Bargain Bridal Shower!

My very best friend got engaged over Christmas and (originally) set her wedding date in August. After she got to thinking about it and a few suggestions from her parents - she decided to move the date up. She is having a very small wedding so instead of freaking out about it for most of the year - they are going to tie the knot sooner rather than later. Fabulous, I say - until I thought about it. I thought I had months to plan something for a "shower" when, now - I have mere weeks. So, Wednesday - I got to work. I e-mailed her friends and family for their addresses and went to Hobby Lobby at lunch, to find the invitations. Unfortunately, I didn't like any of the ones that they had and the ones I thought were "so-so", I didn't want to pay $12.99 for 8 of them! I would need two or three packages, so that wasn't going to work for me. Used to, I would spend it and not think twice about it, but since we made a resolution to watch our pennies, I refused to give in. I think its completely heinous to order those absolutely adorable but extremely overpriced invitations from those cute little online stores, so - my creative side emerged. My friend is not "frilly" by any stretch of the imagination. She is down-to-earth, girl next door, I wear blue jeans and drink beer and love the beach and bright colors, and none of the invitations looked like her. So...I decided I would make my own. I found these cute little note cards that I assured myself I could run through my fabulous printer and no one would be the wiser. You want to hear the best part - they came 20 to a package! The even better part? They were only $1.50!!! Yes, $1.50 for 20 cards. So, my creative mind just kept working and I picked up 2 packages. (I'm going to run the envelopes from the second package through the printer, so she can use them as thank you cards (since they are blank), and she will already have all of their addresses). Then, I went the next aisle over and found some really cute chinese "take-out" boxes in bright colors, to match the invitations. Then, I continued on and found a couple of gift bags, on sale, with the colors that match the invitations - so I can put her gifts in there. I go to the check out, confident of a thrifty purchase when the sales lady says "I think I have a coupon for you to use", so she rings it up too and guess what - my whole loot was a wopping $13.47! Seriously! Gift bags, "invitations", thank you notes, and favor boxes all for less than $15!! I left with a HUGE smile on my face. Later that day, I went home and got to work and this is what I came up with: I made one for me, to make sure I liked how they looked. I was able to type all of the addresses and send them right through my printer, as I am not a huge fan of address labels. This is the outside of the card. It's blank inside so you could use it this way, where it opened up or you could turn it, so it would open to the side. Up and down worked better for me. They are super cute though, aren't they? This is what I did with the inside of it! Ran it right through my printer, in color. Then, I bought some colored paper at Wal-Mart, printed some stuff out on them, and cut them with one of my scrapbook punches - they match the outside of the card, how its ruffled. Cute, huh? I spent $3.57 on paper, and only used 6 sheets, so I can add that to my scrapbooking collection. Then, I spent $6.72 on stamps. So, as of right now, I am at $23.76 and am halfway done with this shower! I booked it at a restaurant, so there are minimal decorations needed and everyone will pay for their own meal. I am going to pick up some balloons at the dollar store, a bouquet of flowers from Wal-Mart or Krogers and then I will make her cake. I figure, I can host a really great shower for all of $100! I will try to take pictures of everything I get, so you can see how it turned out (and how much I spent)!