In an earlier, simpler time, sending out party invitations was a pretty understated affair. A brief solicitation engraved on an elegant white card usually did the trick.

But such a minimalist approach will not do today and certainly not in glitz-conscious L.A. Here, invitations sent out by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg and Ron Burkle must be clever and stylish, and most of all, they must stand out.

Why mail out a small white card, after all, when you can spring for a three-dimensional creation accompanied by two miniature Lladro figurines?

Needless to say, there’s money to be made in all this.

“What I’m finding is that more people are paying attention to the expression of their parties and it’s hard to do that with store-bought materials. People want things custom-made to capture the essence of their event,” said Marc Friedland, owner of Creative Intelligence in Los Angeles, one of several top invitation designers in Los Angeles.

Indeed, the nature of the invitation is increasingly being viewed by individuals and companies alike as the element that sets the tone for any occasion.

“It sets the baseline of the event. Is it formal or off-the-wall? A law firm may present itself in a different light than an Internet start-up,” said Kevin Bridges, a managing partner at BridgeGate LLC, a consulting firm in Los Angeles. “It creates buzz and gets the industry talking, and they want to one-up you on their next event.”

Meeting expectations built by the invitation can be a tall order, said Leslee Tartov, owner of Events Unlimited Inc. in Los Angeles, which helps coordinate the annual Fire & Ice Ball.

That lavish fund-raising party, held Dec. 9, drew 1,300 attendees to the Universal Studios lot. “It’s been that way for the past few years,” said Tartov, adding that the event’s fashion host, the Versace Group of Milan, created this year’s invitation, a dazzling blue-and-purple laminate creation.

Because image is everything, people tend to correlate the snazzier summons with the wilder party.

“Then you have to live up to the expectation. That guarantee doesn’t come with the invitation order,” said Meryl Marshall, president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which sent out 4,000 lavish invitations to its Emmy Awards in September.

With this being the 50th anniversary of the Emmys, the Academy enlisted the services of designer Friedland. The fold-out invite showcased a black-and-white photo montage spelling Emmy.

“We felt that this event warranted the extra push. The invitation becomes a souvenir that triggers memories and has another value,” said Marshall.

Some say the trend in fanciful invitations is simply a way of standing out in the mailbox.

“It’s rare to receive something that is a keepsake,” said Petrula Vrontikis, owner of the 9-year-old Vrontikis Design Office in West Los Angeles, whose clients have included E! Entertainment Television and Monsoon Caf & #233; in Santa Monica. “They feel like they shouldn’t throw it away.”

For instance, how can one chuck a stunning picture book of Provence bookmarked with a luncheon invitation to Frederic Fekkai’s new hair salon in Beverly Hills?

“It’s a form of P.R. people hold onto the item. It has shelf life,” said Robin Cohn, who owns a New York corporate-identity consulting firm.

It also can get expensive. Friedland utilizes imported papers, bamboo, copper, dates, nuts, muslin, and embossed velvet. The finished product can fetch as much as $14 apiece and rise to orders costing $30,000. Charges also go up with clever packaging ideas, everything from clear envelopes to picnic baskets.

“These people will get sticker shock when they find out the price compared to going to your local Kinko’s and paying 25 cents per card,” said sales representative Mike Robarts of Glendale-based Bert-co Graphics, a printing manufacturer that specializes in pop-up designs.

Part of the price is just labor. If it takes 10 minutes to glue and assemble the invitation by hand, the time doesn’t change whether the order is for 500 or 5,000 pieces.

Among the more elaborate creations Friedland created was for last weekend’s opening of the $500 million Atlantis hotel expansion in the Bahamas.

He first assembled seashells, gold-embossed letterhead and layers of papyrus. Then, he neatly packaged the pieces in a mural-designed box tied with cobalt blue and burnt sienna silk ribbons, and covered with glued-on starfish.

“Every element was thought of all the way. Anybody can spend money. It’s hard to be creative,” said Jerry Inzerillo, executive vice president of Sun International, owner of the Atlantis. “You want your recipient to feel special and in high regard. It’s a particular perk to be on the A list.”