When I was growing up, I always wished I had a summer birthday.  With the beautiful hot, sunny weather the party possibilities are endless!  Pool parties, sports parties, BBQ/Picnic at the park parties, and field day parties.  I remember looking forward to the end of the year in elementary school not only because of summer, but because we got to compete with all of our classmates in the school-wide “color wars” or field days.

Never having been the most coordinated person in the world, I was never a first place winner. All the same, my friends and I had so much fun testing our skill with the never ending list of games.  It’s no surprise that a field day is a popular theme for summer birthday parties!  The idea is great for kids and for parents, because activities can be organized, the kids can work out all of their energy, win prizes, have a snack, and be ready for a good ol’ nap.  And it can be budget friendly.

Recently I was asked to design a custom birthday invitation for a field day party coming up in July for a boy turning 6. The idea of how to create imagery that represented a field day was thought provoking.  Field days can be recognized by people as outdoor games, a carnival, at-home Olympics… everyone has their own perception.  I created two different versions of the field day party invitation for the birthday-boy to choose from.

The backyard party style invite on the left is a little more simple, using a more modern font called Haymaker, and a popular triangular paper bunting decoration in two different opacities and sizes to create the sense of depth.  The fun thing about this invitation is that the details could be changed to suit almost any occasion; bunting color, background color, font style, etc could be changed for a BBQ, outdoor wedding, baby shower, race day, or almost any outdoor themed event!

The more vibrant sporting event style invite was the winner!  The fun shape the text lays on, is puckered to look like it’s being pulled tight.  The varsity style lettering gives the whole invitation a super athletic feel, and the birthday number is the highlight of the whole design!  This one could be tweaked for other uses too, changed up to look like a drive in movie screen, a sign for a bake sale, or even a fun pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey!

Birthdays are so fun and so special that they deserve to have an invitation designed especially for the event!  The possibilities are endless.  What kinds of ideas do you have?