If you think of an official invitation to any event in the month of December and you could be forgiven for thinking that the event must be a corporate Christmas party. However, that isn’t necessarily the case as December is one of the UK’s busiest months in the events and exhibitions industry. There are 138 exhibitions taking place in the Uk in December in the three week period up to 21st December according to the industry “bible”, The Exibitions Bulletin.

December is also a month where the year end is celebrated and that brings with it many business, entertainments and sports awards ceremonies and dinners. As you will be aware, these are highly presigious affairs and an official invitation is much coveted. Choosing the right invitation for a Christmas event is an important part of the process of generating good attendance figures. If the Christmas event is a prestigious and glamorous affair then a product with a subtle appearance might be most suitable. The invitation must be eye-catching and must stand out to such a degree that your event takes pride of place over others in this busy period. A product with a pop-up effect would be a good choice particularly one with a sophisticated movement such as with a starburst fold. Adding extra touches to the finish such as a matt laminate with UV varnish also add to the perception of quality. A well designed A6 version of the starburst was used for last year’s BAFTA Awards ceremony.

However, it is “horses for courses” and advice that is good for one type of event might not work for another. At the opposite end of the spectrum to the subtle starbursts are high-action, attention-grabbing, fun products such as a Jumpinjax where a set of rubber band powered cubes jump out of a presentation pack. These products owe their success to the degree of cardboard engineering skill employed in their design. Such a product was used to great effect last year by Brighton’s Theatre Royal for their production of Cinderella. The company reported an increase of over 20% on the production for the previous panto season. This is an excellent example of picking the right promotional product for the job!

In a similar vein, a pop up pyramid was used as an invitation to the film premier last December of Alvin and the Chipmunks and that, too, was a great success. Ever-versatile automatic pop ups can be transformed into invitations for many other types of event. A pop up cube, for example, will perform equally well as an invitation to a company Christmas party, an exhibition or a corporate business event. The same can be said of an auto extender. Both of these promotional products come complete with the element of surprise, they are both highly interactive products and they both are delivered in their own mailing package which in itself can be custom printed to look like a Christmas gift!

The main thing to remember when deciding on a Christmas invite is to choose a product that gives off the appropriate feeling about your Christmas event. The choice of graphic design is totally in your own hands,as all cardboard engineered pop-up and interactive products are 100% custom printed. Whitney Woods is a UK company that is able to supply products such as these and they can also supply samples to help with the creative process.