Faith and ritual
Janmashtami invitations
5 designs
Free with an account: your invitation as a link, a QR code and a short video for WhatsApp.
Kalamkari
Pen-work from Andhra: uneven vegetal borders in madder, iron black and indigo.
About this design
Andhra pen-work: flowing vegetal borders in madder red, iron black and indigo. The research records two sub-styles — Srikalahasti's freehand pen and Machilipatnam's block print — and this family draws the freehand one, which is why its line is uneven and its borders never tile exactly. Deities are the tradition's most famous subject and are deliberately not drawn: a template that puts a deity on a party invitation makes a religious claim the host did not.
Madhubani
Mithila painting from Bihar: every space filled, hard outlines, sun and fish.
About this design
Mithila painting from Bihar: every space filled, hard outlines, sun and moon and fish and lotus. A living craft with named practitioners, not an ethnic pattern — the family draws its geometry and never claims to reproduce a specific artist's work. Its density is the point and it is the reason it is offered for Chhath and Saraswati Puja before anything pan-Indian.
Kolam
Dot-grid geometry from Tamil and Telugu doorsteps, drawn at dawn.
About this design
White dot-grid geometry on a warm ground, the way a Tamil or Telugu doorstep is drawn at dawn. Named kolam and not rangoli on purpose: alpana in Bengal and aripan in Bihar are cousins with their own names, and this family draws only the South Indian one.
Marked by Hindu families. Usually at home, a temple and a hired hall, for family, the wider community and the children. August to September, at midnight. Free invitation designs with RSVP and calendar, and no account for your guests.
Each one is a different visual tradition rather than a recolour of the same card. Tap a colour underneath to change the palette; every design carries your own wording, date and place.
About Janmashtami
- When it falls
- August to September, at midnight
- Who is usually asked
- family, the wider community and the children
- Where it usually happens
- at home, a temple and a hired hall
- How the invitation speaks
- Warm — first names, and it sounds like the person sending it
- Customary opening line
- “Join us for Janmashtami”
- Colours it is associated with
- Blue and yellow
- Marked by
- Hindu
Wording that works
Janmashtami at ours
Bhajans from 9, the little ones' footprints at 10, midnight aarti for whoever lasts.
Questions people ask
- Do my guests need an account?
- No, and they never will. A guest opens the link, types their name and taps Going, Maybe or Can't go. No password, no phone number, no app. If a page ever asks your guests for a password, it is not us.
- Can I text my guests?
- Only the ones who asked to be texted. A guest gives a number on their own — on our page, never yours — and confirms it with a six-digit code before we will send anything. You never see the number. Texts are limited to three per event so an invitation cannot become a mailing list, and cancelling or moving an event is never counted against that.
- Does it work in WhatsApp?
- That is what it is built for. Pasting the link shows a picture of the invitation with the date and who is hosting, before anybody taps — and the page opens in whatever browser your guest has, on any phone, including the ones that are not iPhones.
- Can guests add it to Google Calendar?
- Google, Apple, Outlook and anything else that reads a calendar file. There is a button on the invitation itself, and it works before anybody answers. If you change the time or the place afterwards, their existing entry updates — it does not add a second one — and cancelling removes it.