We’ve talked about the classic symbols Associated with birth and babies but that doesn’t mean the more modern images aren’t an option. However modern the image, it doesn’t mean it can’t be personalized to suit your baby and your birth announcement needs. Here are a few of the latest trends in baby announcement images and symbols.

Peas in a pod. This is the usual choice when it comes to representing new twin babies boys or girls. It can be cute that’s for sure but it’s a little overdone. If your heart is set on using this symbolism, consider revamping it by having your children hold actual peas in the pod and featuring that in the birth announcement photo.

Cupcakes. Whether its weddings or babies these days, the cupcake symbol is all over the place. Unless the cupcake (“our little sweetie” )is your child’s nursery colors or is featured in a photograph with your child as a sort of miniature birthday cake, I say save this image for another occasion, like the first birthday.

Footprints and handprints. Very cute if they are actually the handprints and footprints of your own child, otherwise it seems sort of silly. Who wants an unknown child’s handprint on your birth announcement? Scan your child’s own prints into your hard drive and upload to the printer’s website.

Monkeys, zebras and other safari animals. I’m a fan of the use of wild animals on birth announcements (when your child hits 18 months you will understand how appropriate this is) but it needs to make sense. If your child’s nursery has a safari theme featuring it on your birth announcement is logical, if not it’s just a little odd. This is one to think carefully about before including.

Trains, planes and automobiles. Great for little boys first and second birthday invitations but not so relevant on the baby birth announcement. Unless the vehicle included on the card is a delivery vehicle, this doesn’t really make sense. Unless of course, mom or dad drive for a living, then it’s perfect.

When you are browsing the printer’s website looking for modern and up to date images for your baby’s birth announcement think about using designs that are relevant to you and your baby. The key thing in birth announcement images is making it personal.

There are a lot of options these days for clip art, images and symbols for the printed birth announcement. Here are a few of the classics symbols and images that you may want to revamp for your own little one’s announcement.

The stork. Well this is of course one of the most well know classic symbols of pregnancy and birth. Consider using the stork in a new fashion perhaps as a silhouette on your birth announcement rather than a cartoon or hand painted image. Avoid having the stork image having speech bubbles or signs on your birth announcement as it’s a little dated and not very imaginative.

The teddy bear. Aaah who doesn’t love a teddy bear image on a baby announcement? Well, actually I’m not the biggest fan. A teddy bear needs to stand out and offer an interesting visual these days if its on a card. Consider a textured teddy bear or a bear pictured in your own child’s crib to add visual interest to the imagery.

The alphabet block. Now the alphabet block is adorable but pastel or primary colors are a little old fashioned. Consider sepia toned or black and white alphabet blocks on your baby’s birth announcement. Why not use different languages or symbols on the block instead of the classic “ABC”? Hebrew lettering looks cute on a Jewish baby’s birth announcement for instance.

The bootie. Yeah, this one is so over for me. My baby boy wore leather crib shoes. The booties he received never touched his feet. Most kids these days will never wear an old fashioned bootie and the image looks out of place on the modern birth announcement card.

The washing line. Now this one is cute especially when a little texture or three dimensional card is used on the clothes on the line. If you can mix the clothes on the line with the clothes your child is wearing in the image that makes the imagery really special.

Whatever images and symbols you choose for your child’s birth announcement, whether modern or traditional, it’s important to find a way to personalize the design for your child.

They are the real star of the show after all.

I recently received an adorable birth announcement from a friend. It’s one I may never have considered myself but now I have it, I will use it every single day. The ceramic mug birth announcement was and still is a good idea. Mugs are practical, children are beautiful; the combination is obvious.

When it comes to choosing the style and color of your mug for the birth announcement, cost plays a large role. The cheapest mugs are the diner sized coffee cups in white pretty much across the board. If designed properly, the whiteness of these mugs can actually compliment and carefully contrast the design of the birth announcement.

Choose a sharp image of your child for your birth announcement mug. The process of printing on mugs seems to leave a slight fuzziness to the edges of the image so the sharper the beginning photo, the better the finished look. Personally I like a black and white image on a photo mug. My friend gave me a sepia toned image which is also adorable. Monochrome works well in this medium.

Consider the photo collage in one color for the birth announcement mug. A multi faceted image that wraps around two thirds of the mug provides the ultimate wow factor for this medium. Place the birth statistic text on the top and the bottom of the image. The child’s name in the bottom right corner of the photo collage makes it look like an artist’s signature.

Order enough of the birth announcement mugs to give one to all your close friends and relatives. These are sure to be popular among your social group and people will be upset if they don’t receive one of these “wonderful mugs they have been hearing so much about.” There is always a price break for buying in bulk.

Finish the birth announcement mug by filling with candy, lollipop or cookies on sticks and shrink wrapping, talk about a luxurious way to celebrate your new baby’s life while showing your creative side.

My baby boy is on a real lollipop kick lately. They are the ultimate embodiment of a young child’s sweet tooth. It may have been done a thousand times but I don’t think anything really beats the lollipop birth announcement. It’s easy to do, looks colorful and tastes wonderful.

Sugar and babies, what more could you ask for?

Begin by deciding whether you will make your lollipop birth announcements from scratch or doctor pre made sweet sticks. Personally I think the gourmet lollipop is a wonderful way to go. These are usually oversized and come in a nice variety of unique flavors. But of course, they do cost a little more (unless you buy a couple hundred at a time). Think about your budget and your color choices when choosing your lollipops.

Consider changing the prepackaging on your lollipops for your birth announcements. The lollipops may come in plain clear plastic and a colored wrap may look better given the color scheme on your label. Either complete repackage the lollipops or put your colored wrapping over the original clear wrapping.

When it comes to the label for your lollipop birth announcement, the full color circular sticker is adorable. I like comic sans font for this birth announcement coupled with an image of your child and the birth stats. Consider placing a label on each side of the lollipop to include more information. This looks good with the striped variety of lollipop. Take time at your online printer’s website creating truly custom and adorable sticker labels.

Of course, even if you have lollipop birth announcements at your post birth baby shower or hand them out at the office, there is no substitute to the printed birth announcement. Order a few different kinds of birth announcement to ensure you have enough for all your friends and family in social appropriate mediums.

I mean sugar, you get that right?

Making your birth announcements out of fortune cookies will make your special news a symbol of good luck plus something yummy to eat. Not to mention that everyone will like their fortune. Here’s how to make your own fortune cookies for birth announcement holders.

Begin by going online and picking a recipe. I don’t want to plagiarize anyone here but you need egg whites, vanilla extract, almond extract, oil, flour, sugar, salt and cornstarch. Pick up your supplies in bulk to save money and leave room for experimenting.

Make up the batter according to instructions. Drip the prepared batter a tablespoon at a time onto a baking sheet. Space the cookies a few inches apart. Think whisky tumbler diameter for the individual batter circles. The more perfect the circle, the more polished your finished cookie will look. Place the cookie dough into your preheated oven.

Most recipes state you should bake the cookies for about 15 minutes and then take them out. Have the birth statistics already printed on strips of paper. Lay one strip of paper on one half of the cookie in preparation for folding.

Fold the cookie in half with the fortune inside. It should stick together without assistance. Bend the cookie in half again the opposite way and pinch the ends. The easiest way to do this is by placing the cookie on the rim of a drinking glass. It gives you that crease in the middle you see on professional fortune cookies.

Place the soft shaped cookies in the bottom of a coffee cup, large baby food jar or ramekin to help them keep their shape. Let them dry and get ready to hand out your truly unique birth announcements.

The custom fortune cookie birth announcement is great for an Asian theme baby shower.

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love hearing about new babies being born in the autumn; it’s such a compliment to the ideas of harvest and plenty that proliferate around the fall holidays. Those fall babies will be here before you know it and a pumpkin patch themed birth announcement is a super cute way to go.

The custom printed fall themed birth announcement is certainly a valid option. Choose warm fall colors as the background to your baby’s photograph and birth statistics. An image of the child among the pumpkin patch, whether clip art or actual photograph is just adorable. Add a cute caption like: “Look what we found in the pumpkin patch this year” to make your friends and family smile.  Finish off with orange envelopes to complete the theme.

Make your own paper pumpkins to use as the frame of your baby’s birth announcement. Choose quality orange paper, add a few well placed black lines to represent the ribs of the pumpkin and place your child’s photo in the center. Business card sized birth statistics and a photo glued onto the front of a pumpkin and propped with a center card stand at the back is adorable.

Alternately, go to the craft store and buy a few dozen of those Styrofoam pumpkins for your birth announcement. Have your child’s photograph printed on sticker sheets and place a single photograph on the front side of the pumpkin. Make a little flag out of a piece of paper and a colored cocktail stick that states the birth statistics and push into the top of the pumpkin. These look stunning lined up on a favor table at your post birth baby shower.

When your child is born around a major holiday, it’s a great opportunity to think creatively about incorporating the season into your birth announcement. Personally I like pumpkins but go with whatever floats your baby boat.

It may seem a little early to start thinking about winter babies but I assure you mommies to be are thinking about the upcoming birth of their child every second of every day. Trying to think of original ways to announce your baby’s birth is a matter of forward planning. And of course those snow globes need to be ordered in bulk in advance of the birth.

There are a number of ways to go when it comes to making a snow globe birth announcement. You can actually purchase a few dozen snow globe kits and make them up yourself but that’s quite an expensive way to go. With a nearly two year old running around my home I assure you, you are going to need your extra pennies for other items.

Consider making snow globes using empty baby jars. This is a cute way to announce your child’s birth and a great way to keep you distracted from the back pain and swollen ankles. Alternately you could fill empty acrylic holiday baubles with your snow globe supplies. Both ways work well and save you tons of cash.

Create custom printed announcements that are laminated or in another way waterproof for your birth announcement snow globe. You could glue a baby trinket to the bottom of the glass jar and then place the different birth statistics on laminated card pieces and mix them up with the “snow.” Add the water and seal the globe closed.

How you decorate and finish your birth announcement snow globe is up to you. A few painted details on the outside of the glass, a little glitter in the snow, even a picture of your darling new baby all work well for this winter wonderland birth announcement.

I was window shopping over the weekend and came across the cutest little flower press for $7. Seemed like quite a deal if only I could think of something to use pressed flowers for. And then of course it came to me: decorating baby birth announcements.

Flowers are a traditional gift for your new moms and a great way to distract from those first post birth discomforts. By pressing the flowers and incorporating them into your birth announcements. Whether directly gluing the flowers onto homemade cards or making them into inserts on custom printed pieces, flowers add texture as well as an individual memory to every piece.

Be sure to clean and prepare the flowers you intend to press for your birth announcements. Shake off any pollen dust and remove and additional or clumsy looking petals or leaves. Pressed flowers look best when tidied up before being pressed. You may want to gentle rinse each flower head under cold water to ensure a clean finish. Depending on the flower type a gently misting from a spry bottle may be more appropriate.

Place the flower heads or the individual petals for your birth announcements between sheets of tissue paper or wax paper before placing in the press. The paper not only absorbs any excess liquid from the flower, it helps keep the flower’s shape.  Be sure the flower heads don’t actually touch each other in the press as this could compromise the final look. Be sure to follow pressing instructions that come with the unit.

To incorporate the pressed flowers into your baby birth announcement, consider making them into laminated book marks. You could have the flower (with an explanation of its origin) on one side and details of the birth on the other. Consider using a custom printed label or sticker to give the press flower insert a polished finish.

After you have ordered your custom printed birth announcements, it’s time to start thinking about adding an individual note and getting them in the envelope, addressed and mailed. So what is the protocol for writing on birth announcements? What should you write?

Well first of all, it’s important to realize that writing nothing by hand on your printed birth announcements is not wrong. A lot of people just send them out as is with a handwritten address on the envelope. Some people print address labels from a list they created on their pc. None of this is rude and is perfectly acceptable.  Hand written notes on announcements is just a personal touch a lot of people like to do, sort of a finishing touch.

For close relatives, at least a paragraph of handwritten words is appropriate on the back or the inside of the birth announcement (depending on type). Use the new titles such as Auntie or Grandma in your note and be sure to express your happiness as you count on theirs. Finish with the signature of both parents (no writing the hubby’s for him-his mother knows his handwriting).

For distance relatives or acquaintances, go with a basic handwritten signature for your birth announcement.  It’s just enough to let them know you took a little more time with it than just sticking the announcement in an envelope but not too much that they feel obligated to reply or show up when you are trying to finally get some sleep.

When it comes to the extra birth announcements you had printed for the mailman or your co-workers you could get away with no handwritten message at all. It wouldn’t be expected and if you don’t have the time (or just want to get them in the mail before your six week time limit) don’t worry about it. In many cases they will just be happy to have made it onto your list. Everyone enjoys being a part of the birth celebration.

Birth announcements are multifaceted. They can act as a personal correspondence to your parents and a token of appreciation for good service. Above all they announce the birth of your child and making them as personal as possible will be worth it in the end.

Thinking of different types of birth announcements all the time can be difficult. The more I have to think of the more I have to stretch my imagination and take cues from the world around me. Today I saw a lovely set of Victorian handkerchiefs in a store window. Instead of thinking my goodness I wonder how much they would cost I thought: “what a great way to announce a new baby’s birth. “

Now you understand I wouldn’t expect you to sit and embroider a couple dozen white silk handkerchiefs even before the stitches were out. On the contrary, I would expect you to order a rubber stamp as soon as you could get to the computer.  Just create your basic template in advance and upload the details later.

Choose a rubber stamp for your birth announcements that is not prefilled with ink. Although in many cases these self inking stamps can be quite handy they are not appropriate for stamping onto fabric. Choose a larger traditional rubber stamp that requires a separate ink pad and be sure to choose thick clear lettering in your design. Pick up the fabric ink at your local craft supply store.

Clear white handkerchiefs are still available at drug stores and major retailers across the country but you could always order them bulk online.  A quick perusal of the online auction site s(my favorite place for baby bargains) and I came across bulk lots of wedding handkerchiefs. These are plain white cloth squares that come in larger lots of 25, 50 or 100. The price was very reasonable.

Have the fabric ink and the handkerchiefs ready to go so that when you get the birth statistical information you can simply complete your online order and press “SEND.” If you get rush shipping, you’ll have it in just a few days and then it will take no time at all to do the birth announcements. Present them in individual boxes, or included wrapped with a custom printed card announcement. Even a pile of “it’s a girl!” handkerchiefs in a basket in your delivery room will make a splash.

I mean, someone has to mop up those tears of joy right?

May as well be a baby birth announcement handkerchief.