Miss_Delerium's Budget DIY Boarding Pass Invites **PICS**

Well...they're finally done and in the mail. We're on a tight budget, so we made our invites ourselves. After scouring the BDW boards and looking at every boarding pass invite I could get my eyes on, I formulated a plan of attack. Thank you everyone for posting your pictures as they truly inspired and helped me along the way! Let me take you on the journey....

It all started with a sketch of how I wanted everything laid out on the page:

After HOURS and HOURS over a few nights at the computer my FI and I finally came up with a design and wording that we were happy with. I turned it into a PDF, loaded it onto a memory stick and trotted on down to my local Staples to get them printed. When I came back an hour later to pick up my order, the AWESOME girl at Staples had straight cut and separated each pass for me! What a sweet heart! "Good luck with your wedding," she said as she handed me my order. Awww.

<--All cut and separated! WOW!

Next we worked on making the jackets for the passes to go into. I got the green cardstock that has some texture and shine at Michaels (on sale). Here's a sheet hot off the press...the press being my printer.

<-- I put "A Crystal Creation" on the back because when I was a kid and I made a card for anyone I'd always put "A Crystal Card" on the back where there would normally be "Hallmark" or whatever

So that paper didn't absorb the ink well and took FOREVER to dry! We had to spread the sheets all over the floor and just let them dry over night, because they were way too wet to fold!

The next morning we got up bright and early to cut, fold and glue the bottom of the green jackets.

Because the girl at Staples saved me SOOOO much time, all I had to do with the passes was use my handy little corner punch I got from Michaels (on sale) and perforate the sections I wanted to (on sale - on sale).

<-- FI was a good helper!

So after perforating and punching the corners, this is what the boarding passes ended up looking like:

<--I really wanted them to be able to tear off the RSVP to send back

Next we loaded them all into the little green jackets

Still more....

Here's the paper we used to type out the letter we sent along with "expanded" information:

Final product:

<--A few of the jackets were a different colour green, because between two different Michaels, we'd bought every piece of the dark green they had. Oh well.

Everything licked, stamped and ready to go in the mail! Very exciting!

So. What did this end up costing me?

The printing at Staples and the 110lb cardstock to print the boarding passes on was $34.

The green paper for the jackets was $18.15 for 60 sheet (on sale at Michaels).

The dark blue envelopes were $21.56 for 60 from Staples.

The "beach paper" was $7.80, but I only used 55 sheets, so $4.30.

The address labels I got from work and printed them out at home - FREE

The return address labels I only used one sheet in the package - $0.50

The "glue" for the bottom of the jackets was $7.20

RSVP envelopes got from work - FREE

Total $85.31 for 55 invites

I also bought the cutter ($32.99), the corner punch ($11.99) and the blade for perforating ($6.74) all on sale/using coupouns at Michaels, but didn't really add that into the price, since those aren't "consumables" and can be used for other projects. But even if I add those in --> $137.03, which I'm still happy with.

Weapons of mass creation:

These look great! I always think I made up my mind about invites but then I see someone else's amazing ideas and I start to change my mind. Thanks for confusing me! But these really are awesome!

They look BEAUTIFUL!! What a great job you did

Wow these are realllly beautiful. I love the color- it's so vibrant and the image really wants me to go somewhere tropical so I bet it will be a great inspiration to get a few more guests to say "yes please." I can't believe how talented some of you DYIers are. Totally impressed over here.

And you totally trusted your FI! I remembered when mine helped with a few projects I was on pins and needles.

These are beautiful invites. Looks like your FI had a great time helping you!!

Crystal, they're great & very professional looking!! I really like all the little stamps you have on them. Your guests are going to LOVE them! Congrats on getting them done & mailed.

Great job. They are really beautiful and I love your color choices. I wish I could get my FI interested in helping with the invites!

Thanks for all the props, ladies. FI & I had fun making them! I'm excited, because people should be receiving them in the mail today

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Originally Posted by *Rachel* And you totally trusted your FI! I remembered when mine helped with a few projects I was on pins and needles.

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Originally Posted by JKL_WeddingMexico These are beautiful invites. Looks like your FI had a great time helping you!!

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Originally Posted by Rolliedelta I wish I could get my FI interested in helping with the invites!

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Originally Posted by KarenM Crystal, they're great & very professional looking!! I really like all the little stamps you have on them.

Wow!!! So amazing