In regard to the birth announcement color scheme the nursery palette doesn’t apply. Having just moved into and repainted our first house we’re not inclined to repaint in the middle of winter. If its a little boy he’ll be sharing with his brother who’s bedroom is blue and gray; not exactly newborn baby colors. I’m a fan of neutral baby colors such as green, purple and yellow. As the baby will be born in late spring early summer I’m inclined toward fresh colors like orange, yellow and light green.

As for a birth announcement theme I am still in the browsing stage. There are so many new templates at the beginning of the year, its hard to keep up. By narrowing my search to boy and postcard style it makes it a little easier but who knows if cars, jungle animals or alphabet blocks will be the right way to go. In regard to themes, I’m still keeping my options open.

With time on my side browsing the birth announcement sites is a lot of fun. This time I’m going with matching envelopes and a set of matching thank you cards that I can use to thank folks for gifts. This time round I will definitely be ordering a lot more birth announcements having discovered how many folks appreciate receiving one. With the low prices and package deals on the web right now I don’t really have to worry about budget which is nice.

Picking your child’s birth announcements is an easy way to start getting excited about the impending birth and keep your mind off swollen ankles and ever increasing stretchmarks. So the next time you start getting a little stressed or worn out from your pregnant state, hop online and start brainstorming your baby’s announcements. You are sure to improve your mood instantly.

When you go to order your baby shower invites think about all the different custom printing you are going to need in the next few months and get everything in one go. And don’t forget about you. After you have designed the thank yous and the announcement make yourself some mommy business cards to use as inserts and for future play date planning.

A lot of online printers offer the package deal for baby related printing these days saving you money on shipping and getting you bulk discounts. A popular mix is the baby shower invitation and matching thank you card or the birth announcement and matching stationery. With careful template choices you can also add a mommy card to the mix. And why not custom address labels and stationery?

Try and create some sort of over arching theme when buying your custom baby printing. It could be a motif or certain piece of clip art. It could be the image of your new baby you choose. Maybe its a color scheme or pattern that reflects baby’s new room? This is like personal branding or new promotion if you will.

And be sure you do get the best discount on your custom printing. If you are five dollars away from free shipping spend five more dollars. It will be cheaper in the long run. Read all of the price list to find out where in the printing amounts you get the best price break. Working out cost per piece can be very helpful. And don’t forget to Google coupon codes before checking out.

In a few weeks or months you will be a mom and buying in bulk will quickly become second nature. Start a little earlier and save yourself some time and money while creating custom cuteness.

Here’s one thing that drives me nuts when it comes to babies and thank yous: no matter if its a card, a gift or an email you need to say thank you. In many cases a thank you is an acknowledgment that your sentiment has been heard and your time has been appreciated. It doesn’t matter if your old college classmate sent an e-card and Uncle Joe shipped a handmade quilt to your doorstep they both deserve to be thanked.

Thank you cards are a great way to say thank you for baby gifts, congratulatory greetings and e-mails filled with joy but I don’t think they are necessary in every case. If you want to create a templated e-greeting that says thank you for the support and warm wishes you could probably get away with that one. Just copy to your address book. For those that sent actual gifts or stopped by to visit baby a thank you card through the mail is the way to go.

Besides showing people you appreciate the time and money they take for your baby, saying thank you from the beginning of baby’s life is a very good thing. Role modeling good manners is essential for today’s parents where children speak in text code and live half their lives online. My little one is two and one of his first words was “thanks.” If a two year old can do it so can you. Imprint gift etiquette in your child as early as possible.

I’m all for using the computer and blogs like mine to get ideas for birth announcements, baby showers and babies. I think its important for all those bloggers out there scribbling daily advice to new and soon to be parents not to forget to remind folks of the basics of manners and the importance of saying thank you.

Job done.

Of course the baby quilt. I was going to hand make a quilt and turn it into a birth announcement keepsake but I ran out of time. I bought a beautiful antique quilt and have embroidered the name on and am just waiting for those other details before I mail it along with the usual burp cloths, onesies and chocolates for mom.

For baby’s room I found some kids wooden puzzles from the 1930s on Ebay and now have the time to arrange them in shadow boxes with the baby shower invite and thank you cards. I thought they would look great as decorations for the nursery walls. Perhaps a little paint on the frame with a little antiquing will complete the look.

So what else can I buy with this extra shopping time? Well in my personal experience the longer the pregnancy the bigger the child so it makes sense to go and get some 6 to 9 months cloths so mom is prepared right about the time she gets her head back on straight. So more clothes.

For me pulling my brain back to the weeks I was overdue it was hard to think of anything else except not trying to work into pointy objects in case I exploded. All I wanted was ease of movement, a warm pretty smelling bubble bath and a few moments to feel human again. I think I’ll order some flowers so she has some pretties for the dining table. Of course her obsessive need to have a vase of fresh flowers on her kitchen table everyday may go out of the window very soon.

I think I’ll finish off my baby gifts for by long distance bff with the offer to buy her birth announcements for her. Yes, that ensures I definitely get one.

When deciding which design best suits your little one for their shower invites, announcements and thank yous consider a template that offers photograph upload options regardless of stationery choice. You may want to go with a template that offers both a photo and a no photo option. That way you can add little updated pictures if you want or, if you are out of time, you can skip that step without skipping out on your theme.

If you do go with a number of no photo option announcement cards that allow you to insert a photo at a later date, order everything at one time to save on shipping. You may even get a price break for buying a larger quantity. If that’s not possible be sure to save your choices at your online printer’s website by creating an account that you can check from time to time. Sign up for e-mail alerts and buy additions to your stationery set when you get coupon codes or special offers in the mail.

It’s all about finding the perfect theme or background design and going with it. The birth announcement then becomes just a part of a uniform stationery choice that can help spread the news about your little one for the first two years of their life. Take the time to really browse the templates of online retailers so you have a good idea of all the possibilities out there before making your final decision. You’ll live with the choice for a long time, forever if you think about your acid free baby albums.

A new life in your home will eat up all your time and it will be hard to distract yourself from your new baby to work on such things as choosing templates for thank you cards. When your child arrives you want to enjoy every moment of sleep, every minute of quiet and every second free from stress that you can. Do yourself a favor and order everything in bulk in advance and relax.

The big day will be here sooner than you think.

]]> http://www.babyannouncements.net/birth-announcements/birth-announcement-sets-save-time-and-brain-power/feed/ 0 http://www.babyannouncements.net/birth-announcements/birth-announcements-and-all-that-jazz-ways-to-celebrate-baby/ http://www.babyannouncements.net/birth-announcements/birth-announcements-and-all-that-jazz-ways-to-celebrate-baby/#comments Sun, 01 May 2011 03:07:02 +0000 Trish http://www.babyannouncements.net/?p=902 For some of you this blog is a refresher course. For new readers its a list of ways you can celebrate your baby through printing and personalized mementos. Sometimes we forget and sometimes we need help getting started, especially if we are celebrating from pregnancy brain.

Pregnancy announcements. The first chance to let everyone know officially that a new family member is on the way. Use your sonogram picture or a picture of mommy’s belly for the front of the card.

Baby shower invites. A great way to remind folks that baby is soon arriving and you probably need a whole bunch of stuff. Whether that stuff is baby gear or baby advice a baby shower is a great way to get started.

Thank you cards. Saying thank you for baby’s gifts, best wishes, cards, letters and visits is best said with personalized stationary.

Birth Announcements. The best of the best. A photo of the new baby with the birth statistics in a card that can be kept forever.

Christening announcements and invitations. Whatever the religious service for baby is called an announcement and invitation is always nice to have.

First birthday. A great reason to celebrate and make custom printed cards.

Commemorating the milestones in baby’s early life is always a good idea. The older baby gets the busier mommy gets and finding time to go back and get all of these custom printed items is difficult. Prepare in advance and use a template that you can use again and again to ensure a quick and perfect way to spread your good news.

Birth announcements are great but they can leave a lot of friends and family hanging. Those distant relatives and ‘drinks once a year’ friends are just as happy for you as your geographically closer folks but the story often begins and ends quite quickly for them. First year announcements are a great way to follow up and keep in touch.

I would design a first year announcement so it reflected the original birth announcement without copying it. Honestly a lot of people will have already placed the original announcement in their photo album and won’t be making comparisons but you certainly will. Those announcements will sit alongside your thank you card and shower invite in the acid free binder for many years to come. Its just as important on the first year announcement as it was on the original birth announcement to deliver the information correctly and creatively with just a sprinkle of custom printing.

Now some of you may think the best image for your baby’s first year announcement would be of him or her at their birthday party or at least in the highchair next to the cake. This is certainly one way to go but something a little more polished may work too. I’m not saying book a session at the portrait studio (do people still do that?) but perhaps a controlled environment where you can make sure baby’s hair isn’t sticking up or they have frosting on their face. Its really up to you. The rule is pick the image that makes you the happiest and you can’t go wrong.

When it comes to the text of the first year announcement there are a few things to keep in mind. It makes sense to repeat the child’s birth details and perhaps provide updated weight and height statistics. A little comedy “we survived the first year!” may work for some of you. Its whatever you want really as long as the text works with everyone who will receive an announcement.

When it comes to templates and designs for the first year announcement just adapt a birth announcement template to suit your needs. This is great if there was one announcement design you liked last year but went in another direction. Here’s your chance to go back and find that layout and adapt it for baby’s birthday announcement. This is a fun way to commemorate an important milestone in your baby’s life. First year announcements are a great accompaniment to any kind of cake and ice cream affair.

Because I’m certainly not saying you shouldn’t have both.

There are a few moments in your new daily schedule for dealing with things besides baby. When baby is having a nap, forget loading the dishwasher and get online. Browsing for baby themed templates and mulling over color palettes is a nice way to refocus your mind. A new parent is constantly thinking of and dealing with baby. Doing something baby related but not schedule related is a good way to distress and be creative.

If the new baby isn’t your first baby you are probably thinking there really is no time in the schedule for playing on the printing website. Of course there is. You know older children just want a little attention from mom; the activity doesn’t really matter. Have your older child look through photographs and design templates with you. It won’t only let you multitask it will help siblings feel much more involved with their new brother or sister.

I always advise on this blog to get as much of your printing design worked out before baby is born. Creating thank you cards, birth announcements and shower invitations is time consuming and a nice way to stay excited at the end of a long pregnancy. If you left it a little late that’s okay. Spend spare moments sharing your new baby with friends and family by uploading pics, choosing colors and adding text to custom printing.

As a baby shower attendee, hospital bedside gift giver and all around cheerleader of you and your baby I ask for nothing but a heart felt thank you. I like to hear the word thank you. It makes me feel like my efforts were appreciated. It’s not much, it makes people feel good and makes you look like a good person who appreciates the efforts of others; all things you would want to role model for your child right? The thank you is the biggest part of your baby shower concept and a good mother never forgets to say thank you.

After baby is born I’m all for the hand made thank you card. My little guy uses craft time to make his hand print cards that are always appreciated by friends and family. But before you get to that stage a professional yet custom printed thank you card not only looks nice but lets folks know you are a competent capable new mom who makes the time for the little details.

Your custom printed thank you cards should reflect your other baby related printings but stand apart from them. Choose a different texture or accent color on your thank you cards. Personally I think thank you cards that feature baby make the most sense. This could be an uploaded photograph of baby’s first day on earth or a hand print. I like to do hand prints in a number of colors and then take a digital picture. Whichever color looks best in digital forms get uploaded.

Now after you have ordered your baby thank you cards (I would go with a couple hundred) and get them in your hands, its time to make things personal. ALWAYS hand write the inside message of a thank you card. Be sure to make reference to the actual gift and baby’s reaction. Make your card recipients feel special and important to you and your new baby. Don’t wait weeks or months to say thank you; as soon as you can is always best.

Saying thank you is simple but it means so much.

Okay getting off the box now.

Babies are expensive. Having babies and carrying babies in the womb is expensive. For many of us the few thousand dollars it take for prenatal care not to mention baby clothes, nursery décor and the always necessary diapers is a bit much. Finding ways to save money is part of becoming a parent so it makes sense to start early. Home made baby shower favors will be creative, give you something to do when you can’t get off the couch and let your friends and family know you really made an effort.

For me, making shower favors is all about the research and planning stage. The best way to look for suitable materials and ideas is to start with the expensive favors you can find online. These darling custom pieces can cost anywhere between three and five dollars each. That’s a little rich for my blood. But I do like to take those expensive favors and use them as a starting point for my own cheaper but no less creative versions. Here are a few easy and cheap shower favors.

I found the cutest popcorn themed baby shower favors the other day. They consisted of custom printed boxes shaped to look like a bag of popcorn and were filled with pink or blue popcorn for the recipients. The label said “about to pop.” Very cute. Go to the dollar store and either pick up actual popcorn bags (I got some last week ten for a dollar) or buy takeout cartons on clearance and decorate. Secure with a baby focused label and hand out to your guests.

The plastic baby bottle. This is a classic favor and stores are actually trying to charge one to two dollars for a single favor. Go to the dollar store and buy the bottles in packs of six or eight. Forget color coded candies which will raise the cost and go with whatever is on sale. People won’t care if the candy matches the bottle. Its candy. A little ribbon, a tag (buy them in a hundred count box cheap at the office supply store) and voila same thing as you find online for a fraction of the price.

Pyramid shaped favor boxes. These are becoming quite popular and can hold tea, candy or cookies for your baby shower. They look great from the online baby store but they really aren’t rocket science. Find a pyramid template on line, trace onto thick card stock to make a template and then transfer the image to colored card stock. Fill with your chosen item and add a label to one side. Cute, eye catching and creative.

Saving money at your baby shower is a great way to prepare for the life to come. Cutting corners is a necessity these days but it doesn’t mean you have to cut out personal style and creative flair. Find what you want to have online and make it cheaper at home. And yes, it really is that simple.