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The Best Birth Announcements: a Round Up
Published 04.26.2007 | Permanent Link | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
I finished my daughter's room on my actual due date. I failed to plan a birth announcement plans until she was home and I was so riddled with hormones the thought of sending out birth announcements seemed about as likely as ever taking a shower again.
My husband is a graphic designer and loves to do these types of cards for our family. He designs our Christmas cards and he did our wedding invitations and every invitation for every party we've ever thrown. (Coming in June, the 'Take This House and Love It' party or, if the house hasn't sold, the "Take This House And Shove It' party). But after our daughter arrived he wasn't in any position to design birth announcements, he was busy catching my tears in a bucket so I didn't drown us all. I'm great at giving birth. In the end we got some (cute) blank cards from my sister in law who was a sales rep for a stationery company and had them printed with the birth information.
Boring.
Jenna S. emailed and asked for some birth announcement guidance, I was happy to help because I love collecting cute ideas in case my family ever gets a dog or something and needs another announcement idea*.
I love announcements (also Holiday Cards) that include a picture of your new baby, in fact if I can't see that cute new face your baby ceases to exist in my eyes. The I Have Arrived announcement from You're Invited is cleverly worded ( a plus ) and includes a picture of your baby. I love the tri fold design as well, keep it in mind when we start talking about DIY announcements in a minute.
I am an awfully big fan of letter press stationery and also vintage children's themes. Hello Lucky! They have several custom choices and also fill in the blank versions as well. I can't link to a specific product here (which is very frustrating) but here is the custom baby collection home page which is easy to browse. I'm particularly fond of the lambie card with a picture and stats on the back side. Custom color, paper and font choices make this original.
Sometimes I see a cute announcement but it doesn't have a designated spot for a picture, and remember your child fails to exist unless I see a picture. I am entirely serious. Just tuck a picture inside this Kate Spade card. Growing up my neighbor used to say this to my little sister whenever she toddled down the street so the phrase tickles me. Plus it's true. Blah blah....Parent Required Disclaimer: "The Best Kind Of Trouble!"
I know some people are saying small birds on everything are the new trucker hat but 'blah blah blah I'm not listening.' I love these brown and blue robins on a simple little tree from Tiny Prints. They have other cute versions, even a pink and brown bird if you want to squeeze your tiny, helpless newborn into our preconcieved and stifling gender roles from its first day of life. Ha! Again no picture but tuck one inside because it's not just me who loves new baby pictures, all your friends want to see your new baby. But just this time, they don't want to look at 40 baby pictures every time they see you. Trust me.
If you want to do it yourself here is Mighty Girl's tutorial for her adorable announcements for Hank. A rubber stamp all ready to fill in with vital stats and a little circle photo of the Mighty Baby, in glasses. Brilliant. I hung this announcement on my fridge for 2 months and smiled everytime I saw it. Perfection. Your baby will look cute on your announcement even if he doesn't come out of the womb wearing glasses like Hank did.
Martha Stewart, as always, has some lovely DIY ideas for your announcements. Most simple is the paper measuring tape cut to the length of your baby tied with a small tag with the rest of the vital stats. Martha's site is surprisingly lacking in the announcement department. I had two of the old Martha Stewart Baby issues which were full of many more great ideas. Check Ebay for old issues.
Here's a bonus idea from my own brain, although inspired by the birth announcement my sister in law created for her daughter. I have no picture, because I have no baby to make an announcement for but I think I can describe this fairly well. Get your self a small flat note (size A2, I'd get white for the cards and pick a color for the envelopes. Get yourself a pack of those ubiquitous 'Hello, My Name Is" name tags, like these. Center the sticker on the front of your card and depending on your penmanship write your baby's name in the space provided. Or, do as Mighty Girl did and get a stamp for the name on the front. On the back, follow Maggie's tutorial, get a stamp to fill in the vital stats, or use your printer (before putting your "Hello" stickers on the front. Create a sticker out of a small shot of your baby and put that on the back as well, you know, so your baby exists.
Update: Or you could just skip all those steps and go here to find these lovely Hello My Name Is birth announcements. I swear I searched for something similar, but then it was delivered right to my inbox after I hit publish. This always happens.
These ideas almost make me want to have another baby, except not really at all.
*We will never send out Dog Announcements. Ever.
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Melissa Summers was one of five Melissa's throughout her schooling, in her everyday life she is the only Melissa who folds laundry. The name Melissa is derived from the Greek word for Honeybee. The Buzz Off is published weekly on Tuesdays. She writes almost nearly everyday at Suburban Bliss.
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Comments (4):
Yolanda said:
Thank you for all the great ideas. I'm pregnant with my first at 29 weeks and have been contemplating birth announcements and thank you cards. These ideas have given me some great options.
I'd also mention that Mac users shouldn't forget about using iPhoto to "design" and order cards. Some nice options and not too expensive, plus you can take credit for "designing" it yourself, even if al you did was drag a photo and type some text.
Posted on April 26, 2007 12:08
beth said:
Oh, the cuteness of baby announcements. Friends of ours printed a life-sized photo of the baby on regular printer paper (of course, larger than letter-sized) with a dashed line around him and a little scissors icon. (You know what I mean - the international symbols for 'cut this out here'.) They folded the paper sort of origami-wise and secured it with a diaper pin.
So sweet, and we all got our own life-sized Paco! (Yes, Paco. With a Jewish last name. And Swiss parents. Free spirits, doncha know.)
Posted on April 27, 2007 04:08
Julie said:
Wow! You have taken me to a whole new level of birth announcment possibilities.
Posted on April 30, 2007 15:42
pnuts mama said:
mmm...letterpress...i designed our wedding invites as letterpressed on a gorgeous toothy white coverstock and tied them to a square doily with a light blue organza ribbon. oh the things i had time to do before i became a mom !
anyway, i used the leftover paper for my daughter's birth announcements, but on my own printer this time, printed out cards with her stats on it, and bought some scrapbook sheets of vellum with pink baby feet on them and cut just smaller than the card and tied together with a pink checked ribbon. so cute i could have died from insulin overdose. except i was too tired to care at that point. i included in each the picture from the hospital- i am a big fan of the one-day-old wrapped in the pink and blue striped blankie shot, and ordered a bunch for my A-list and also made a ton of color copies on my scanner/printer at home (shhh- copyrighte laws!) for the B-list.
i love homemade cards. my friend did her announcement for her boy as a sepia toned tri-panel with blue-grey type and it was so beautiful.
Posted on May 3, 2007 11:33