How to Make an Airplane Ticket Invitation

What you will need:

• A little creativity
• Photoshop or other editing skills
• Nice 8 1/2 x 11" paper
• Standard size envelopes
• Smaller envelopes to fit for the tear-away, RSVP boarding pass (aka. return envelope)
• A computer
• A printer
• Scissors
• A sewing machine
• Optional (to make your life easier):  A straight cutting board, a tool to round edges of paper, and a buddy to help you

My Dad's retirement is less than a week away.  It will be an airport theme because he's been working for the airlines since he came to the United States.  Here's how my sister and I made the airplane ticket invitation:

1. Come up with a ticket layout.  (We Googled airplane ticket images to get good ideas.  We also decided to make the boarding pass side a tear-away RSVP card.)
2. Create your ticket in Photoshop or other editing software
3. Go shopping with your really picky sister for nice paper (8 1/2 x 11"), a matching envelope that will fit your ticket, and a smaller envelope that will fit the return RSVP card
4. While you're out, pick up a tool to help you make rounded edges on your ticket and a cutting board for straight cuts (optional:  you can choose to leave the edges square or round them and cut them by hand with scissors.
5. Using MS Word or other software, print your tickets on the paper.  Judging by the standard airplane ticket size, you can probably fit three tickets horizontally on an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper (portrait).
6. Cut out your printed tickets individually (Here's where the cutting board will come in handy)
7. Round the edges (Here's where a special rounding tool will help)
8. Run the ticket through a sewing machine to create the perforations for the tear-away RSVP Boarding Pass. (I think this was the coolest, most realistic piece to our ticket invitation!)
9. Print addresses on your envelopes (You can also print your return address on the smaller envelopes)
10. Fill each big envelope with 1 ticket and 1 small return envelope
11. Stamp and close each filled envelope.
12. Mail those suckers out to friends and family!
13. Wait for their responses!

Voila!  A homemade airplane ticket reservation that's a close dupe for the real thing!

Stay tuned for more updates and crafts for the retirement party!