Best Save the Date Card Ideas
One of the most exciting parts of planning an event is when you reach the stage of sending out save the date cards, as it makes the event start to really feel real, not only in your mind but also in the minds of your guests. If you’re thinking of sending out save the date cards of your own, here is a brief overview of what they are, as well as some ideas for how you can create ones that will feel special.
What are Save the Date Cards For?
Save the date cards are more or less what they sound like. They are essentially a postcard or greeting card that you send out to the guests you are inviting to your event telling them when the event will be and asking them to, well, save that date. While these are probably most common for weddings, save the date cards can really be sent out for any of a variety of different events that are important to you including:
graduation parties
retirement parties
anniversary parties
birthday parties
Save the date cards are useful to you because they help increase the chances that your guests will be able to attend your party when you notify them well ahead of time when it will be, and it also serves as a reminder for them of the event. It’s also nice for your guests since it gives them the opportunity to clear their calendars, get organized and excited for your event, and plan things like what they will wear and what gift they will give you. The best save the dates are ones that are striking, memorable, and make sense for the person and occasion.
How to Make Save the Date Cards
If you don’t have photos, hire a photographer (Ahem, I’m available) and get some photos. Engagement photos are commonly used for wedding invites. Graduation photography sessions usually happen before the parties, so the grad photos from that session will be used on the invites.
There are many different approaches to making save the date cards, but the main two options you’ll have is creating them digitally or by hand. As you can imagine, like most things these days, the digital option is much more popular and common in recent years, but that doesn’t mean that making them by hand is any less of a good option. In fact, creating save the date cards by hand can add a really special personalized touch that makes your guests feel like you care.
Note that whether you create your save the date cards by hand or digitally doesn’t actually have any bearing on how you have to send them. You can create a digital save the date card, have them printed, and send them by post, or vice versa - you can create a save the date card by hand, scan it, and send it out digitally. The choice is yours to make.
Tools to Make Your Own Save the Date Cards
Unless you’re artistically gifted, chances are high that you’ll want to get some help making your save the date cards. Here are some tools that you can consider using to make your own save the date cards in a way that helps them turn out beautifully but also offers a homemade touch in allowing you to make design choices.
or you can use a fully automated service like Basic Invite
Basic Invite can help you create an array of cards for graduations, weddings, and get them mailed out for you. You can make standard cards, magnetic save the dates, and have a ton of color options. If you’re like me and want things to be easy and straight-forward, you can get your Save the Dates done in no time flat with Basic Invite.
How to Get Addresses
One unexpectedly tricky part of sending save the date cards in this day and age is compiling your list of addresses. After all, not many of us have address books these days. In fact, we don’t even tend to have our friends’ email addresses saved anymore, preferring to communicate instead over the phone and social media. So how do you ask for addresses in today’s very online world?
One obvious choice is simply to ask each guest one by one for their address or email address. Ideally, you’d start this process at least a month before you plan to send out your save the dates to give yourself enough time to compile all of the contact information.
But if you don’t want to do all of that busy work yourself, there are actually tools that have been created specifically to help with it. Basic Invite has an automated address retrieval card that lets you send the links out to your friends via social media and get their addresses right in your account. This can save a ton of time if your list is long.
Whatever decisions you make for your save the date card designs, delivery methods, and address retrieval strategies, this is a very exciting stage leading up to your event. Enjoy it!