I absolutely love babies. And I absolutely love stationery so it should come as no surprise that baby birth announcements may be one of my favourite things EV.AH!
With our own little bundle of joy arriving in about a month I have been hunting high and low for the perfect birth announcement and thought I would share my discoveries with you!
My only point of consternation is if you are having a girl (like we are) be prepared for the pink. I have no idea why most designers think that parents of daughters want to limit their colour palate to only one colour but we have struggled to find announcements that are beautifully designed but not limited to pink fluffiness.
Here are my favourite sites for photo birth announcements:
‘Baby Bee’ birth announcements, $119USD for 50
‘Dana – Baby Girl’ announcement, $114USD for 50
‘Holden Michael’ birth announcement, $99.50CDN for 50
‘Vintage Flourish: Tea Rose’ birth announcement, $109.50 for 50
*Tiny prints are probably the biggest company doing birth announcements and often offer discounts on twitter if you follow them @tinyprints.
‘Modern dots’ birth announcement, $67.50USD for 50
‘Varsity’ birth announcement, $81USD for 60
*These birth announcements are slightly smaller than the other 5×7 ones BUT they’re printed with magnetic backings so your friends and family can keep the announcement on the fridge forever!
Alternatively there are numerous design services on Etsy who will custom design a birth announcement for you and then you can take it to a local photo printing location and have them printed yourself.
Some things to take into consideration:
- Check what kind of paper they’re being printed on. I was surprised to discover that Tiny*Prints doesn’t print on photo paper (although they are the only service to offer a green alternative with partially recycled card stock).
- Double check the size for the price. Most cards are available in 5×7 but some services also offer 4×6 which might change your options for the price.
- Ask for help. All the services should have designers to help you crop photos or even choose which of your favourite photos work best. Don’t hesitate to use their trained eye!
UPDATE: In the end we chose a design by Littlestar Greetings and I couldn’t be happier with the results. They were amazing to work with – turns out all the photos we liked were portrait but the design called for landscape, after going backwards and forwards with my designer Jo-Anne I was ready to pay the extra fee to change designs when they suggested we just turn the design into a portrait layout. Absolutely BRILLIANT! It looks fabulous and they saved me money – which is wonderful customer service. I know Trea used them for her birth announcements as well (see comment below) and we have another friend who used them and she also raves about them. This is a great Canadian company and I highly recommend them!
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All about: Emily: Emily is very proud to be one of the Spilt Milk Moms ‘founding mothers’ as well as being Mama to “Little Miss” (who was born in August 2009) and Wifelet to her Husbando. She spent seven years living in London which helped her to develop a keen eye for amazing products from around the world. As an actress and producer, Emily ensured her place in hell with over 3 years in children’s advertising (her job was “to create want where there is no need!”) but looks to undo the damage by finding the best things around for mamas and little ones. Emily is always ready with fresh baking, a silly song, or a glass of chardonnay and is renowned for always being overdressed and having a killer collection of heels that she’s not afraid to wear (even whilst babywearing!). You can also find her on her personal blog Aprons & Heels ~ emily (at) SpiltMilkMoms (dot) com |
I ordered Little Star Greetings birth announcements when our daughter Charlotte was born this month and I have to say I am super thrilled with the not only the quality of our cards (we went with the 4×6 cardstock Isabel Sadie Photo Birth Announcement), but also the customer service. We had our birth announcements in our hands less than a week after ordering them, and the company even gave us suggestions on how to improve the look of our announcement by changing up the photos. I highly recommend this Canadian company for those of you looking for unique, original, and beautiful announcements!