**Your Guide to Creating Your Own Free Baby Shower Invitations!**

As I have stated on other pages of this site, baby shower invitations are an excellent way to set the mood and the theme of the entire celebration. With a little extra time, thought and creativity you can make your own baby shower invitations that can help you turn the baby shower into a delightful success!

I am not artistic at all; therefore I rely heavily on the computer. If you have been blessed with an artistic hand I advise you to use your gift for this aspect of the baby shower. It will increase the celebration’s sentimental value. However, if you are like me and have a hard time making stick men look pretty then I have compiled a set of guidelines that could help.

1. Come up with a design for your card that complements your chosen baby shower theme. I use Microsoft Word, however you can use Microsoft Publisher, Art Explosion package from Nova Development, Hallmark Card Studio, American Greetings CreataCard, or The Big Box of Art to name a few. These are software programs designed specifically to help users create cards and invitations.

2. Search the Internet for clipart and photos that you can use in the design of your invitation. Please remember to search for photos or art that complements the theme of the entire baby shower. If you have never done this before simply type in "free clip art" in the Google’s search box and you will find several sites that allow you to browse through and download pictures and clipart for free.

3. You now want to come up with the appropriate text to insert on the invitation. As stated earlier you want to be sure name guest of honour, date, time, location (you could include a map or directions), your name, and how the shower guests should respond to the invitation. If you want to add some sparkle to the card you can add a shower poem to the front, this poem should also complement the theme of the entire celebration.

4. Now you have a choice: 1) print the invitations on plain paper or 2) print the invitations on card stock. If you choose to add a little decoration to the invitation you may want to consider shopping for card stock, keeping in mind, however, that your invitations will no longer be free if you purchase card stock. Card stock is the paper that you print your invitations on. You can purchase heavy paper, colored paper, glossy paper, or you can use plain white printer paper. I purchase my paper and card stock from Staples. They usually have a great selection to choose from.

5. Once you have completed a first draft of the invitation save it and print out a test copy on plain white printer paper. Make sure the images and text line up, and that the invitation looks just as you imagined.

6. Personalize each shower invitation and print it out on your chosen card stock.