A new addition to the family is one situation where an e-mail message to friends and family just won't cut it. A delivery from the stork demands a custom-printed birth announcement. People will want to have something to put up on the fridge at home. Including a photo of the baby is an added bonus, allowing friends and family to show off the new arrival.
Whether your expecting, or your designing a baby announcement on behalf of a client or friend, there are tons of formats and design choices that can make your birth announcement a hit! To get started in brainstorming for your custom birth announcement, check out the tips below: 1. Choose and elegant format For those folks who want to send out a classic birth announcement, greeting card and envelope formats are an elegant choice. Choose a matte paper stock and a script font for a traditional look and feel. For the outer envelope, select clear mailing labels that will blend in nicely to address the announcements to friends and family. 2. Include a custom stamp Even the stamp you use to mail a birth announcement can be cute and baby themed. The US Postal Service offers custom stamps through its online store, shop.usps.com There are stamps with flowers, Disney characters, hearts and wildlife mothers caring for their young. There's even customized-postage software available for purchase, so you can put the baby's face on the stamp! 3. Personalize with photos If you'd like to use a postcard format for birth announcements, then put a photograph of the new baby on the front of the card, and information on the back. Don't limit the photo choices to the baby alone. Pictures of the baby with his or her parents, grandparents or the baby and a sibling are all excellent choices for the front of the postcard. Humorous photos, such as the new child of two doctors wearing a stethoscope, can be a fun way to introduce the newest member of the family. If you are doing a greeting-card format, you can insert baby photos into the envelopes for your entire list or to a select number of family and friends. 4. Design around the new name Whenever a new baby is born, the first thing most folks ask about is the name. The baby's initials or name are a great design element to use in the printed birth announcement. If the format is a greeting card, try using the first, middle and last names in a classic monogram, centered on the front of the card and on the back flap of the envelope as well. Adding a foil-stamp treatment to the monogram is another nice touch. The letters in a monogram are organized first name, last name, middle name, so a child named "Adam James Livingston" would be, "ALJ." Another cute idea is to repeat the baby's first name in either a blue or pink font (depending on the gender) as a border around the announcement.
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