Your little peanut (or little poppyseed, which is what a good friend calls her unborn baby) has arrived at long last, and it's time to tell the world. The paper product snail mailed option is a classy and classic method to consider. Granted, much like the wedding save-the-date, anyone receiving it probably already has the information. But that's not the point, now is it.
Photo or not so much?
Including a photo in the announcement requires that a photo be taken. Taking an announcement worthy photo requires that baby is home and happy and photo ready. Maybe you want to give the bizarre baby cowlick a chance to grow out or maybe you want to memorialize it and spread the adorable hilarity. Maybe you're laid back enough to forego the glamour shot session and snap the perfect photo with your digital camera. Or, maybe you can barely schedule yourself to use the bathroom at reasonable intervals and the thought of coordinating any sort of photo session feels insurmountable.
Tinyprints - Photo options that are slightly more inventive than the standard snapfish or shutterfly options.
Cid Pear Stationery - Non-photo options by way of sweet, whimsical drawings
Luscious Verde - Non-photo options that are modern but still soft
THE PAPER SOURCE - my crafting obsession
I think I love it so much because it allows me to feel creative, without leaving me strictly to my own devices. It's a little like painting by numbers - the finished product is your own hand-painted art, but there are a few careful instructions along the way (i.e. the numbers). It offers all the fixings to make your own birth announcements: paper (duh), envelopes, rubber stamps, ribbon and other creative touches as well as full and partial templates if you're feeling less motivated. I also love the idea using blank 5" x 7" colored card stock and writing a handwritten note on one side and sticking a photo on the other.
The options are endless and include the choice of no birth announcement at all. My husband thinks the concept of announcing your child's birth is unnecessary and borderline pretentious. I think it's a lovely way of sharing the unadulterated bliss. Like most decisions in the worlds of weddings and babies, there are no rights and wrongs, just personal preferences. As for us, I'm sure that when the time comes we'll find a happy medium, after all we did send out save-the-dates.
