Printing Personalized Announcement Cards

Personalized announcement cards are a great way to spread the news about any event, whether it's a baby shower, birth announcement, wedding invitation, engagement announcement, birthday party or religious celebration, or even a special sale or grand opening. Best of all, printing personalized announcement cards is fun and easy with these time-saving, money-saving tips.

What to put on personalized announcement cards?

The beauty in personalized announcement cards is that, just as the name implies, they can be customized any way you wish. Depending on your announcement, you'll probably want to include photos or a graphic design, names, addresses, phone numbers and any important information such as "bring your own beverages" or "Please RSVP." Outside of the basics, you can include anything you'd like - be creative and create truly unique and original cards to announce your big event!

Personalized announcement card design

Before you can print and send personalized announcement cards, you need a design, which might seem like a daunting task if you're not familiar with modern graphic design software and technological requirements. Fortunately, there are several ways you can simplify the process to design personalized announcement cards fast and easy. First, pick which software you'll use to design your personalized announcement cards. If you don't have professional design software such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, you can find free and low-cost solutions from Paint.NET, Aviary.com and Open Office. Open Office is a free office suite similar to Microsoft Word, which is another excellent program for designing personalized announcement cards. Once you know what software you'll be designing in, get a free layout template so that you know your design will look as great off the press as it does on your computer screen. Layout templates show you where to keep you design safely within the cutlines and how large to make your background colors so they print from edge to edge. They're also already set up in the proper size, resolution and color mode. You can also downloadable free and paid personalized announcement card design templates from various online sources, which are ready to go and only need text edited and/or photos added; or, go crazy and make your own custom design. For a splash of pizzazz, consider designing your announcement cards to include a foil stamp.

Personalized announcement card printing and mailing

Professional printing makes even amateur designs brim with brilliance, while poor printing can ruin the most aesthetic designs. It starts with your paper: Print personalized announcement cards on 16-point gloss cover stock or 13-point  recycled matte cover stock for scrapbook- and frame-worthy announcements that will delight your recipients and remain as keepsakes for decades. For added sheen and durable protection, you can have your announcements finished with a thick UV coating; and if your event is larger than life you can print announcement cards in sizes up to 13-inch by 17-inch. If you're printing folded cards, have your printer fold them for you and toss in matching envelopes for continuity and elegance. Once of the best things about having your personalized announcement cards professionally printed is that you can have your printing company handle the mailing. Simply upload your mailing list, and you'll never have to address an envelope or lick a stamp to get the word out. The services are cost effective, especially for bulk mailing. You can easily print and send 250 5-inch by 7-inch personalized announcement cards printed on 14-point gloss cover stock, folded, addressed and sent in a white envelope for under $400 (at the time of this writing PsPrint had this offer for less than $280).