Blake + Connor's Reptile Birthday Party Invitations

Lori found me through a mutual friend and was interested in having me design invitations for her sons' birthday party.  She has twin boys and since they were going to be a whole decade old, she decided to throw them a birthday party that was a little out of the ordinary- a reptile party.  "A what?", you're asking.  Lori hired Serengeti Steve from The Reptile Experience to come to the party and share several reptiles, amphibians, and arachnids with all of the kids.  Cool, huh?  I'm in!! (Except for the arachnids.  Let's just say I'm NOT a fan of spiders and scorpions).

I wanted to create something that was appropriate for ten year olds, but wasn't too cutesy or childish.  So I designed the invitations with several animal illustrations that reflected the party to come.  Lori didn't have a particular color palette in mind, but after some brainstorming we decided to go with black and bright shades of green. 

Alligator skin patterned envelope liners definitely made these party invitations less little-boy and more sophisticated!

To make envelope addressing easier, the envelopes had wrap-around labels with the guest addresses and the return address (names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent).

Have you ever heard of a reptile party before?  Would you pet the tarantula or are you a scaredy cat like me?