First, decide on your design. One tried-and-true measure of elegance is to keep the invitations simple. For example, a black and white vine border or seashell border around the words "Baby Shower" can be a very classy cover. However, creating an elegant design doesn't mean that you can't use classy design principles with a specific baby shower theme. Here are some examples of elegant, baby shower-themed images:
- A white lamb next to formal text on a powder blue linen card with a soft, translucent overlay.
- An elegant baby carriage.
- A newborn baby wrapped in a soft blanket or in a cradle.
- Victorian style baby clothes, such as sailor tops or lacy bloomers, hanging on a clothesline with a sky blue background.
- A garden party.
- A pink or blue Victorian parasol under a soft shower of silver raindrops.
- Silver spoons.
- A lace tablecloth and fashionable tea setting or white gloves next to a teacup.
- An embossed, tiny panda on a white card; for a black tie event.
If printing on an inkjet printer, you'll get a great effect with lightweight cotton or vellum papers. Many metallic papers also work well to convey elegance. These shiny papers are available in quite a few colors, including silver, gold, copper, blues, purples and reds.
Creating text in a font that coordinates with the design should not be difficult. Be sure that the font will be easily read in the size you want for your invitations. The most elegant fonts are script fonts, or those that imitate a cursive writing style. You can easily find script fonts with a sharp, contemporary feel, or those with a curvy, flowery old-fashioned feel.
Your invitations can be elegant to the recipient just by touch alone. Use layers of handmade papers, such as the flower-embedded varieties. The handmade paper placed behind the card becomes the border; if you want to spend a little more to create a richer effect, add more layers. Be sure that your papers and colors coordinate with one another.
Creating elegant baby shower invitations by hand can mean a great deal of time, but it does also allow for the use of heavier papers and lettering kits from the craft store.
Whether you create the entire invitation by hand or print it on the computer and then dress it up, here are some items that you can add to achieve an elegant look. Including:
- Heat-embossing
- Vellum paper
- Embellishments such as dainty ribbons and bows.