I recently shared my son’s first birthday theme — Monsters — and how to make monster confetti. Today I’ll show you an easy, budget-friendly way to create your own monster party invitations at home. They’re fun, unique, and perfect for a kid’s celebration.
Handmade party items add a special, personal touch to any celebration. Making your own invites gives you creative control over colors, shapes, and details, and it’s a satisfying DIY project that makes the party feel extra special. If you enjoy crafting party decorations, these monster invitations are a great project to try.
Supplies Needed to Make Monster Party Invitations
- Cutting machine (such as Silhouette or similar)
- Bright colored cardstock plus black and white cardstock for details
- Monster digital clipart or creator kit (for shapes you can trace or import)
- Clear drying tacky glue or a glue stick
- Googly eyes
- Computer with a word processor (for printing invitation details)
How to Make Monster Party Invitations
- Purchase or download a monster clipart or creator kit and save the file to your computer. Open the monster image in your cutting machine’s design software.
- Resize the monster so one fits on half of a standard sheet. Add a second monster to fill the other half so you can cut two monsters per sheet.
- Trace the outer shape of each monster in the software and remove the original image, leaving only the cut lines or outlines you will use for cutting.
- Resize each monster to ensure the finished invitation will fit into a 5 x 7 envelope. The example dimensions used here were chosen to make the invitation sit neatly inside the monster cutout.
- Set the cutting material to “Cardstock” or the appropriate setting for your machine, and cut the monster shapes from colored cardstock. Try different monster shapes and colors for variety, or use the same design for a consistent look.
- Decide the size for the printed invitation insert that will fit inside the monster cutout. For the example monsters shown here, the invitation size that fits well is approximately 4.2″ x 3.0″. This size ensures the printed card sits neatly inside the cutout opening.
- Open your word processor and create the invitation layout at the required dimensions. A simple method is to draw a box at the desired size, insert a text box inside it, and add your party details (date, time, location, RSVP). Copy and paste the completed invite multiple times on a page to maximize paper use (about four fits per standard sheet), then print and cut them out.
- If you want monster mouths, trace mouth shapes from clipart or your monster kit and cut them from black cardstock with your cutting machine. You can also create teeth from white cardstock. These small details add personality to each monster.
- Assemble the invitations by gluing the printed insert to the back side of the monster cutout so the text is visible through the opening. Add googly eyes and glue the mouth pieces to the front of the monster cutout. This is a fun step to customize each invite with different eye arrangements, mouth shapes, or other small features.
- Give each monster a unique look by varying eye placement, mouth shapes, and cardstock colors. Once the glue is dry, place each finished invitation into a 5 x 7 envelope and send them to your guests.
These monster invitations work wonderfully for a birthday party, and with a few color and style tweaks, they make great Halloween invites as well. They’re easy to customize and make each invitation a little different.
If you enjoyed this project, consider pairing your DIY invites with coordinating decorations like monster confetti to complete the theme and impress your guests with a cohesive, handmade party look.
