Baby Announcements

For some baby gifts you have to wait until after the birth to give them to mom which is more than okay. A present for baby is a present for baby no matter when it arrives. Traditionally, baby blankets were made during the last months of a pregnancy to give to the new mom upon baby’s arrival. Blankets and the like are a great baby gift as they are practical, snuggly and only make baby look even cuter. Combining elements of a birth announcement with your hand crafted baby gift provides the new parents with an heirloom piece that baby can enjoy for years to come.

If you are knitting or crocheting baby a new afghan, customizing can be a little tougher. For most, the wording would have to be sewn or embroidered in after the basic blanket was finished. In this case consider baby’s first name and numerical birth date rather than the full announcement details. If you are lucky baby’s name will be chosen in advance of the birth and you’ll only have the numbers to add later.

If quilting a blanket for baby, you have a few more options when it comes to including birth announcement details. I do not recommend cutting out individual letters and hand sewing them onto the quilt. Believe me that will become a chore very quickly. Consider embroidering the information on by hand or asking a friend with a professional sewing machine to load up a pattern and let the needle do the work.

Pillows as birth announcements are a nice idea but the actual pillow probably won’t be used in baby’s bed. It will be decorative so there is less worry about baby proofing. For birth stats you could embroider, use a fabric pen, create a transfer or sew an appliqued design. There are a lot more options when bed linen becomes decorative and not practical.

Hand made gifts will always stand the test of time and making gifts for new babies is a pleasure and a privilege. Be sure to plan out your gift and prepare as much as you can before baby is born so mom isn’t waiting months or years for the finished product.

Filed under: birth announcements on January 24th, 2012