The Gift: A Vintage Take On Charity Cup's Benefit Dinner Invitations

I was recently contact by Charity Cup, a non-profit organization, to make invitations and posters for their benefit dinner. Every year, they send a passionate and dedicated group of young adults to Romania to help the needy whether it's by caring for orphans, giving young girls tools to be strong and successful women, opening schools for the hearing impaired, medical missions, etc.

I've been fortunate to participate in one of Charity Cup's mission trips some years back working in an orphanage in the Republic of Moldova during the summer. So when I received their call, I of course was excited to contribute.

This project was a particular challenge because they wanted to combine two holiday themes: Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thoughts immediately started swirling in my mind of how cliché and cheesy it could potentially turn out, not to mention even the possibility of blending the two together. They both have very different themes, color schemes, and symbols. I didn't want to create something that involved literal symbols such as fall leaves, or 'baby' Jesus. I needed to have both holidays equally represented.

The common element I saw was the act of giving. Thanksgiving is about being thankful for the blessing and gifts you already have, and Christmas is about giving to those who need, so I felt it appropriate to name it, "The Gift". I solved the design problem by color schemes. Thanksgiving was represented through spicy orange, warm yellow, burnt pink and a cool brown. Christmas was represented by a cool blue, lavender, gray, and evergreen. Instead of using typical holiday symbols, I chose ones that stuck with "The Gift" theme: light, love, peace, and grace. All of which God has given us as a gift, and all of which we should be thankful for.

Initial notes and concepts.