DIY party themes and ideas you can personalize!
The best part about planning a party is picking out a cool theme because you get to exercise a little creativity. Of course, if you can personalize the theme, even better. Moreover, free Avery templates, design tools, and DIY party ideas make it easy to add personalized details that make any celebration extra special.
Making personalized, themed party decorations may seem overwhelming, but it’s actually easier and more affordable than you might think. In fact, you only need three things to start designing using our free online software: a laptop or smart device, an internet connection, and a free Avery account. When you’re done customizing your designs, print them on Avery labels, cards, and tags using a standard desktop printer. Or, you can have your personalized designs custom printed with Avery WePrint® services.
So without further ado, we invite you to enjoy our roundup of 19 party themes and ideas that you can make yourself.
More articles you might like:
- Party Planning Tips: How to Plan an Awesome Birthday Party
- How to Create & Print Personalized Gift Tags
- How to Make Fun & Easy DIY Happy Birthday Cards
- How to Make Tickets for an Event or Raffle
1) Cool Western party theme idea
Try a good old-fashioned western party theme for your favorite cowpoke. All of your guests will be amazed at how a handful of printable cards and labels can transform a backyard barbecue into an old west cookout.
Get free templates for “Wanted Poster” invitations, goodie bag tags, and more
2) Outdoor party ideas for 4th of July
Dazzle everyone this Fourth of July with a fun hot dog bar using a few customizable labels and cards. Our patriotic template patterns and versatile labels make it easy to keep your party organized while leaving a personal touch.
Get free templates and tips for setting up a hot dog bar for a patriotic party theme.
3) Travel-themed graduation party ideas
A travel theme is a cool DIY graduation party theme that sums up the feelings of excitement as your grad adventures out into the world. Of course, personalized DIY details help you create a truly epic send-off.
Create your own passport party favors, DIY travel stickers and more!
4) Marvelous mermaid birthday parties
Make waves with this gorgeous mermaid party theme. These party ideas for 1 year-olds to 12 year-olds (and mermaids of all ages) are just what you need to catch people hook, line, and sinker. They’re also great pool party ideas!
Super cute, free mermaid designs for water bottles, cupcake toppers, and more.
5) Baseball-inspired birthday parties
Knock your kid’s next birthday out of the park with these awesome baseball birthday party ideas. Whether you’re looking for a complete party or some extra decorations, these baseball party ideas are sure to make the crowd go wild.
Create DIY ticket invitations, baseball shirts, Cracker Jack party favors, and more.
6) Cute party theme for Galentine’s Day
So you’ve seen the adorable Galentine’s Day Pinterest boards and trending posts on Instagram. Now it’s time to get in on the fun with super cute Galentine’s Day party ideas.
Get free templates for invitations, Hershey’s Kisses stickers, champagne party favors, and more.
7) Camping-inspired unique party theme
Enjoy some of the most charming elements of nature from the comfort of your backyard or living room. Take a stroll through these templates, supplies, and camping party ideas and see how easy it is to bring the great outdoors into your home.
Create your own “mix ‘n match” trail mix station, s’mores party favors, and more!
8) Chili cook-off party theme for adults
However, much like chili, planning a chili cook-off can seem simple on the surface, but there are many necessary moving parts underneath that make it feel just right. Make sure your homemade chili showdown goes off without a hitch with these simple cook-off party ideas.
Free templates for invitations, voting cards, DIY aprons, and more.
9) Elegant party theme for retirement
Give the retiree in your life the best send-off ever with retirement party ideas you can create and print yourself. Since you can customize the text, these designs are also perfect for a classy birthday theme or New Year’s Eve party.
Free templates for table signs, tent cards, party favors, and more.
10) Fiesta-themed birthday party ideas
Whether you’re celebrating Día del Muertos, Cinco de Mayo or throwing a fiesta for any occasion, celebrate in style. To that end, our printable cards and labels paired with free design tools and templates make it easy to create DIY decorations for a delicious taco bar.
Free templates with cute cactus designs, papel picado, and more.
11) Friendsgiving party theme for adults
While a traditional Thanksgiving dinner can be a more formal affair with your relatives, Friendsgiving lets you share a meal and give thanks with your family of friends. Whether you’re planning a Friendsgiving meal with your work friends or old friends from college, these party ideas are the perfect complement.
Free templates for invitations, place settings, “to-go” boxes, and more!
12) Family-fun Halloween party ideas
Kick off the Halloween season in style by inviting people over for a good old-fashioned jack-o’-lantern carving party. These decorations and Halloween party ideas are sure to raise your guests’ spirits.
Create your own candy buffet, carving party favors, invitations, and more.
13) Decorating party for gingerbread houses
A gingerbread house decorating party is a fantastic way to celebrate the season and showcase everyone’s creative side. Make sure your party is a sweet success with extra adorable templates and party ideas.
Personalize tent cards, DIY aprons, frosting labels, and more.
14) St. Patrick’s Day party ideas
Want to make your friends and family feel lucky? Surprise everyone this St. Paddy’s Day with a charming dessert table. Our craftiest minds have put together a creative yet simple recipe for a party that will make everyone green with envy.
Free templates for invitations, table decorations, the party favors, and more.
15) Cool party theme for your dog
Your dog is a very good dog; shouldn’t the dog party supplies you choose be just as amazing? These DIY dog birthday party ideas is the perfect way to personalize your best friend’s big day.
Create personalized decorations, favors and accessories for your fur baby’s birthday!
16) Balloons & bunting birthday theme
We love these classic birthday ideas featuring simple but charming balloons and bunting designs. Quickly decorate any birthday party with a cohesive look that looks pulled together and special.
Free matching templates for invitations, labels, and cards.
17) Waffle bar party idea for brunch
Let’s do brunch! Throwing a brunch party is a delicious way to start the day, whether for a bridal shower or Mother’s Day celebration, or for breakfast to close out your kid’s slumber party.
DIY invites, party invitations, stickers and decorations to host a scrumptious waffle bar party.
18) Award show party ideas for movie buffs
Hosting an award show viewing party? Treat your guests to an unforgettable celebration with fun party supplies decked out for Hollywood’s big night! These personalized decorations with star quality are easy to create yourself.
Create your own labels, cards, and tags for an awards show party theme.
19) Mother’s Day pancake brunch idea
Host a mouthwatering pancake buffet for all the mothers in your family with just a few easy steps. Add your own personal touch to our sweet pancake party ideas to create the perfect brunch.
Free templates for gift tickets, tent cards, labels, and more.
Best DIY printable products to bring party ideas to life
There are certainly a few printable products that work really well for making personalized party supplies. Firstly, think about creating personalized party invitations using printable note cards and address labels. As a matter of fact, both are great for sending thank-you cards as well.
Secondly, let’s talk about party food. Generally, party food and drinks are one of the first things to consider when planning a party (which we wrote about here). If you plan on serving food or treats on a buffet, tent cards are ideal for helping guests navigate self-serve options. Drink labels are simply another fun way to highlight your party theme.
Thirdly, consider using fabric transfers to create personalized party swag. Indeed, our iron-on transfers are perfect for creating your own custom t-shirts, tote bags, pouches, and more. In fact, we have a great resource page to help you find the perfect fabric transfer for your project and get ideas too. And finally, round labels and tags are easy to use for personalizing goodie bags and party favors.
What you need to know about printers
Regardless of the printable products you intend to use, always make sure that they match the type of printer you have. For example, only print items marked “laser” on laser printers and items marked “inkjet” on inkjet printers. This is so important that we wrote an entire article about printers and labels. While the article is about labels, it actually applies to printable cards and tags too.
It’s also worth mentioning that there is one case where both types of printers will work. Some Avery labels, cards, and tags are uniquely designed to work with both laser and inkjet printers. These products will have “laser/inkjet” or “inkjet/laser” listed on their packaging and product pages.
Comparing DIY labels, cards, and tags for party ideas
| What You Want to Personalize | Best Printable Product |
|---|---|
| Invitations Thank-you cards | 8315 note cards for inkjet printers 5315 note cards for laser printers |
| Mailing labels | 5160 address labels for laser printers 8160 address labels for inkjet printers |
| Buffet Place settings | 5302 small tent cards for laser and inkjet printers |
| Drinks | 22845 waterproof wraparound labels for laser and inkjet printers |
| T-shirts Tote bags | 3271 light fabric transfer for inkjet printers |
| Party favors Goodie bags | 22807 2″ round labels for laser and inkjet printers 22802 printable tags for laser and inkjet printers |
How to create with Avery labels, cards, and tags
As mentioned previously, our free online software and free templates make it easy to personalize labels, cards, and tags. More specifically, Avery Design and Print Online (ADPO) features standard editing tools for images, texts, shapes, and backgrounds. Furthermore, we have some very helpful videos that walk you through how to work with image-based elements and how to add and edit text.
Aside from the features you would expect, ADPO also has some interesting tools that make personalizing a party theme even easier. For example, the Mail Merge tool allows you to import the addresses from a spreadsheet onto individual address labels. You can also use this tool to personalize labels and tags for party favors.
Once you’ve picked out the labels, cards, and/or tags you want to use, it’s time to pick a template to customize. While you can, of course, design from scratch in ADPO, our free predesigned templates make it so much easier to pull together a cohesive party theme. When you choose template design, it will open in ADPO, and you’ll see your design tools on the left. Then, simply click any element of the design to move it and/or edit it as desired.
How to find Avery templates for your party theme
Firstly, you will need your Avery product number, so it’s important that you pick the item you want to print on first. Once you have that, you can find predesigned templates in a couple of ways.
Undoubtedly, the fastest way is to go to our template finder page and enter your Avery product number. Then, click “Start Designing Now,” and you will have a blank template and many predesigned templates to choose from. From there, you can scroll to find a design that you like or use the left menu to search by category.
Similarly, you can find Avery templates on the corresponding product page. If you search Avery.com for 5160 labels, when you open that product page, there will be a link for matching templates. Once you’ve gotten to that point, the rest of the process is very similar to the first option.
Another great option is to just use this article as a guide. Indeed, use the “Read More” button for any of the party ideas we’ve listed here to go to an article full of free, predesigned templates for that theme! Moreover, the “Customize” buttons in each article will open individual templates directly.
Add a personal touch to your party theme with DIY ideas
Creating fun, personalized details for your next party is easier and more affordable than you think. Printable Avery labels, cards, and tags are the perfect way to add party theming to invitations, party swag, goodie bags, party favors, food displays, and more. With our free online software and free editable templates, you can create awesome, personalized designs even if you’re not a graphic designer.
From western cowboys and little mermaids to cool party themes for adults like Friendsgiving or a chili cook-off, our DIY party ideas have tons of free printables. Is there a theme you’d like to see us cover? Check out our party ideas on Pinterest for more inspiration and share your awesome party projects on Instagram using #averyproducts.
