Questions about printing and paper are very common, this post will cover different resources and types of paper to use for your printable party decorations.
Metro-Events currently offers printing for thank you cards, invitations vinyl banners, and posters. Metro-Events uses professional printing resources for printing these items, the printers set the quantities and metro-events does not have the option to change the print quantities that are available. For the invitations and thank you cards, they are sold to me in increments of 25. The banners & posters, these can be sold in single prints. Metro-Events only charge for the design services the print costs are that of the printers. ● Printed thank you cards are printed on 14pt premium card stock, the front of the card is matte so you can write a special note if needed. The back of the card has a UV gloss coating so you will not be able to write on it. ● Printed invitations 14pt premium card stock with full UV protective gloss coating.
ENVELOPES The invitations and thank you cards do not come with envelopes, this is the printer's policies. Metro-Events recommends purchasing envelopes at envelopemall.com. ● 5"x7" size invitations the size envelopes you will need is an A7. ● 4"x6" size invitations the size envelopes you will need is an A6.
HOME PRINTING Metro-Events offers a number of different printable items. After using and testing several types of papers for different things these are the recommendations for the paper to be used for the items:
You may substitute any of the recommended paper items with a label if you would like a sticker I get my label paper at online labels here is the link: http://www.onlinelabels.com/OL175.htm PLEASE NOTE: Metro-Events does NOT customize labels for different types of template labels. The reason for this is because of all the variables available with different templates labels. It is recommended that you purchase single full sheet labels then cut them to size.
● Printable party items that should be printed on heavy weight paper: Banner, Invite, Cupcake toppers, Favor tags, thank you cards, food labels, party sign, party hat, favor box, 4.5” round label, snack boxes, 3" cup labels, hanging decorative circles, tic tac toe game, treat bag tags
● Printable party items that should be printed on Light/Med weight paper: Beverage wrappers, napkin wrappers, snack cones, cupcake wraps, straw flags, juice box wraps, patterned paper, mini chocolate wrappers, large chocolate wrappers, paper fortune teller
Inkjet Printers Paper Recommendations: Mid/light paper: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/244927/Office-Depot-Brand-Double-Sided-Presentation/
Heavyweight paper: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/244252/Office-Depot-Brand-Professional-Photo-Paper/
Laser Printers Paper Recommendations: Mid/light paper: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/271501/HP-Premium-Choice-Laser-Paper-Smooth/
Heavyweight paper: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Georgia-Pacific-Cardstock-8.5-x-11-110-lb.-150-Sheets/15904276
You don't have to spend a ton of money on paper to get good quality. After testing out different papers throughout the years I have actually found that some of the more expensive papers do not produce as good of quality prints.
For double-sided printing of the invitations make sure you get the double-sided paper. The heavyweight paper that I have recommended is double-sided so you can use that. Double-sided printing can be tricky, every time I print double-sided I forget which way I am supposed to load the paper and I have been doing this for years! So what I do to save ink & paper is a test print with a basic word file. ● Step one print a word file on cheap paper, make sure that word file has one word on it so you can see the direction when you print the second side. ● Step two put the paper back into the printer and print that word again, if it's on the opposite side of the paper and facing the right direction then you know how to load the paper... you just have to pay attention to how you did it! If it is upside down and on the same side as the first print you know that you have to change the direction of the paper so just try again. ● The key is to pay attention to the direction you are loading the paper, as long as you note what you are doing then you will eventually get it right. Once you know then you can print your actual file and not waste ink or paper!
