DIY save the date magnets - has anyone done this?

I just had a brilliant idea! I'm totally in over my head with my wedding budget. I am not trying to do tacky DIY stuff but between the venue, the reception, the food, the officiant, the florist, the cake, the DJ, the favors, blah blah blah I just need to cut back somewhere. I'm pretty creative so I'm making my own invitations (they will be gorgeous and are going to look expensive) but I just had an idea for save the date magnets.



They sell magnet sheets at staples that you print yourself with your inkjet and then you can cut them to any size you want. If I make my own, it's about $12 for 5 sheets and I can definitely get between 60-80 magnets out of that.



Has anyone done this? I'm worried that the ink will smudge especially because people will probably put them on the refrigerator and if their hands are wet in the kitchen . . .



What do you think?

DIY save the date magnets - has anyone done this?
We did this for my best friend's wedding about 5 years ago. They looked great and did not smudge.

I decided not to do this though because the ink did fade after a few months (so be careful if you are sending them out very early!)

Oh and the new trend of having stainless steel appliances also turned me away from doing this - magnets don't stick to stainless steel!
Reply:These are quite common and generally well accepted by most people. I don't think smudging is an large of a concern as you think it is.



I think this sounds lovely and cost effective.



Go for it.



Also note that you do not have to send out "save the dates" unless your wedding falls around a holiday, peak vacation time, or includes mostly out of town guests.

Sending regular invites 8-10 weeks in advance would leave plently of time for most (the usual timeframe for sending invites is 6-8 weeks for the vast majority).
Reply:Save your money alltogether! Don't bother with these. The ink will smudge and I personally find save the date magnets useless. Unless you are having a large number of out of town guests, do not bother with save the dates of any type. They are a wedding marketing gimic to get you to spend more money. I throw these things away once I get them.
Reply:yeahh its the new thing i guess. i'd do it. its pretty neat. and no one will forget your date bc everyone will put it on their fridge. and they'll prbly keep it after the wedding too to remember ur day. so go for it!
Reply:that's smart. I did my own Save-the-date postcards. they looked amazing. But I would suggest you get a whole sheet of that size cards printed at kinkos. They're having a .49 cent special on color copies. So get a few pages of those on cardstock, cut them out and stick them on the magnets. They'd be gorgeous. :)
Reply:for my invitations, i put a magnet on the back of each one... so people can put it on their fridge..



everyone loved that idea...
Reply:I don't know much about printing but I would think you need a special kind of ink that will stay put. I did my own save the date magnets and had them printed at vistaprint.com for about $1/each. This included the cost of a customized envelope.

http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/ns/gallery....
Reply:A friend of mine did this , and they looked great! It didn't smudge on our fridge.
Reply:You can save money even further by buying one magnet sheet and cutting it up into small squares and gluing one to the back of a save the date made from some extra paper from your invites.



EG. out of an A4 paper sheet you should be able to print about 8 save the dates (you might want to print on slightly thicker paper or card) if you place a piece of magnet on the back with some double sided tape or glue it will hold the weight. The magnet only needs to be about 1cm or 1/2 inch square and you don't have to worry about it smudging. You might even get 12 save the dates out of an A4 sheet if you are frugal
Reply:I would suggest printing the invitations on some nice sturdy stationary and just attaching a strip of magnet on the back. I think if you printed on a magnetic sheet they would look kinda cheesy.
Reply:i made my save the date magnets the other night. First we made our cards (which are actually photos like you would get from a photobooth and in each picture we are holding a different picture "save", "the", "date" "7.26.08". ) we took pictures and made them on photoshop, it is shaped like a bookmark. Then we put as many as we could on one page in a microsoft document and took them to Staples and printed them off in black and white (too save money and look authentic). I cut them out and got a roll of magnetic tape and cut little squares and stuck them to the top of the save the date so it could be on my refridgerator. They are really cute and only ended up costing .49 cents a sheet about 28.00 for me and i bought tape and envelopes for 12 bucks. so about 40 bucks. really cheap and original.
Reply:I love that idea! Go for it, it is a new chic trend and not very many couples are doing this so, it will be something they will remember from your wedding. Great DYI project! I have been doing alot of DYI things for my wedding and I'm having so much fun , you will love it! Enjoy and congratulations!

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