If you’re looking to print your own invitations at home on “normal” card-stock paper, you’ll notice something. Your printed invitations are dull! Because I make party decorations, I am always looking for the best paper to print invitations, as well as welcome signs, food signs, and banners. And if you’ve read about The Best Printer to Print Heavy Cardstock, then you know I’m well versed in this whole “printing thing”. However, when I used regular card stock paper – even on my amazing printer – the printed invitations weren’t as vibrant as I would like. So let’s talk about The Best Paper to Print Invitations at Home.
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How it all started
As mentioned, I love creating invitations and other printed items for parties! And I create a LOT of them! However, in this digital world, people are looking to print your own invitations by purchasing digital invitations online. For example, they might buy a digital invitation from my Etsy shop or with one of my custom parties. Therefore, people are then faced with the perplexing question of where and how to print your own invitations. So I wanted to share with you The Best Paper to Print Invitations and other prints at home.
Side note: I did a Facebook Live on this VERY topic, so if you’d rather watch the video, it’s right here! 🙂
The Myth About Printing Beautiful Invitations
Do you think that printing invitations at home – or any other item you plan to print – has something to do with your printer? Even though I have written blogs like, The Best Printer for Cardstock Invitations, I have a big secret for you that will make you so excited to print your own invitations at home!
It’s not your printer! It’s your paper! ::GASP!:::
That’s right. The secret is out people. The right paper for printing invitations is EVERYTHING! So let me tell you about the best paper for printing invitations and enlarged prints.
Things to know first
Before your get started printing invitations at home, there’s one thing to check. Firstly, check that your printer does a little thing called ‘borderless printing’. This means that you can print invitations all the way to the edge of the paper. This is important when printing invitations where the design goes all the way to the edge. If your design doesn’t go all the way to the edge, then after you read this blog about the best paper, make sure to head over to How to Print Invitations Without a Borderless Printer.
Printing 5 x 7 Invitations at home
First, for those of you who do have “borderless printing”, you can most definitely print your own invitations on 5 x 7 sheets of paper.
Let’s talk light cardstock. You may know that most printers don’t print on heavy cardstock paper. However, if you don’t know, feel free to read The Best Printer for Cardstock Invitations for more information. Unfortunately, if you don’t have a special printer, you won’t be able to print on heavy cardstock invitation paper. If that’s the case, I have the perfect light cardstock paper for your invitations.
The cardstock paper I recommend, for example, for your invitations is this InkPress Media 5 x 7 paper. This cardstock paper prints vibrant colors and is what I typically use to print my invitations.
Now believe me, I have tested other paper for printing invitations and party decorations and it definitely doesn’t compare. In fact, I have run out of this paper before when printing party invitations and tried to use regular card stock paper from the craft store. It was an epic fail.
The Best Paper to Print Invitations – Before and After
Let me prove it to you. Here’s a side by side. Below are invitations that I printed at home on two different kinds of 5 x 7 paper. The regular card stock paper is on the top, while the The 5 x 7 Inkpress paper that I recommend is on the bottom. Pretty clear difference right?
Regular Card stock paper (TOP) The recommended 5 x 7 paper (BOTTOM)
The Benefits of Printing Invitations on 5 x 7 Paper
There are a few upsides to printing your invitations on 5 x 7 paper. The most obvious one is that there’s no cutting! Just print your invitations at home, and you’re done! The other upside is that you don’t need any special envelopes. I personally use these white 5 x 7 invitation envelopes on Amazon.
No Borderless Printer? No problem!
However, if you don’t have the ability to print borderless prints for your invitations, that’s okay! You can still print invitations at home easily and beautifully. Not to mention, you’ll probably save money on your invitations! Why? Because you will use 8.5 x 11 paper to print two-to-a-page. Follow this blog about How to Print Borderless Invitations Without a Borderless Printer, and then continue reading below for the paper to use.
When printing invitations on 8.5 x 11 paper, I recommend two options. Firstly, printed invitations look great on this InkPress Media 8.5×11 paper. It can definitely be a little more pricey than other matte cardstock you’ve seen. But believe me, it’s worth it! If that paper is out of stock when printing your invitations, you’ll want to check out or compare this Epson 8.5×11 paper for printing your invitations.
Both kinds of paper that I am recommending have the same matte consistency of the 5 x 7 paper. They both print gorgeous and vibrant colors when printing invitations and other items.
Things To Know Before Printing Your Invitations or Other Prints
There are a few things to quickly note about this paper for printing invitations and other items you plan to print at home. First, this paper is not super thick. Therefore, if you’re looking for a heavier cardstock to print your invitations, make sure you head over to The Best Cardstock Paper for Invitations after you read through this blog. Then, make sure you read about the paper weight your printer can actually print over on The Best Printer for Heavy Cardstock Paper.
Next, I mentioned that this paper is “matte”. This means that it’s like presentation paper – NOT glossy like a regular photograph. This paper is also perfect for printing photos to frame in your home that you don’t want to have that glossy look. You might also be printing items for your party, like a welcome sign, food table sign, Happy Birthday Sign, and more. In that case, you might want to grab the 8 x 10 version of this paper. Just remember though, that will only work for people who have the option for borderless printing.
Additionally, the other thing to note about this paper for printing invitations is that most of it is one sided. Meaning that you can’t print vibrant prints on both sides of the paper. If this isn’t a big deal, then no worries. However, if you plan to print on both sides, make sure you get the paper that is the same on both sides. (From my experience, the 5 x 7 paper is double sided, however, the other sizes are not.)
The Best Paper to Print Invitations -Cutting your invitations
As mentioned above, if you don’t have borderless printing, you will have to cut your invitations down to size. Therefore, Below I have included a few cutters that I recommend for cutting your printed invitations at home.
These Fiskars cutters are great for those of you with small projects and/or a small office. They’re great for people who don’t have a dedicated craft room or office. Once the blade starts to get blunt, you can buy these replacement Fiskars blades on Amazon.
You may also want to consider a larger cutter if you plan to do this often and it’s more than just a one-time project. These cutters that I’ve included below are a great upgrade option if you have the budget and space. I have the Wescott Cutter that seems to do a great job.
Alternatively, you you might be printing invitations that aren’t 5 x 7! Maybe your printing invitations are shaped like a gumball machines or a jars of bugs, like those below?! If that’s the case, you could try cutting these invitations with scissors. But let’s be honest, that won’t look super precise. Therefore, head over to How to Make Invitations with Your Cricut.
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Let’s Connect!
I can’t wait to hear about how beautiful your printed invitations from home turn out! Leave a comment or a picture below when you do!
Lastly, thank you so much for taking the time to read about how to print invitations at home! I hope this gives you some ideas about how to easily print beautiful prints and invitations at home! Tell me below what you thought! I love to help you celebrate life through party decorations and beyond. Above all, I’d love to connect with you. Reach out to me on Instagram and let’s chat, or continue celebrating your life with The Celebration Effect.
xoxo
Lindsay
