I must design a VIP invite for a client, but she wants to have some gold elements in there. Is there any way to do this other than making a foil block, which is shite expensive?

Silkscreen may be your best bet, but likely isn't any cheaper than foil.

There are also metallic pantone inks, but they usually either need a double hit, or letterpress to get the density to let the metallic bits show off right.

VIP invite, tell her to suck it up and spend the money to really make it look VIP, and not just lame.

Buy gold covered stock and print on that. :|

I actually did that for stickers once and it was cheaper than gold ink.

I'll ask my print designer friends in CT, but I do recall them using Arigato's overprint on gold stock for cost effectiveness.

I've actually done it myself, trying to impress girls with expensive looking invites... (it worked)