Cheap Wedding Shower Invitations: Budget Party Options

Okay so here’s the thing about cheap wedding shower invitations

You don’t need to drop $300 on invitations for a bridal shower. I mean seriously, I had a client back in spring 2023 who spent almost as much on her shower invites as some people spend on their entire shower and I was like… honey, no. We need to talk about this.

The easiest and honestly prettiest option right now is Canva. You can make invitations there for literally free or like $12.99 if you want their Pro version for a month. I use it all the time for my own stuff and you’d be shocked at how professional they look. You just pick a template, change the colors to match whatever vibe you’re going for, add your text, and boom. Done. Then you can either download them as PDFs and email them (free!) or download as images and text them to people (also free!).

Digital invites are gonna save you so much money

Look, I know some people get weird about digital invitations like they’re not “real” invitations or whatever, but that’s kinda outdated thinking? Everyone has a phone. Everyone checks their phone 847 times a day. Your guests will actually SEE a digital invite whereas a paper one might end up under a pile of mail for three weeks.

Here are your best digital options:

• Paperless Post – they have free options and paid options, the free ones are actually really cute
• Evite – totally free, been around forever, works fine
• Greenvelope – this one’s my favorite if you wanna spend a tiny bit because they look SO fancy but it’s like $18 for 50 invites
• Just making something in Canva and texting it or emailing it yourself

The thing that annoyed me so much last year was when people would say “oh but digital invites feel impersonal” and then they’d spend $200 on paper invites that half the guests would forget about anyway. Like… we’re throwing a party to celebrate someone, not showing off our stationery budget, you know?

If you absolutely need paper invites

Alright so maybe you’re inviting the bride’s grandmother who doesn’t do email or the bride herself really wants physical invitations. I get it. Here’s what you do without going broke.

Vistaprint is your best friend here. I’ve used them probably a hundred times for clients who want budget-friendly paper goods. You can get 50 invitations for like $20-40 depending on if they’re having a sale, which they usually are. Sign up for their emails because they send 40% off coupons constantly. Their cardstock is decent quality and nobody at your shower is gonna inspect the paper weight like they’re stationery experts.

Zazzle is another good one – they have a huge selection and their prices are pretty reasonable. You can customize basically everything and they also always have sales running.

Costco does invitations and their prices are insane. Like you need a membership but if you already have one for buying 500 toilet paper rolls at once, you might as well use it for invitations too. Their quality is actually really good for the price.

The DIY route (if you’re into that)

Okay so I’m gonna be honest, DIY invitations can either save you money OR cost you more than just buying them, depending on how you approach it. I learned this the hard way in summer 2021 when I decided to help my sister make invites for her friend’s shower and we ended up spending like $80 on supplies at Michael’s because we kept adding “just one more thing” to make them cuter.

If you’re doing DIY, here’s the actual budget way:

• Buy blank cardstock from Amazon or Walmart – you can get 100 sheets for like $15
• Design your invite in Canva (free)
• Print at home if you have a decent printer, or take the file to FedEx/Staples and have them print for like $0.15 per page
• Skip all the ribbon and embellishments and just keep it simple with good design

The mistake people make with DIY is thinking they need to add all this extra stuff. You don’t. A well-designed simple invitation on nice cardstock looks way better than a mediocre design covered in ribbon and glitter and… actually glitter is the worst, it gets everywhere, my cat tracked it through my entire house for weeks after that project.

What to actually include on the invitation

This should be obvious but you’d be surprised how many people forget important details:

1. Who the shower is for (the bride’s name, obviously)
2. Date and time (include start AND end time so people know how long to plan for)
3. Location with full address
4. RSVP info – who to contact and by when
5. Registry information or if it’s a specific type of shower like recipe cards or stock the bar
6. Dress code if there is one

You don’t need flowery language or quotes or poems or whatever. Just the facts presented in a pretty way. I’ve seen invitations that were basically novels and it’s like, people just wanna know where to show up and what to bring.

The group invite strategy

Here’s something I started doing that works really well – create a Facebook event (free) and then also send a prettier digital invite through email or text. The Facebook event becomes your RSVP tracker and communication hub where you can post updates like “hey we’re doing a potluck so sign up for what you’re bringing” and the actual invitation is the nice-looking thing people see first. Best of both worlds and costs you nothing.

Some people use WhatsApp groups for this too which works great if everyone’s already on WhatsApp.

Actual costs breakdown so you can plan

Let me give you real numbers because that’s actually helpful:

Completely free option: Make invite in Canva free version, send via email or text, use Facebook event for RSVP tracking. Total cost: $0

Budget digital option: Canva Pro for one month ($12.99), Greenvelope digital invites ($18 for up to 50). Total cost: $30.99

Budget paper option: Vistaprint invitations with 40% off sale ($25 for 50), stamps ($0.73 each x 50 = $36.50). Total cost: $61.50

DIY option: Cardstock from Amazon ($15), printing at FedEx ($7.50 for 50), envelopes ($8), stamps ($36.50). Total cost: $67

See? You can do this for under $70 even if you go the paper route, or literally free if you go digital.

Timing stuff you need to know

Send shower invitations 4-6 weeks before the event. Not earlier because people forget, not later because people already made plans. If you’re doing paper invites and mailing them, add a week for delivery time because mail is… well, mail is kinda unreliable these days.

For digital invites, you can send them exactly 4 weeks out and then do a reminder 2 weeks before and another reminder one week before to people who haven’t RSVP’d yet. People need multiple reminders, it’s just how it is.

What about envelopes

If you’re doing paper invites, you need envelopes obviously. Amazon has bulk envelopes cheap – like $8 for 50. You don’t need fancy lined envelopes or colored envelopes or envelopes that match perfectly. Just get white or kraft paper envelopes and call it a day. You can get colored ones if you find them for the same price, but don’t pay extra.

Some people do the thing where they print the address directly on the envelope which looks clean and modern, or you can handwrite them which feels more personal, or you can print labels. Whatever’s easiest for you. I usually print labels because my handwriting looks like a third grader’s and I’m not embarrassed to admit that.

Wording examples because everyone asks

Keep it simple. Here’s what works:

Formal-ish:
“Please join us for a Bridal Shower celebrating [Bride’s Name] Saturday, June 15th at 2:00 PM
[Host’s Name]’s Home, [Address] RSVP to [Phone/Email] by June 1st”

Casual:
“Let’s shower [Bride’s Name] with love!
Join us for a Bridal Shower
[Date] at [Time] [Location] RSVP: [Contact Info]”

You don’t need anything more complicated than that. Add registry info at the bottom if you want, or include it in a separate note.

Things you can skip entirely

You know what you don’t need? Save the dates for a bridal shower. It’s not a wedding, people don’t need six months notice. You also don’t need matching thank you cards ordered at the same time, or envelope liners, or wax seals (I mean wax seals are cool but they’re definitely not necessary and they add like $2 per invitation).

You also don’t need those fancy RSVP cards that come with the invitation. Just put your phone number or email on the invite itself. Everyone has a phone, everyone can send a text that says “I’ll be there” – you don’t need a separate card for that.

Where I see people waste money

The biggest money waster is ordering invitations before you have your final guest count. I’ve seen this so many times – someone orders 50 invitations, then realizes they need 60, so they have to place another order and pay shipping again, or they order 75 and only need 45 and now they have 30 extra invitations sitting in a drawer forever.

Figure out your EXACT guest list first. Write down every single name. Count them twice. Then order that many plus maybe 3-5 extra for last-minute additions or mistakes.

Another waste is rush shipping. Plan ahead and you can use regular shipping which is usually free or cheap. Rush shipping can add $20-30 to your order which is ridiculous when you could just… order it two weeks earlier?

My actual favorite method

What I do for most showers now is create a really pretty invitation in Canva, download it as a PDF and as a JPG, then text the JPG to everyone and email the PDF to people who prefer email. Then I create a Google Form for RSVPs that asks for their name, if they’re coming, any dietary restrictions, and if they need the address. The form feeds into a spreadsheet automatically so I can track everything in one place.

Total cost: $0. Total time: maybe an hour to design and set everything up. And honestly it works better than paper invitations because I can see in real-time who’s responded and who hasn’t, and I can easily send reminders.

For themed showers

If you’re doing like a recipe shower or lingerie shower or stock the bar shower, you definitely wanna mention that on the invitation so people know what kind of gift to bring. You can add a little note like “Please bring your favorite recipe to share” or “Help us stock the bar” or whatever applies.

Canva has templates specifically for different types of showers so you don’t have to design from scratch. Just search for like “recipe shower invitation” and you’ll find tons of options.

The co-host situation

If you’re co-hosting with other people, split the invitation cost. Seriously, don’t be the person who pays for everything and then feels resentful later. If there are three hosts, everyone chips in $10-15 or whatever the cost is divided by three. It’s fair and it keeps things from getting weird.

Also decide together what you’re doing for invitations before anyone orders anything. I had a situation once where two co-hosts both ordered invitations without telling each other and then they had like 120 invitations for 40 guests and it was just… it was a mess.

Last minute situations

If you’re planning a shower last minute (like 3 weeks or less before the event), definitely go digital. You don’t have time to order paper invitations, wait for them to arrive, address them, mail them, and have them delivered. Just make something quick in Canva and send it out immediately. People will understand, and honestly most people prefer digital anyway because it’s easier to keep track of.

You can even do a really simple text message invitation if you’re REALLY last minute – just say something like “You’re invited to [Bride’s Name]’s bridal shower on [Date] at [Time] at [Location]. RSVP by [Date] to this number. Can’t wait to celebrate with you!” It’s not fancy but it gets the job done and I’ve been to plenty of showers that did this and they were perfectly lovely.