First birthday invitations
Really a party for the parents, and the invitation should quietly acknowledge that.
$65
Your details set by hand, usually back the same day. $145 to rebuild it in your own colours.
A first birthday is the most emotionally loaded party on this list. The guest of honour will not remember it, which means the event exists for the parents and the grandparents, and the invitation is often the first piece of design a family has ever commissioned. People keep these.
That changes what I aim for. It should be sweet, because it genuinely is, but it should not be so cartoonish that it embarrasses anyone in a photograph a decade later. The best ones use one soft motif, real illustration rather than clip art, and put the child's name in beautiful type at a proper size.
Practically, first birthdays are heavy on logistics. There are usually as many adults as children, sometimes a meal, often a nap-time constraint that dictates a strange start time, and grandparents travelling in. That is more information than the card should carry alone, and a details card solves it.
What changes for this one
The child's name and the number one carry the design. Photograph optional, but when it is included it wants generous space rather than being tucked into a corner. Keep it something the family will not wince at in ten years.
When to send
Three to four weeks, more if grandparents are flying. First birthdays are usually scheduled around a nap, so the start time is often unusual and should be stated clearly.
Colours that work
Soft and warm. Cream, dusty peach, sage, a little ochre. Avoid primary colours unless that is genuinely the theme.
Questions people ask about first birthday invitations
Should we put a photo on it?
It is lovely and grandparents adore it, but it needs real space rather than being squeezed in beside the text. If the photo is going on, the design gets built around it from the start rather than having it added at the end.
How do we handle nap times?
State the start and end time explicitly, and if the party is short, say so. "Two to four" tells everybody what they need to know and saves you managing a room full of overtired one-year-olds at five o'clock.
There are more adults than children coming. Does that change anything?
It usually means there is real food, and that should be on the invitation. If it is a proper lunch, say lunch. Adults arriving expecting cake and finding a meal, or the reverse, is the most common first-birthday miscommunication.
3,600
US searches a month for first birthday invitations, measured rather than guessed. Nearly every page here targets a term almost nobody is defending properly.
- 1st birthday invitation — 3,600/mo
- first birthday invitation design — 10/mo
How to have this made
Custom invitation design
Designed from nothing for one event. No template underneath.
From $285
Party printables and extras
Favour tags, envelope liners, stickers, banners, water bottle labels.
From $75
Thank you cards and stationery
The piece everyone forgets until the week after the party.
From $145
Start with a First Look
$45 for one finished concept designed for your event, back in three days. It comes off whatever you book, and if you do not love it you keep the file and owe nothing.