Pocket invitations are all the rage right now. It started out being a formal wedding trend but has grown in popularity and expanded onto bridal showers, sweet 16 invitations, baby shower invitations, baptism and christening invitations, holiday invitations, anniversary invitations and more! Pocket invitations offer a multi-dimensional effect to your invitation and offer that little extra touch of class and elegance to an otherwise “typical” invitation. Most of our pockets come with an insert card for your text, an outside pocket and a ribbon or seal to hold the ensemble together. Some of our pockets even hold additional information cards like RSVP’s, reception cards and accommodations cards.

Our pocket invitations come in a variety of shapes, colors and styles from horizontal and vertical shimmer pockets to square pockets with vibrant insert colors, long and tall pockets and more. Below we have laid out an array of pocket invitations for you to view ranging from baby showers to weddings…

Can’t get enough of our pocket invitations? Visit our dedicated wedding website for pocket invitations or our main InvitationBox.com website for our other pocket invitations. Next time you’re planning an event go above and beyond the norm and branch out with a pocket invite. Your guests will be impressed by your invitation choice and the extra thought put forward into your invitation style.

Sugar or honey with your tea? Tea parties are becoming very popular nowadays whether you’re 5, 21 or 95! Spend an afternoon with the girls relaxing the day away and enjoying each other’s company with high tea, fabulous finger foods and great conversation. Plan your next tea party for a bridal shower tea, baby shower tea, birthday party tea, women’s garden get-together tea or even a tea party for your little one!

When choosing your tea party invitation, choose one that coincides with your personality and the formality of the party. We have some great tea party invitations for kids including bright colorful die-cut tea pots and jeweled invitations. For adults we have delicate watercolor tea designs, teacup towers and borders, soft hues and modern tea invitations. The type of tea party invitation you choose will indicate to your guests the formality of the event.

When you host a tea party you can be as casual as having a nice get-together at your home or as lavish as inviting guests to a high tea or flowering tea service at a local spa or hotel. If you are having a tea party outside of the home, remember that many resorts offer this tea service accompanied with finger foods, deserts, a serene setting and an array of musical accompaniments. You can ask each guest to contribute to the cost of the event or ask for special group pricing for your event. If having a party at your home, you may want to serve your tea outside on a deck or in your garden. Pick up small finger foods from your local bakery and find great tea recipes online. Below I have listed a scone recipe from Alton Brown of the Food Network that may be of interest to our Susie-home-maker types:

Scones:

• 2 cups flower
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 3/4 cup cream
• 1 egg
• Handful dried currants or dried cranberries

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well. Cut in butter and shortening. In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. Stir in fruit. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.

So next time you need an excuse to get together with the girls, away from the kids, in a quiet an peaceful setting, consider hosting a tea with your closest of friends!

Baby showers are a great time to get together with friends and family to have food, cake and presents to celebrate the mommy-to-be but games are a great ice-breaker to get the group into baby-mode and to introduce new guests to each other. While browsing on Baby Shower 101, I found a bunch of GREAT baby shower games to play to incorporate the entire baby shower group, including the expecting mommy. Take a look at some of our favorites below. Remember to have little baby gifts to give to the winners:

Guess Mommy’s Tummy Size: (Materials- String or yarn and scissors) Have each woman pull the yarn to the size they believe would fit perfectly around the Mother-To-Be’s center of her pregnant tummy. After everyone cuts their string, compare the results to the Mommy-To-Be’s actual tummy. Give a prize to the woman who is the most close! This is a baby shower favorite.

How Many Baby Items Can You Name: (Materials- pad of paper and pen for each woman). Have each woman write down as many baby products as they can name (bottle, blanket, pacifier, etc) within 5 minutes. Sure it is easy at the beginning, but towards the last few minutes, the women will start racking their brains for more :) Give a prize to the woman who gets the most baby products named!

Baby Bingo: (Materials- Pens, Pre-Printed Bingo cards that use the numbers of how many people attend the baby shower) Prior to opening the baby shower gifts, number each gift on the box starting with one. If you know that 15 people will be attending your shower, pre-print bingo cards with numbers 1 through 15 and randomly place them on 15 cards. When the mommy-to-be’s decides to open the presents, she grabs the present she wants to open and reads the number out loud. As soon as someone receives bingo, they win the baby shower game and the baby shower prize.

Guess The Baby Pictures: Ask for everyone’s pictures prior to the baby shower. Have all the pictures in a collage and make lines for people to fill in who they think the babies are out of the girls at the baby shower. If most women don’t know each other, just have the pictures of the mother, mother-in-law, sisters, and mommy-to-be. See how many people guess right. You can make copies of the baby picture collage to see how many can guess right!

Guess The Dirty Diaper: (Materials- 5-10 diapers with 5-10 different types of chocolates). This game is one of the funniest and most popular baby shower games. Have the baby shower host or appointed person moderately melt 5-10 different candy bars separately, placing each one in a diaper to be viewed by everyone. Mark each diaper as A, B, C, D, etc. Have everyone guess which candy is in each of the diapers. Make sure to use some candies that have nuts, toffee, caramel, etc. You are sure to get great laughs!

Blindfold Diapering: (Materials- blindfold, baby lifesize doll(s), diapers). One of the funniest baby shower games is for the women break into teams (up to five persons per team). Each team has a doll, blindfold and diapers. The object is for each participant to place the blindfold on, take the current diaper off the doll and place the new one on while blindfolded. After the first person finshes diapering, they run to the next team-mate who places the blindfold on and has to do the same. The first team to finish diapering wins!

Pregnant For A Day (Co-Ed): (Materials: Bag of medium balloons, a roll of yarn cut into approx. 20 inch pieces, and a chair for each male participant). Don’t tell the object of the game up-front. Make a statement to the women in attendance– “How many of us women wished that men could be pregnant just for one day?” This statement will leave the men full of suspicion as to what was about to unfold. Hand each man a balloon. For each man that doesn’t have on shoes with shoe laces, tie the piece of yarn around each of his slip on shoes to mimic a shoestring. Do not form the bow. Only make a knot to help keep the yarn around the shoe. For those who do have on string up shoes, instruct them to untie their shoes.

Instruct each man to blow up his balloon and tell each man when to stop filling it with air. The balloons should be filled with enough air that it could fit under each participant’s shirt, yet be a bit uncomfortable for them to sit down and tie their shoes without popping the balloon. Keep in mind that men who already have a “pot-belly” might need to blow up a smaller balloon. Give the object of the game and the rules. Start the game and whoever ties their shoes without popping the balloon, or lifting their feet from the floor wins. You’ll see husbands, cousins, boyfriends come up with such creative ideas as how to attack this difficult task. Naturally, you get a roll of laughter from the baby shower guests as they watch this hysterical event and the men will get to see what it’s like to be pregnant for a day!

Got any more shower game ideas that aren’t listed above?! Feel free to comment and fill the rest of us in on them!

Picking out baby shower invitations can be almost as fun as planning the shower itself! You can choose from gender neutral shower invitations, baby boy shower invitations, baby girl shower invitations or even our couples baby shower invitations that celebrate both parents. Is the mommy-to-be expecting more than one? We also have an excellent selection of multiple baby shower invites for soon-to-be parents of multiples. If you have a baby shower theme, it’s a great idea to incorporate that theme into your invitations to get your guests excited for the party and they may even plan a gift according to your theme.

Baby Boy Shower Invitations: Our selection of boy baby shower invitations has a variety of options for couples showers or traditional baby showers featuring expecting silhouettes, formal layered cards and pockets, ribbon and polka dotted invitations. We also have fun and whimsical invitations themed with transportation, teddy bear, animal, rattle, blue, sports, duck and stork designs.

Baby Girl Shower Invitations: Our selection of girl baby shower invitations has a variety of options for couples showers or traditional baby showers featuring expecting silhouettes, formal layered cards and pockets, ribbon and polka dotted invitations. We also have sweet and nurturing invitations themed with bunnies and teddy bears, animal, rattle, pink and purple, safari, princess, flower and stork designs.

Gender Neutral Shower Invitations: Our selection of gender neutral baby shower invitations has a variety of options for couples showers or traditional baby showers featuring expecting mommies, formal layered cards and die-cut invitations, ribbon, die cut and polka dotted invitations. We also have cute and juvenile invitations themed with yellow giraffes and teddy bears, animals, baby prams, green, yellow and orange neutral colors, safari, rattle, stripe and diaper designs that all cater to your baby, whether it’s a boy or a girl.

Multiples Shower Invitations: Our selection of multiples shower invitations features die-cuts, ribbons, vellums and flat invitations with multiple themes, two peas in a pod, TWIN themes, prams, rattles and more…all catered to your twins, triplets or more!!

Couple’s Shower Invitations: Want to include the guys on this one and also celebrate the daddy-to-be? Couple’s showers are great to incorporate the men with the women. Our couple’s shower invitations feature couple silhouettes, pictures of the mommy and daddy-to-be, gift themes and more.

Take a look at some of the great baby shower invitations available at InvitationBox.com now…

The invitation you choose for your baby shower invitation will set the tone for your event and our classic, trendy and chic invitations are the perfect beginning to a memorable event that will celebrate your baby-to-be.

Having a baby is a very exciting time for the parents-to-be. Helping the expecting parents prepare for their new baby by hosting a baby shower in their honor is essential and so very much appreciated. When planning a baby shower the sky is the limit. It can be simple and understated, moderate and full of family and friends or extravagant and over the top. Do the parents-to-be already have everything they need? Not a problem. Host a charity baby shower and donate all gifts to a needy family while still celebrating the expecting couple.

When planning a baby shower, it’s a good idea to set the shower date for about a month before the mommy-to-be’s due date. This way if she goes into labor early she will have already had her shower and she won’t be completely uncomfortable while attending the shower.

When choosing a baby shower theme, there are so many to choose from. Take a look at some of the most common showers we’ve listed below:

Gender Neutral
Couple’s Shower
Everything Pink
Everything Blue
Umbrellas
Diaper Shower
Jungle/Safari Animals
Tea
Pampering Mom
Books for Baby

Whatever the theme, the main goal should be to provide the mom with what she needs so that she is ready for her new arrival. So whether it’s building her baby’s book shelf or filling up the nursery with decorations or baby clothes – she’ll have everything she registered for. Remember to have the mommy and daddy-to-be register at a few places so that all attending and non-attending guests can give a gift if they’d like to; some place that is convenient and has multiple items that is on the parent’s wish list.

Next up…Invitations! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog…

Colorful, bright and cheerful designs for almost any occasion – Picture Perfect is one of InvitationBox’s most popular vendors. From invitations and greeting cards to stickers and return address labels, Picture Perfect is sure to have a whimsical design to coordinate with any birthday party, holiday celebration or personal event.

Everyday Invitations: Cakes with sprinkles, die-cut kid’s invitations, baby shower invites, bridal shower invitations, cowboys, brides with bows, animals, sports, pirates, bounce houses, cocktail parties, fiestas, palm trees, polka dots and more. You name the theme or pattern, Picture Perfect is sure to have a charming invitation to match! With invitations as cute as these, you’ll be sure to leave a lasting impression upon your guests!

Holiday Invitations: Stockings and Christmas trees, New Years champagne and snowmen, reindeer and angels, gingerbread houses and ornaments, ghosts and witches. No matter what type of holiday soirée you’re hosting this year, Picture Perfect is sure to have a classic and charming holiday design to set the mood for your event. With innocent designs with bright colors, die cuts and funky patterns, you’ll be sure to have the most festive party on the block!

Holiday Photo Greeting Cards: A picture is worth a thousand words – or more with these charismatic designs! Send some holiday cheer by sending a holiday photo greeting card to friends and family. Frame your favorite photo with Picture Perfect’s vivacious designs including swirls, dots, starbursts, confetti, stars and snow dots. Personalize the inside of the cards with a holiday verse, poem or greeting!

Stickers & Return Address Labels: Label a book, decorate a letter, tag a gift or label your things with Picture Perfect’s adorable line of personalized stickers and return address labels! From superheros and pixie kids to animals, sports and birthday cakes, there’s bound to be a sticker to suit any personality or style. Don’t forget about holiday stickers to use as a gift tag for all of your loved one’s gifts.

One of the things we like best about Picture Perfect is that they have an adorable and personal design for ever occasion, holiday, style or party theme. So whether you’re 5 and planning a princess party, a bride about to walk down the aisle, or and 80 year old planning an anniversary celebration, there’s something for everyone.

Soon the mommy-to-be’s home will be filled with baby furniture, a crying newborn and very busy parents. Before the little bundle of joy is brought into the world, why not celebrate with a baby shower and assist Mom in obtaining all the things she needs to help her baby play, learn and grow?

Planning a baby shower is a very caring and selfless thing to do for your family member or friend. It all begins with an invitation which will set the tone for your event. You may want to start by picking a theme that you will use to decorate your invitations and party favors.

Below are a few suggestions for baby shower themes:

Nursery rhymes
Animals
A to Z
Books
Couples
Baby feet
Ducks
Noah’s Ark
Solids and stripes
Cute as a button

After picking a theme, search through the many baby shower invitations to find the perfect invitation. You will find invitations with bottles, babies, ribbons, curls, pastels, pacifiers and bows – the possibilities are endless and there are many invitations to choose from in formal or casual styles. Be sure to choose an invitation that compliments your theme and portrays the formality of the shower. You do not want to choose a cartoon animal invitation for a very formal pastel themed shower.

Your invitation wording should also indicate the type of shower you are hosting – whether it is a couples or women’s shower, if there are any themes and if needed, where the mommy-to-be is registered. You may even want to include whether or not the mommy-to-be is having a girl or a boy and if their name has been chosen. If you indicate the baby’s name, be sure to make certain that this will not be changing. You do not want Grandma to embroider a blanket with the name “Sarah” if this will later be changed to “Rachel”.

Below are a few suggestions for invitation wording:

Please join us for a couples shower
honoring
Jessica and James Miller
and their baby boy-to-be
Saturday, August 24, 2007
at 3 o’clock
1256 N. Messing Blvd.
East Hampton, CT

Your letter is ______

Your invitations should be sent approximately three to six weeks before the baby shower. If you have a reply-by date, this should be no longer than two weeks before the date of the event. Be sure to allow yourself enough time after the reply-by date to plan for food and games for all attendees.