Turn off iCal shared calendar messages in Notification Center

I share a lot of calendars with friends and family members using Apple's iCloud service. Every time someone adds an event to a shared calendar, I am bombarded with alerts across multiple iOS and OS X devices. It can get annoying. I don't so much mind the alerts on my iOS device, but I do mind them on OS X. Then recently, I stumbled upon the seemingly hidden preference to turn off shared calendar alerts in iCal. Here's where you can find it:

• Launch iCal and open the preferences pane.

• Select the Alerts tab along the top. At the bottom of the Alerts section, you'll find two checkboxes, one of which will turn off shared calendar messages in Notification Center.

• Going forward, you'll find new shared calendar notifications in iCal's invitation box.

This is not where I had expected to find the setting. Since it's a notification in Notification Center, I had expected to find the setting in System Preferences > Notifications. If this setting has eluded you as well, you can now find some peace and quiet when sharing a calendar.