Paperless Post is a wildly popular service that makes it easy to send and track invitations and beautifully designed correspondence.
I still love handwritten notes!
Those of you who have followed this blog for a while know how passionate I am about personal handwritten notes and correspondence. They can’t be beat for meaningful connection and strengthening relationships.
But sometimes the hassle and expense of sending out invitations can keep you from enjoying one of life’s most delightful experiences: a gathering of friends and family.
Happily, technology has come to the rescue for party invitations and some other types of correspondence in a company called Paperless Post. It is a digital design and delivery service that gives the user lots of choices of styles, designs, and colors that “feel” like real paper and envelopes. And of course, you can customize your message. Check out their website to get a glimpse of the beautiful options.
Paperless Post was founded by a brother and sister, James and Alexa Hirschfield, in 2008, both recent Harvard grads when they formed this company. They have partnered with leading stationery companies and designers to offer fresh, original options.
Parties made easy for host and guests
The first encounter I had with Paperless Post was when I received an email invitation to a local party that has, over the last few years, grown to include a lot of people — way too many to easily send handwritten invitations. By using Paperless Post, the hosts were able to send out a Save the Date email followed by a later invitation, all delivered to my Inbox. With postage now (2019) at 55¢, not counting the cost of purchasing invitations or the time to write and address them, this is a huge savings of cost and time.
There are wonderful style and design choices—from casual and fun to elegant and more formal—so the recipient feels like they’re getting an actual envelope (which may be lined to coordinate with the invitation) from which they can take out the invitation. Of course the message can be customized and you can even add a personalized note to a specific note.
It was easy for me to RSVP to the party and even ask a question if I had one. Since it’s in my email Inbox, I can easily check back later to refresh my memory about the details of time and place.
From the host’s point of view, the tracking and follow-up provided by Paperless Post is terrific. They can open their account at any time and see exactly how many people have accepted or declined and they can also see who they haven’t heard from. They can even send out an email after the party to see who left their sweater or their spoon.
Putting Paperless Post to the test
Since I wasn’t going to have a party any time soon, I decided to try the thank you notes to send out to a large group of people who had helped me with a recent event for our ham radio club. All I needed was the club roster to enter names and email addresses, write my note, and hit SEND. Easy peasy! It’s so much more fun and personal than a group email and so much quicker than a handwritten note. Not the same, of course, but a nice alternative.
Payment is made by purchasing “coins” that go into your account. Depending on the number of options you choose, a card or invitation is usually no more than 5 coins each.
Your inner designer will be happy
The next time you want to have a party or other gathering of any kind, consider Paperless Post — not only do they offer invitation/note formats, but you can also design a flyer format. In the mean time, set up a free account and poke around the site to get an idea of the wide range of offerings. It will bring out your inner designer!
I understand that Paperless Post has now partnered with Paper Source to offer online orders for snail mail paper invitations and cards. I haven’t tried that yet, so I’ll save that for another review.
Connection matters
It’s easy to bash technology for distracting us and isolating us, but Paperless Post has made it easy to practice one of the essential keys of the #HeartspokenLife: CONNECT! We need each other, and what better way to nourish friendships than to have a party or get in touch.
Give Paperless Post a try: https://www.paperlesspost.com/
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: I would not recommend a product or service to you without personal knowledge of its value, regardless of whether I have an affiliate relationship with the seller. In this case, Paperless Post has offered to put some “coins” in my Paperless Post account in exchange for an unbiased review. Since I love the product, this was an easy call.
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Let Your Soul Breathe
Since I wrote this article, I have used Paperless Post to send invitations for a corporate party of 30 people I hosted at my home. I was able to design a lovely invitation, and tracking the responses was a breeze. I could even tell whether or not the recipient had opened their invitation or not. It was easy to send a reminder with directions a few days before the event, and my guests could make comments or ask questions if they wished.
Another nice feature is the ability to let guests see who the other guests are. Normally, I wouldn’t do this, but in the case of this event, I wanted them to be able to know who else had been invited in case they wanted to carpool.