Bachelorette Invitations

My only sister is getting married and as her Maid of Honor, I wanted to do something special for her bachelorette party. As I planned the night, I sent her a picture of Carrie Bradshaw and her girls walking glamorous through NYC and Cameron Diaz rocking out with wine and a winter hat in The Holiday, asking which she'd prefer.  She said a little of both, but I was having trouble finding much outside of the average crazy bachelorette ideas, so I was on my own for a theme. I decided to get out of the Twin Cities and go up to a cabin on Lake Superior in Duluth, MN, where we spent a lot of time camping as kids. I walked down to Paper Source one night and came up with this for the invitations --

I was planning on doing something with birch bark/woodsy, but that no where to be found, I opted for these white boxes instead. They were light enough that shipping wouldn't be terribly expensive and my mind was filling with things I could put inside to go with our theme.

I don't have a printer at home (and was too impatient to get started!), but I felt like decoratively writing the invitation would add to the personal touch. I had already purchased this paper since I was designing her wedding invites, but you don't need to use fancy invite paper if you don't want!

I had enough paint at home from past projects, that I could mix colors to make a purple (her wedding theme color). Feel free to go over several times or remix the paints to end up with the shade you want. I also had decorative stickers, stamps, etc. that I could add for extra charm. Be creative! You don't need to spend tons of money for each new project, use leftovers from past ones! The C was orange and kind of ugly and I was always missing the rest of the letters to create a word, so I painted it and used it for Courtney's box. The beauty of DIY projects is that you can make them however you want! Make sure to let the paint dry before adding anything and use a glue gun to add anything lacking an adhesive. 

There was really no rhyme or reason to how I did the boxes. I knew the girls weren't likely to see anyone else's so they could all be unique!

This 3D ring sticker was perfect for the box I was sending to my sister.

I cut a few pieces of scrapbook paper to lay in the bottom of the boxes and asked each girl to write a note, advice, or a memory on them to later be placed in a mini scrapbook for my sister. I also requested they each bring a picture, so I'll put the book together including pictures of the night as a fun memoir.

I wanted the girls to open up the boxes and get a glimpse of our upcoming night of fun. I picked up the cute gloves on sale at Old Navy, loved the Mason Jar shot glasses at Paper Source, and also put in two (unwrapped) pine scented tea light candles from Target.

I was thrilled to hear later that they did indeed smell piney when the girls opened them!

On the back of the invitation, I added some of the details for the evening that my sister didn't need to know.

Finally, I added some bows with ribbon to a few of the boxes.

I wrapped the boxes in brown packing paper to send and was able to add the postage (about $5) to the corner. I was very pleased with the satchels that I ended up with. Think Narnia or Anne of Green Gables ;) I added the bow to the bride's with a little help from the hot glue gun. My sister and the girls loved them and I had a fun time putting them together, so it was a successful project! More to come on the decorations for the night!