Friends, family, and dear blog followers:

If you haven’t yet heard the news, I’m happy to share that hubby and I will be welcoming one more Etch into the family at the end of January. We’re very blessed to expand our little pack to include a new member, and we’re thankful to everyone who’s shared their time, their advice, or their well wishes during the first part of my pregnancy.

Clearly, I’m pumped about all things baby-related, but aside from actually having the kid, I’m most excited about the party. Why? The invitations, of course!

Because the thought of a baby shower makes me cringe, my family and friends have generously obliged and are throwing us a tailgate at the homecoming football game of my husband and my alma mater, Bowling Green State University, instead! What could be better than beer, brats and presents? If I could see my feet. But you can’t have everything, I guess.

I wanted to capture an athletic theme that paid homage to the school we love so much, without any tacky colors or football turf. The balance I found was to go vintage — really vintage. The invitations are designed around a 1900s football theme. The four-panel invitation opens up to reveal all kinds of helpful information about lodging, things to do if you don’t like football (or BG, I guess!), directions and shuttles.

The RSVP helps carry the old school feeling through, with a photo of a real 1900s game, leather helmets and all, gracing the back side.

To finish off the effect, I included save-the-date stickers that boast a vintage version of BGSU’s mascot, the Falcon. He also showed up on the front of the envelope on the return address label. My favorite feature of the whole package, though, is that the return address label wraps around to the back of the envelope. That’s where our party theme greets guests before they even open their invitation!

If you like what you see, you can have your very own by visiting here.