One of the first places I found for paper and envelopes was Action Envelope. They had comparable prices to other paper places so I decided to order my paper from them.
Back in October, I placed an order with Action Envelope for 5 of they envelopes in different colors. They were $1 each and with my order I got a $5 credit on my next order.
I got one A9 sized envelope in each of these 5 colors:
"Linen"
"Avocado"
"Grocery Bag"
"Chocolate"
"Racing Green"
We had already picked out our color scheme, so we wanted to see what the different greens looked like as well as figuring out if we wanted a white-ish envelope or something colored.
We ended up loving the "racing green" color so we decided to use it as the main color for our invitations. The "avocado," "chocolate," and "mandarin" color would be used as accent colors. We chose the "linen" paper and envelope because it had such a great texture and added that something special to the invitations.
We ordered our paper in December. We ordered 250 sheets of "natural linen" paper for $18.95, 250 sheets of the "racing green" paper for $42.95, 50 sheets of paper in "avocado" for $10.95, 50 sheets in "chocolate" for $15.95 and 50 sheets of paper in "mandarin" for $15.95.
Total with the $5 credit from ordering the sample envelopes taken off and $11.27 in shipping, our paper cost us $155.87.
Later, we had to order another 250 sheets of the linen paper because we ran out. The paper was $19.95 plus $9.24 in shipping to equal $29.19.
Ordering the extra linen paper took our total up to $185.06 for the paper (including shipping charges.)
Each invitation took 2.5 sheets of the linen paper for the main information sheets, ~1/4 of a linen sheet for the RSVP card, 1 sheet of the racing green paper for the back, approximately 1/5 of a sheet of racing green paper for the pocket, ~1/4 of the avocado paper for the back of the RSVP card, and ~1/5 of the avocado paper for the band. I'm not counting the punched-out clovers and leaves in the cost because they were all punched out from scraps left over from cutting out the main parts of the invitations and other projects.
Linen Paper:
$18.95 + $19.95 = $38.90 (total amount paid for linen paper)
$38.90/400 (number of sheets) = 9.7 cents per page
9.7 cents x 2.75 sheets (amount used per invitation) = 26.70 cents of linen used per invitation
Racing Green Paper:
$42.95/250 (number of sheets) = 17.18 cents per page
17.18 cents x 1.2 (amount used per invitation) = 20.6 cents of racing green used per invitation
Avocado Paper:
$10.95/50 (number of sheets) = 21.9 cents per page
21.9 cents x .45 (amount used per invitation) = 9.8 cents of avocado used per invitation
Cost of paper per invitation: 57.1 cents (26.70 + 20.6 + 9.8)
Each envelope also got an A9 envelope and
an A1 envelope for the RSVP. The outside envelopes were $44.95 for 150
and the envelopes for the RSVP cards were $32.85 for 150 (not including shipping.)
Outside Envelope: $44.95/150 = 29.9 cents
RSVP Envelop: $32.85/150 = 21.9 cents
Cost of envelopes per invitation: 51.8 cents (29.9 + 21.9)
Running total: $1.09 per invitation
Other Expenses:
We bought 3 packs of "glue dots" to put together the invitations at ~$2.65/pack = $7.95
After the "glue dots" ran out, we used double stick tape at $5.95 for a 2 pack x 2 = $11.90
The punches we used to make the clover and leaf shapes were ~$20
I bought a paper cutter at $25 plus 2 packs of blades for another $12 which totals $37
We made 112 invitations so to get the price of each "other expense," I'm going to divide the cost by 112.
Glue Dots: $7.95/112 = 7.09 cents
Double Stick Tape: $11.90/112 = 10.6 cents
Punches: 17.8 cents
Paper Cutter & Blades: 33 cents
Total for "others" = 68.49 cents
Running total: $1.09 (paper) + 68.49 cents ("others") = $1.77 per invitation
Postage
We put a single 65 cent stamp on the outside envelope to send our invitations to everyone in the U.S. We also put a 45 cent stamp on the RSVP card for people to send back to us. For our guests in the U.S. we spent $1.10 in postage per invitation.
For our out of country guests (my family in Canada, ) we put two 65 cent stamps on the outside envelope, but no 45 cent stamp on the RSVP card because we figured they'd have to put Canadian postage on something sent in Canada. For our out of country guests we spent $1.30 in postage.
Total cost per invitation
U.S. guests: $2.87 ($1.77 for paper and "others" plus $1.10 postage)
Canada guests: $3.07 ($1.77 for paper and "others" plus $1.30 in postage)
(total does not include shipping charges or gas used to drive to craft stores)
I'm actually extremely proud of this. I couldn't find a pre-made or ordered invitation for this cheap. We did pay out the wazoo for postage (because I stupidly went over the 1 ounce mark for 45 cent stamps) but overall, I'm extremely proud of the way they turned out and the cost. Even though it took me what seemed like forever to get them done, I would do it all over again in a heart beat.
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