The Paperless Post

Finally! A tasteful alternative to evite: The Paperless Post. (Evite we love you, but evites are just so 2002. We've also gotten a few cute invites from Pingg, but they never knocked our socks off.) The Paperless Post is a relatively new service that allows you to design custom, personalized invitations online that have the look (but not the feel) of a cardstock invitation.

Instead of the usual brightly-hued electronic invite, an image of a cream-colored envelope with your guest's name on it will appear in his/her inbox. When the guest follows the link, a virtual invitation comes out of the envelope. PP then lets you monitor the guest list in a similar manner to evite. It's a dream come true for stationery lovers like myself. I'll also admit that I'm a sucker for all the literary references on the site: sample invites are addressed to the likes of Lily Bart and Jay Gatsby.

Of course, there's a catch...The Paperless Post is not free. However, it's cheap enough that you can splurge on a few of the virtual "stamps" if you really want a special invitation. (It's also much cheaper-and easier-than buying invitations and mailing them.) Here's an idea of the prices 60 Stamps for $5 (postage equivalent $26.40) and 300 stamps for $15 (postage equivalent $132.00).

Want to hear about my own experience using the service? Read on.

I just sent an invitation to my own birthday party using the Paperless Post, and I can say that my guests were impressed by the adorable invite. I opted for one of the "casual modern" styles, but according to the Paperless Post you can choose from letterpressed notes, foil-stamped invites and even an invitation that is knotted with a virtual silk ribbon (fancy!)

From my own experience, I can say that the Paperless Post is a great service. However, I will also say that there's still some fine-tuning to be done on the back end. I think that I set up my PP invite to send guests a reminder, but a quick survey of my party guests revealed that not one of them received one. So, either it was too complicated to figure out or it just doesn't work.

So, a pretty invite, for sure, but not the optimal guest list management system. In other words, we wouldn't rely on the Paperless Post for an important event, fundraiser or party, like, say, your wedding.

Want more entertaining ideas? Check out these posts:

Throw a Margarita Party (and invite me!)

Set a Beachy Table