Last year, Chris wanted to do a fall low-country boil outside, and he wanted to invite 15 people over. He said, “I’m just going to send out a text.” I said, “Wait, let me make an invitation!” When someone receives an invitation, they get the feeling that this event means something to you. I think sometimes we want to think an invite is no big deal (no worries if not). But it’s vulnerable and special to make a fuss and have people over. —And it’s OK to make it a little more official by sending a digital invitation!
Digital Invitation | Leather Desk Mat | Brass Candle Pedestal | Shagreen Leather Box | Tape Dispenser | Stapler
There are “levels” of digital invitations. I’ve mostly create mine in Canva with the details (like RSVP by this date, when and where it is, what the food will be, etc.). I text the image out to my guests with a note that “I hope you can come!” There’s so much info that’s sometimes hard to say in a text (like “adults only, please”). You can make that info look so much nicer when you send an invitation.
A lot of times, we just do casual gatherings without any invites. We don’t send them for a game night or an extended family Sunday night dinner. But if we want to have a birthday party for the girls or send out invites to Thanksgiving dinner, it sets an expectation that, “I’m preparing for this, and I need to know if you’re really going to come.” Plus a lot of services will remind your guests automatically! It helps prevent those last-minute flakeouts. And as a guest, I like seeing the guest list to know who else will be there (an option that’s available with a few of these invite services). It’s also helpful if you’re doing a potluck to see what people are bringing.
Without further ado, here are some digital invites to consider for your next gathering:
Canva – Great for those who like to DIY their invites for low cost
Pricing: Free (if you’re using trial version); Canva Pro is $15/month or $120/year for unlimited templates and stock photo options.
App Available: Yes
Pros: You can easily design your own card using their templates, graphics, or your photos. Or you can also purchase a digital invitation on Etsy (you can find a lot of options around $2) and import it into Canva to send digitally, so it’s very cost-efficient. The service isn’t priced per send, and you have access to a really wide range of styles. And if you want to print an invitation for posterity (or for those who prefer snail mail), you can do that through Canva, customizing the paper quality and finish for as little as 1 invitation for $10.50, 5 for $14 and so on.
Cons: You can’t track opens or set up automatic reminders — you’ll have to sync up another service for that or track via text or email. It’s more DIY so it helps to have some familiarity with design. Most of the “nicer” invitation templates are for Pro members.
My design pick: Toile De Jouy Invitation
Paperless Post – Great for those who like sophisticated design and interactive guest elements
Pricing: There are free options, but you can buy a bank of “coins” to pay for premium designs and additional customization such as liners and envelopes. You buy coins in set increments and the cost per coin goes down the more you buy, so 25 coins is $12.00 ($0.48 each) while 1000 coins is $120.00 ($0.12 each). You can share your card via a link for 200 coins flat. Unused coins roll over. You can also upgrade to Paperless Post Plus for 200 coins, which allows for more guest management (like creating tagged groups) and customization. They give you 10 free coins when you sign up for an account.
App Available: Yes
Pros: Beautiful, sophisticated interface and curated templates with no ads ever. You can upload your own image too. I love how you can instantly track email deliveries, opens and RSVPs. There are open-ended or multiple-choice guest questions or guest surveys. And you can even include a schedule of events, travel tips, and photo galleries. It’s also more affordable than it seems to customize designs. To do the math, I sent 11 emails inviting 32 guests, including children. Each premium invite to each email cost 3 coins. I had purchased a set of 100 coins for $23 (1 coin=$0.23). So, I spent $7.59 on one event. Not bad at all!
Cons: The coin system is a little ambiguous and confusing since so many elements are variables. Want a premium liner or envelope? That’s 1 coin each per send, please. There is a calculator for goodness sake, because we’re all confused. Then again, it’s like spending fake money, so maybe it’s genius?! 🙂
My design pick: Woodland Fall Party Invitation
Punchbowl – Good for those who want something basic and low cost
Pricing: 7-day free trial; The Plus version ($3.99/month on sale) allows you to send up to 50 guests per event; the Premium subscription ($5.99/month on sale) adds polling and co-host options; the Platinum level ($7.99/month on sale) does all the above and removes advertising.
App Available: Yes
Pros: There are a lot of whimsical designs, including licensed characters exclusively available from Disney, Sesame Street, Harry Potter and more. You can include a video message to any card. It’s easy to invite friends from Facebook or you can import contacts. You can distribute via email address or text (scheduled ahead or delivered instantly) and track RSVPs. There are options to add a potluck list, a poll, or a co-host. They market their customer service as a team of “moms and dads based in Boston,” which just sounds sweet.
Cons: The designs lean really “cutesy.” The interface feels a little dated. You have to pay for a plus or above version for a lot of “add-ons” such as uploading your own photo, adding a video message, polling guests, scheduling a card or removing ads.
My design pick: Formal Halloween Invite
Evite – Good for those who like “characters” or lots of options
Pricing: Free option gets you customizable designs for up to 750 guests. The premium option (which has four tiers for how many guests you want to send to from $17.99-$99.99) switches on an ad-free experience and allows shareable link, selection of backgrounds and envelope designs, and the ability to upload your own design for that one invitation. The next level up Evite Pro ($249.99/year) gets you unlimited access to invitations and greeting cards sent to up to 2500 guests.
App Available: Yes
Pros: Tried and true for 24(!) years. You can create sign-up sheets with specific items for people to bring (pretty handy). There are quite a few designs to choose from by themes, and you can send free invites to up to 750 guests. There are a wide range of collaborations including Laura Ashley, Disney, Star Wars, Minecraft, Marvel, and Hello Kitty if you have a themed event.
Cons: The selection of free designs is much smaller than the premium designs (obviously). For example, the free version has 73 Christmas party invitations while the platinum version has 95 items. All of the aforementioned collaborations are premium.
My design pick: Etched Skulls Halloween Invite
Greenvelope – Great for those who enjoy high-end printed cards
Pricing: Free trial lets you can invite up to 10 people. Pricing for a single mailing starts at $19 for up to 20 people and ranges up to $3,799 for up to 25,000 people—yes, it goes that high! Unlimited mailings start at $125 for up to 50 people/event.
App Available: Yes
Pros: I love their clean, simple interface and wide range of designs. It offers all the usual essentials: survey questions, auto-reminders, easy guest list importing from email or a spreadsheet, and RSVP tracking. You can send via text, WhatsApp or Messenger in addition to email. The design interface even offers grid lines when designing in case you’re a stickler for layouts, or you can even pass off the card to their professional services for color tweaks starting at $29 (note that it’s an add-on fee to the above pricing). If you’re using it for a wedding or larger event, they even have a “seating chart” tool built in for guests. Oh! And if you’re sending a one-off card, you can include a gift card to quite a few retailers (Target, Pottery Barn, Chipotle, etc.) with no additional fees.
Cons: I’m kind of fishing for a downside…maybe one “drawback” is that you can’t actually get these printed through Greenvelope to send in the mail! I would consider sending out our family Christmas cards through them if they offered hard copies.
My design pick: Letterpress Derby Invitation
Motion Stamp – Good for weddings and other memorable events
Pricing: $47 for a single Canva video template up to $102; custom website and RSVP is $50; additional add-ons apply
App Available: No
Pros: Their motion graphics are really impressive. If you’re doing an online save the date or wedding invitation, then you have to check this site out — they have a watercolor artist and professional animator on staff that can turn your location into a picture invitation! They also have a DIY Canva option that bypasses their design team and gives you more opportunities to personalize your event. You can host your entire event through their web page, including links and registry options. Otherwise you can download the invitation and share it through a message app like WhatsApp or Messenger.
Cons: While they have a wide suite of wedding options, the birthday/seasonal events section is tiny. It takes 3-5 days to get your video link, so you need to plan ahead (venue artwork takes 1-2 weeks and is an additional $190). You also need to connect your own RSVP option, whether that’s another paid service or use a free option like Google forms – not cute 🙁
My design pick: For a wedding I love the Botanical Dandelions in Sage Green but how cute would this one be for a Hogwarts themed Halloween party?!
Poply – Ok for photo or video invites with little customization
Pricing: Free option to invite up to 15 guests with “no ads.” Poply Premium ($14.99 per invitation or $8.99 per month for unlimited sends) gets you unlimited guest invites and you can use your own photos/videos and choose a color theme.
App available: Yes
Pros: Even the free version doesn’t show any ads. You can toggle each invite to be an in-person or a virtual event, which is kind of interesting. There are also toggles for whether guests can bring kids or plus ones. You can add certain contacts to a “List” that allows you to easily group them together for future events—that’s handy. If you have design decision fatigue, this one is for you.
Cons: The site was a little glitchy when I signed up (We’re unable to log you in” but then let me progress). There are no real “designed” invitations other than the templates—you can only use your own photos or their gallery of free stock photos. And you can’t create any polls or interactive elements. Also, when responding as a guest through the email invitation, I had to hunt for the RSVP button at the top left on the landing page (odd placement).
My design pick: Classic Children’s Party Invitation
I had to include this site because I love how easy it is to send cards, but just know it’s not set up for digital invitation tracking.
Givingli – Great for one-off birthday cards and gifting
Pricing: Free plan lets you send customizable cards & gifts to anyone; the Premium plan is $7.99/month or $47.99/year (on sale) and gets you $0 processing fees on gifts, the ability to customize everything plus more creative content; the Pro plan (which looks like it’s more for businesses) is $19.99/month or $119.99/year that allows you to track your spend and manage receipts, send to up to 100 people at a time, and send from multiple aliases.
App Available: Yes
Pros: Really modern, colorful, bright invitations that are very “on-trend” (e.g. there were a couple of pumpkin spice cards available for fall). Very intuitive, clean interface. The cards look like they have a texture to them, which is a really fun touch. Also the envelopes and liners are fully customizable even in the free version. You can also send a card with cash or an e-gift card (think Target, Sephora, Starbucks and more) for a birthday or other reason up to $500. You can send a card immediately or schedule for later—in fact, you can add special dates like birthdays or anniversaries to the events page, and schedule a reminder for yourself!
Cons: You have to provide your mobile number to create an account—you can’t connect through Gmail or just use your email to sign in. There is a small processing fee if you include a gift card that’s $2.99-$4.99 depending on the value of the gift card. When the e-card is delivered to an inbox, there is a LOT of additional marketing messaging under the card preview about Givingli that is a downer because it feels so salesy.
