Back to School Party for a Cause: Invitations

I am always trying to find ways to help others.  Of course, I do not have an endless bank account to do it all on my own!  Plus, I like to get others involved.  I am a co-leader of my daughters Girl Scout troop and we spend a lot of time raising money and volunteering to help charities.  I LOVE that but I can't help to feel like there is more out there that I can do (with the help of my kiddos).  I hope that my kids never have to experience not having all their needs met.  But, I have been there in my life and I want my kids to be compassionate to those who aren't as lucky as them.  Right now we are very lucky to have a great family, good health, and the ability to buy everything we NEED (my kids are still learning needs versus wants).  I know that our luck could change at any minute and we need to be able to survive through whatever life throws at us.  With that in mind, I want to pay it forward with hope that others would do the same if we were in need.

If you follow my blog, I think it's clear that I love to host parties!!!  Like I said, I don't have an endless bank account so keeping costs low is important to me.  But, we do have a few things that are great for summer entertaining that do not add any cost for us to use them.  So, I decided to host a "Back To School" party for my kiddos friends and their families.  During this party they will get to play on all the things we already have to entertain in the summer.  They will also treat themselves to large ice cream sundae bar (the only additional cost for the party - besides invitations)!  The catch?  They have to bring a donation of school supplies.  These school supplies will be donated to the elementary school that all of the kids attend.  My kiddos have only been in school for a few years but I have seen plenty of little kids that don't have the required school supplies.  So often the teachers are spending their own money to help these kiddos out.  So, I am hoping that this will help.  A small gesture but still something great to teach the age group of kids attending this party.  

The invitations:  I wanted to get them out early because summer is so crazy!  I felt it was important to get the date out there so the guests would have plenty of time to decide if they could work it into their busy summer schedules.  I also wanted to make sure the guests were aware of the school supply donation prior to the great deals that many stores offer on supplies before school starts.  

I also wanted the invitations to be unique.  So here is what I did:

I made small card stock folders and then used stamps and glitter glue to decorate them.

Then I printed some back to school invitation cards (on card stock).   Two invitations printed on each sheet of paper which was the perfect size for the folders I made! 

I wish I could remember where I found these free printable (I will add the link later if I find it again).
I added some details on the back (with my horrible but legible handwriting).  I really should have put some extra time into printing the back side of the cards (via a computer - not my hands). 

 So far, most of the invited guests have RSVP's and are excited about the donation!

Look forward to seeing more posts on this "Back to School Party" later in the summer.