Baby Announcements

I have spent the last few days trying to perfect the gentle (well not so gentle) art of printing your own t-shirts. But now I have the gist of things I have time to think over the many applications. And what came to mind? You guessed it: T-shirt birth announcements.

My one year old looks adorable in his newly printed custom t-shirt and all I can think of are t-shirts for baby and parents. But what about expanding the thought and creating one basic style of shirt that can be worn both by the parents and their friends and families. T-shirts for everyone.

When it comes to creating your own custom printed birth announcements shirts at home, it takes patience, creativity and the right materials. A lesson I learned the expensive way is that there is different kinds of transfer paper for different types and colors of t-shirt material. First order or buy your t-shirts and then order your transfer paper. Be sure to use dark transfer paper (which is actually white in color but labeled for dark fabrics) for black t-shirts and other darker fabrics.

Once you have the transfers and the t-shirts it’s time to start designing your birth announcement t-shirts. Think about what information you wish to include and whether clip art or a photograph will work with your design. Personally, I think clip art looks more appropriate on a t-shirt that an actual photograph. Save those images of your darling little one for the album or birth website. Choose a cutesy clip art design for the shirt.

Think about the information you want to include on your birth announcement t-shirts. The usually birth statistics such as weight and length are a must as is the baby’s full name (although surnames may not be appropriate for public clothing). The date and time of the baby’s birth can be displayed in a number of clever ways. Take your time to draft out your complete design before transferring to the printer and printing out on transfer paper. Be sure to follows the transfer paper instructions exactly when creating your birth announcement t-shirts.

For those of you too tired or too easily frustrated to make your own birth announcement t-shirts don’t worry. Many an online printer is waiting for you to place an order. They usually have templates for businesses or holidays but you can tailor any template to suit your needs. It may cost a few more dollars per t-shirt this way but the savings in stress and time may be priceless.

Don’t forget to order a variety of sizes for your friends and family. If you don’t want to ask people their size choice or presume one for them, order your birth announcement t-shirts in extra large. This is a great way to cover your bases. When your family wear their birth announcement t-shirts they will be announcing over and over again the birth of your child, their pride and joy and of course, the true happiness of the new parents.

Go on, try something different.

Filed under: baby shower, birth announcements, new parent life on July 19th, 2010