“Mail for me?” Little Johnny is so excited to finally get his very own piece of mail. However, the excitement doesn’t last long. When he tears open the envelope to see a boring white card with some words on in it, he tosses his mail aside. Obviously, the sender didn’t realize that birthday invitations for a child’s party should be fun and colorful. To create invitations the guests will love to receive, you should:

• Choose an invitation that reflects the birthday party theme. Children will enjoy looking at the bright images and will be able to see what type of party they are being invited to.
• Make sure you don’t fall for cute images that will embarrass your too cool, too grown up little boy or girl. Children as young as three or four are horrified by things that seem babyish to them.
• Include a small gift in the invitation envelope. A temporary pirate tattoo is easy to include in an invitation to a pirate themed party and is very inexpensive.
• If you have additional information to pass on to the parents, include a smaller envelope with the parents’ names on it in the invitation envelope to hold this unexciting but important part of the party news.