DIY Boxed Invites

From PW'er missjess485:

This is definitely a labor of love!

Supplies:
Invites (ordered from Vista Print-$30/50...I wish I had done these myself!)
Inserts (RSVP Card, Itinerary, Welcome party invite...$5 for card stock, printed myself)
Ribbon (small size for inside lid, larger for outside box..spools were reg. price $1.99 for small and $4.99 for large, purchase both with 40% off coupons from Hobby Lobby
Boxes (Purchased here I used the 8 5/8 by 5 5/8, my invites were 8.5x5.5 so it fit perfectly. Total-$52 with shipping)
Gold Spray paint ($8 for 2 cans)
Starfish
Glue Gun
Paper Cutter

The first thing I did was spray paint my boxes. I used a basic Krylon spray paint that was metallic gold. Two coats was perfect for me!

Next, I cut kraft card stock down to the size of the lid of the box. I will be using the lid to hold all of the enclosures. Once those were cut, I wrapped the small ribbon (in my case, gold) around the card. Then, hot glued it inside the lid. So, we have this:

At this point, I created all of my inserts. I used Microsoft Word to create them. All of them are very simple. Make sure they fit inside the lid if you do this! I did mine without thinking of size-luckily, they work! Once printed, I stamped them with a starfish. I've used the starfish stamp on everything so far. It has been a really cheap way to carry through everything. Here are the inserts:

The worst part of this entire process is the large ribbon. You will need assistance. And my FI was in a mood the particular evening I asked him to help. Thankfully we just had 40 invites! Make sure you pull the ribbon TIGHT. You want it to stay on. Even if it feels too tight, it is ok. FI held the ribbon down and I placed a drop of glue on the ribbon. I pressed down and let it dry for a minute. I used a spare invite box to wrap mine around, this way glue gun accidents weren't the end of the world. After the ribbon was finished, I took it off the boxes and held it in my hands, I placed a drop of glue on a starfish and held it together until it was dry.

Then you assemble and TA-DA!

For mailing we are going to put a layer of bubble wrap around the outside of the box and place in a poly mailer, like these from Staples. We purchased ours at Flower Factory for 3/$.89.

We estimate shipping to be about $2/box.