Old School Birth Announcements

Blueberry85 · March 2017

Anyone planning on mailing out some old school, traditional birth announcements? If so, have you picked one out yet? If not, why not? Just curious

Blueberry85 · March 2017

For me, I just think there is something so special about sending/receiving one in the mail, so we definitely will be and did for DD as well. Especially in the age of Facebook, it's nice to hold on to some "outdated" traditions, I think, though I can totally understand why people might not want to bother with the expense.

Any birth announcement I get lives on my fridge for years lol. I love them.

This is the template/design we've picked out for the new squish:

https://www.tinyprints.com/product/70865/girl_photo_birth_announcements_first_hello_fuchsia.html#color/01/trim/1

SnarkasaurusRex · March 2017

We sent some out to immediate family after DS was born. I'm like you - I LOVE getting them and they stay on my fridge forever! We also have a fair amount of family that live far away, so I think it's a nice thing to do for them as well.

This is the one we've picked out for this little girl: https://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birth-announcements/crafty-collage-girl-birth-announcement-5x7-flat?productCode=1108578&categoryCode=60306&skuCode=1108579

Beckyf321 · March 2017

Yep, I'll send them out! I haven't started looking at any yet because we don't know if we're having a boy or girl. I plan to do a newborn/home life photos so I'm waiting to see what kind of pictures the photographer takes.

Virginialeigh · March 2017

I love mail period. Sending and receiving. We still have my niece and nephew's on the fridge and they are 8 and 4.

With DS MIL bought the ones from the hospital photographer. We will probably do that again if she is paying. If not Im sure I have a Shutterfly coupon for free cards. I always have a Shutterfly coupon. I don't think I have ever paid for anything from them, and we use them a lot.

catem07 · March 2017

I want to. We still have my coworker's announcement on our fridge from 5 months ago. I think I have a coupon for something, but I haven't really looked into it. I don't know what we are doing in terms of photographs. I have been horrified by the prices I've seen so I'm hoping we might be able to take some decent pictures on our own.

HGRich · March 2017

@catem07 same. The only way we could have any photos done is if she comes a day early while SIL is in town and she takes some for us. But I have hopes of getting a few good ones on my own! I have family far enough away who would love one for their fridges.

SnarkasaurusRex · March 2017

@catem07 Does your hospital do photos? They were pretty affordable for us...we didn't get a ton of pictures, but I did get ones that I liked enough to use for DS's announcement. ETA that, for our hospital at least, the actual photo session was free, then the photographer sat down with us and showed us the pictures and we could decide if/what we wanted to buy...we wound up buying a flash drive with the photos on it and it was something like $50, so it was a good deal for us!

We're spoiled in that my FIL is an amateur photographer (and a good one!), and they'll be coming to visit when this LO is still pretty small, so he's going to do some newborn/family shots for us.

doozenberg · March 2017

I'm planning on sending some out to family and close friends. Like others have said, I think it's a really nice gesture. My friends have sent us theirs and it's really nice to see.

schef070911 · March 2017

Same - we will get some done and send out to family and close friends. I just love getting birth announcements from our friends and family! I'll probably wait to pick out a design until I see the coloration of the photos. We're paying the wife of one of DH's fellow grad students $75 to do them (she is an amateur photographer). I know our hospital takes some as well but not sure if we'll purchase those.

I have this article pinned on Pinterest with some good tips on taking your own newborn photos at home (because you know I'm going to try even with our friend coming!): https://mommy-diary.com/how-to-do-newborn-photography-at-home/ I thought it was pretty helpful.

McFarKane · March 2017

I never got around to sending them with DD because my post partum issues kind of took over our lives right away here. So I probably won't send them out this time either because I don't feel right doing it for one and not the other.

beemaya83 · March 2017

Our new born photossssion includes birth announcements. We will definitely be sending some out.

pammasu0909 · March 2017

I am not, because it's so darn expensive and our budget just doesn't have room. I also didn't do it for the first 2. Basically everyone I know or care about is on facebook at this point, so everyone will see it there.

ETA, we baptize within the first 3 months and I send a nice photo invite for that, so it's kind of like the same thing, just with less stats and to less people.

pammasu0909 · March 2017

Somewhat related, is my hospital the only one that doesn't do pictures?

kitkat8387 · March 2017

We are definitely going to be sending them out! I already went through the task of getting everyone's addresses in a spreadsheet, which took way longer than it should have lol. It's going to be about 50 announcements or so - just family and close friends. Not sure yet how we will do pictures - my hospital offers them, but DH is also a fairly decent photographer, so we might just do both and then see which ones we like best. I am not big on snail mail in general, but since most of our family is so far away and won't get to meet the baby for a while, I think it will be a nice way to share in the joy of his arrival. I'll also post an announcement on fb/instagram, since I am not sending an a paper announcement to EVERYONE, but I think the paper card is way more personal and memorable!

Blueberry85 · March 2017

We didn't pay for a photographer for DD's announcements, and we won't for this one, either, but we're lucky that both my parents are professional photographers, and I'm no slouch, either #humblebrag

But, I definitely think it's possible to get a decent shot or two for an announcement on your own even as a total amateur. Scope out pics/photo shoots online to see what you like in terms of composition, pay attention to light (natural is better, check where shadows are falling, avoid backlighting), and don't go for anything too complicated!

Also, don't pay full price for your announcements! There are ALWAYS coupon codes out there if you search.

Glad to hear I'm not alone in my love for traditional announcements

HGRich · March 2017

@pammasu0909 I don't know--they weren't mentioned during my birthing center tour so I'll ask during my preregistration appointment. But even if they do I doubt DH would fork over the money. Haha.

shaunessa · March 2017

We purchased the ones from the hospital with DS and will probably do the same with baby Jake. They're nothing fancy, but it eliminates the stress of scheduling something with an outside photographer and they're reasonably priced. Before we found out the sex of the baby, I would have considered and probably done some professional photos like Anne Geddes if it was a girl. But because we're having a boy, I'm like "eh, whatever". Lol, how bias and sexist of me huh

And no announcement, just a picture text. We dont have facebook so it will prob just go out to our close relatives and friends.

KirstinH88 · March 2017

A friend of mine from HS has gotten into photography recently and she has offered to come to the hospital after Samuel is born to take photos (for free). I'm super excited about that. Plus, I'd love a nice one of me, DH, and all the boys because we never have family photos. But as far as a formal announcement via mail, we probably won't do it. We didn't do it for Max and DH already thinks this baby is way more spoiled because he has his own nursery when none of the other boys did, so...I guess I have to even the playing field somewhere...

Omie_Wise · March 2017

I'm a big fan of the mail too! I send birthday cards and Christmas cards, this year we did a pregnancy announcement with our Christmas card. I will send an announcement but I haven't picked one out yet because I want to see how our birth / newborn photos turn out. I always feel like the picture dictates the composition of the card.

visualcircus · March 2017

I get announcements from Walgreens, pick a photo from our phone, and with a coupon code they are super affordable. It's more of a way to keep in touch, say any extra thank yous and update my overseas family. The grandparents and great grandparents appreciate it the most which makes it worth it to me to do it.

Pancake227 · March 2017

I've done our others as part of something else. My daughter's announcement was on her baptism invitation. My son's announcement was part of our Christmas card. We'll see how we do this one.

chelle087 · March 2017

We will do one. We did one with DS and I don't feel right not doing one with baby number 2. I don't have anything picked out yet, but we will hopefully be using photos from the hospital photographer.

Nolegirl1185 · March 2017

We bought photos from the hospital. The session was free, but to get the pictures on a hard drive (no prints) it was 179$. To add 8 announcements it was another 39$ so we decided not to get them although I would have loved them. It sounds like I need to look into this Shutterfly thing!

belocin · March 2017

For DD, we purchased the photo package from the hospital that included announcements. For this little one, our maternity & newborn photos are bundled together so we will be doing announcements once we get access to our gallery. I'm the same in that birth announcements stay on my fridge for years and who doesn't love receiving a picture of a cute little squish in the mail?

smoochie041719 · March 2017

I love mail too! I love sending and receiving Christmas cards and I leave birth announcements on my fridge for a long time also! I will definitely be sending some. My hospital doesn't do photos, but we do have a newborn session booked so I'll most likely use those, but that means people won't get them until the baby is about a month old.

Dannylion24 · March 2017

I love love love mail and we always do a big professional photoshoot for our Christmas cards as well as photo thank yous for the holidays and most of the kids' birthdays, but I just never really got into birth announcements. I was gifted a free newborn session with my third kiddo and so I did send some for her, but didn't with number 4 and haven't felt compelled to this time around either. We have been receiving some very nice and very unexpected gifts in the mail so I did turn one photo I took into a thank you to send (attached). We are also in the big baptism camp so most family and family friends will receive a nice pic of the baby on the invite! I did the newborn photoshoot in the hospital once, but truth be told my little bundles tend to be super pink and kinda blotchy right after birth (a few with dry skin and/or baby eczema and/or cradle cap) so I don't really feel like photos that soon after birth are all that flattering. A couple weeks later seems to work out better!

MWoodside · March 2017

Not formal ones. Our budget is maxed out at this point re: baby costs. We do get the Bella photos on day 1 of life in the hospital and then we have a first year package with our photographer that includes newborn photos in our home (some with our big kids, too) so we will send out photos, but not formal birth announcements.

Mama5181 · March 2017

Yes most likely we will. All of DHs family is 6-7 hours away so most of them won't see her for a few months. Our neighbor is going to hopefully snap a few photos once we get home to use.

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