picnic theme came up a lot, but I strayed away from that as it seemed a little too feminine.

I saw a picture of popsicle invitations and fell in love – I knew it would be perfect to set the picnic theme.  They took some time to cut, punch, and actually put together but it was worth it, as they came out pretty cute.  Unfortunately the downside to these invitations was that the post office really took a beating on the envelopes – the popsicle sticks must have gotten stuck in the machines causing some of the invitations to get a little crumpled.  So if you decide to make something similar, I recommend passing these out in person rather than mailing, or talking to the post office about the most cost-effective way to get them out without being crushed. 

I printed the invitations on 5x7 white cardstock cards (pre-cut).  For each invitation, I took an invitation card for the front and then used a scrapbook paper piece for the back.  I put the cards together like a sandwich and only put a glue dot in the top two corners to start.  However, for the top right corner I needed to make sure that it was placed low enough so I wouldn’t punch it out (see below photo).  I rounded the top left and bottom corners and used the 2” punch for the top right corner.

I then separated the two paper pieces slightly so I could place the popsicle stick in the middle and centered on the back piece.  I then put a glue dot on top of the stick and also on the two bottom corners of the back piece.  Then I carefully laid the top invitation piece and smoothed everything so the glue dots stuck.

Once I had these steps down, it wasn’t too difficult to make the rest.  Here’s what they looked like after they were done.  I loved that polka dot paper so much!