Did you look for a particular theme when choosing a birth announcement?

[dziner]

Humor me, please. When you chose a birth announcement, did you particularly want one that included your baby's photo? If not, were you looking for a specific image (ie, giraffe, rubber duckie, etc.)? What image?

TIA!

[BTB]

I wanted one that would include baby's photo, since it's fun to share and I think people like getting to see a picture. It was equally important that it be fast, we wanted them out ASAP to be a true announcement and not old news. Lastly, we wanted an unmistakably feminine announcement, since the gender was a surprise and thus we were announcing that too. :)

[Chylynn]

I agree with BTB -we did not know the gender and we definately wanted a picture of our child. We did not purchase the cardstock until after our DD was born and made them ourselves. Next baby, I am paying someone to do them- it was insane!

[LeslieR]

We obviously haven't ordered ours yet, but ITA w/ BTB. Definitely a picture, gender oriented, and fast service.

[ce_Kathleen]

Well we desperately wanted an Ohio State themed announcement!!! Both DH and I graduated from OSU and we are huge fans along with most of our family and friends. We also wanted the annoucement to have a photo of our baby.

It was next to impossible to find specific sports team (or school) themed annoucements (either that I wasn't looking in the right places). We finally found one but it wasn't exactly what we wanted but at least it did have photo annoucements (our 2nd req)

[littlebear]

I wanted a combo of photo plus theme. My shower had sailboat themed invites so I wanted announcements with sailboats as well.

[LeighW]

No on the photo. We included a separate photo. We were looking for a specific theme--Noah's Ark.

Maybe you know someone who might help me out the next time I'm looking for something specific? :)

[dziner]

LeighW - Yup. PM me. ;)

Thanks for the all the replies...keep em comin'...

[knzbound]

I wasn't looking for a specific image, but I wasn't not looking for one either, if that makes sense. I didn't pick mine out until DD was seven weeks old, so I was in that newborn haze.I am not a big theme/motif person though. Didn't have anything like that for my wedding or for the baby's nursery. I wanted something simple, very girlie (since gender was a surprise), not too expensive, and no self-assembly, or nothing beyond stick announcement and pic in envelope and seal. I had originally wanted something that the picture attached to, but ended up just enclosing a wallet-sized picture instead, just a plain card with pink lettering and a small pink ribbon. Ended up ordering from the William Arthur catalog at an expensive stationery store and spent more for those dang announcements than I did for my wedding invites. Next time, I will def. order online!

[abbylynn]

I went with my mom while I was pregnant to the same person who had done our wedding invitations and picked out DSs announcement. We were sorta looking for a theme but only as a guide. We picked out the announcement that we liked and went over the wording. After DS was born I called and gave his stats (date, weight, length, time) from the hospital so the cards could be printed up.

[Jodi AKA BostonTeacher]

I'm not sure if this will help or not, but my clients typically tend to lean towards themes only if they aren't going to include a photo of the baby. I have found that these parents usually want to have their announcments sent out asap after the birth. Often they order matching address labels to go with the theme.

On the flip side, the photo cards tend to be more of a formality than an announcement. By that I mean that with today's technology most friends and family members have already been notified of the baby's birth and seen pictures via email. They don't usually care about a theme.

If you are looking for ways to expediate the process there are a few options...


use white envelopes and address them prior to the babies birth
apply the stamps and return address labels as well
use a gender neutral color (green, yellow, white, even black) background (cardstock)...that way you can prepare that as well ahead of time
after the baby is born you will just need to add the photo and stats

[blessed02]

One of my WC friends, jewamese, designed our announcement for us, and it could not have been more perfect! I wanted something that was very personal to us - not generic, or that could apply just as well to anyone else's baby announcement. My friend designed an announcement that had an Asian feel to it, including a very subtle acknowledgement to our son's birth year (Year of the Rooster -- she included a small, subtle stamp on the card-front). The color scheme and the theme were designed to match our baby's nursery, which we had just finished. We used fish crib bedding and put up dots all over the walls, so my friend designed an announcement that incorporated koi, with the baby's photos in circles ("bubbles"). It was PERFECT and so personal. I couldn't have been happier!

[amberwaves]

When I designed my announcement for my baby girl, I wanted to share multiple photos of her because I felt like she had so many different expressions that were all so "her" and I wanted to share more than just one photo.

http://www.inababycarriage.com/designs/boys/images/photocollage.jpg

:) amber

[twinnyme]

My only real requirement was that it was a photo announcement. We didn't look for a themed one.

[December27JJB]

My only real requirement was that it was a photo announcement. We didn't look for a themed one.


Me too. I ordered my announcement from inababycarriage.com because I loved the designs.

http://www.inababycarriage.net/images3/parker.jpg

[lorbo]

i chose themes and just sent their hospital picture with it. with DD, i always wanted a little girl and knew that i'd put her in ballet class-all because i loved ballet...so her announcement was this
http://www.storkavenue.com/images_lg/3610CA.jpg

with DS, everything leading up to his birth and his health problems that followed kind of put DD on the back burner as i was put in the hospital twice and he spent 5 1/2 weeks in 3 different NICUs. so i searched thru lots of announcments and saw this one
http://www.storkie.com/prodimg/BABW1565.jpg

i felt it was the best way of incorporating James in to our family by announcing him through his sister. i have to say that both announcements have gotten lots of compliments. with James' announcements, everybody asked if the little girl was Brooke. i would say i'm good, but not that good.

[toodles7966]

definitely love photo birth announcements! why not show off that cute baby and forget about the little duckies and giraffes! :)

[Allegra]

As a photographer, I DEFINATELY wanted a photograph in mine!

http://www.allegrasstudio.com/announcement.jpg

She was born in December so I wanted a combo holiday card/birth announcement - no way I was doing two mailings with a newborn!!

Allegra