Kalen's 13th Birthday Party

Our good friend Vanessa contacted me last month to design her son's 13th Birthday party invite. What excited me most about this request was that she was giving him a "house party" with all his friends, familiy, a DJ, a professional photographer and even a nacho and candy bar, lol. The idea seemed easy until I had realized how off the thought process was. For Ness and I, when we think "House Party," we visualize a bright yellow background with Kid N' Play in some Pajama Jam get ups. Clearly, that was our generation. I'm assuming when Kalen found out, he told his mom he didn't want any invites. In all honesty, I didn't want to embarrass the kid.

My plan was simple: think like a 13 year old. Likes, dislikes, how he dresses, what kind of music he listens to. The way I saw it, I wanted it to look so f*cking dope, his entire school would be talking about wanting to go. So I approached the birthday invite as if I was doing a club flyer. Let's get the DJ's logo up in there. Throw in 594 apparel's logo since Ness' is down with the folks. (lol, I even threw mine in) I made Kalen's name the headline, featured who the DJ was and since Kalen's mom was "hosting" the party at their residence, let's post that too! The color scheme, what are the kids wearing these days? Teal, purple, light grey, green... mash it all together with a stylin' photo of Kalen and we had a winner. When he saw they invite he loved it and that's what mattered. He even asked his mom for a stack of invites for himself to pass out at school. That made me feel a whole lot better knowing he was happy with the project. Happy Birthday Kalen, you're living in a man's world now! 13 is no joke!