Birth Announcement cards or emails

[clobert]

I searched for this and didn't see any discussion about birth announcement cards.  Is everyone doing these?  They seem really nice, but the cost will really add up and I'm wondering if they're worth it.  We're not putting anything on facebook.  I thought of sending an email (maybe a quick one at the hospital and then a nice one with a photo later) to most people and then a few birth announcements for important older people like grandparents or a real photo and letter to them.  Vistaprint seems fairly reasonable if I do want to do cards to everyone, are there any other affordable places to get these?  

I think getting any of these ready ahead of time seems really smart (keeps popping up on to do lists).  Some places you can preorder envelopes or upload the addresses to the site and have them print it for you.  Otherwise I could print address labels.  

I was also thinking or sending out an email with tons of people bcc'd for when she is born - probably no picture but just to let our friends and family know after the birth while still at the hospital.  We will probably write the draft with the addresses ahead of time so we don't forget anyone.   

[snarkysparklefart]

We sent cards with DD to family and those who attended the baby shower, and a few friends who were far away. I ordered mine from Shutterfly. I preferr sending cards to emails anyway, but I definitely wanted to go with sending a physical card because so many of our family members are out of state and some are older, so they may not have received it otherwise.

I will do the same this time, but may try to make them Easter themed and send to fewer people- and include both girls.

[chilibeansm0m]

I will not be doing these. Didn't with R either. Just not my style/taste.

[racegurl87]

I don't have the email for most of our family members (or they don't have an email) so I'll be sending out announcement cards. I have one basically ready on Mixbook, so all I'll need to do is put in her birth stats and a couple pictures and order. I won't be putting any pictures of her on FB, but I do have a Shutterfly photo site that you can only access if you have the exact URL.

[luvsponies]

I haven't fully decided yet, but I think we'll probably do announcements from Shutterfly for extended family and close friends.

[missycee]

We sent out cards when DD was born to family and a few family friends, probably about 25 total. I have a family member who is a graphic design artist that owns a print shop so she did them for us as a gift. We'll do them for this LO also, though I'm not expecting to have them done for free again. It's a wonderful keepsake to have so I have no problem paying to have it done.

[bluebell0315]

I didn't do it with DD, and I'm not doing it this time either. It's not my style. However, several of my friends send them, and they're super cute.

[tacocatmom]

I will be mailing cards. Probably use Tiny Prints.

[busterrose]

I sent out cards and will so again. I used Shutterfly.

[ashleyrh661]

I didn't do with with our first. So probably won't this time either. We will post to FB after delivery and most of my family is on FB or live close so no real reason to send announcements. I love getting them though! If you are already doing newborn pictures, why not?

[katydid2015]

I plan to do them and have pinned a few options from Tiny Prints and Minted.com. There's also a ton of options on Etsy. I'll send them to everyone who came to the shower, anyone who gave us a gift outside of the shower (like work peeps), and long distance family which includes all of my husband's family.

[pele]

Eh, extra unnecessary expense when FB exists

[skrittens]

I will send them. I'm old school.

[bnizzlebizzle]

I liked sending them out. We didn't do anything until our first was 6+ weeks old though because she was way cuter then. Most of my family still has theirs. My husband took the picture and edited it on the computer. He used zazzle to print it out the cards and it was pretty cheap. We'll be doing the same thing for this kid.

[darbie914]

We sent them out to family and close friends when DD was born. I just started looking at announcement cards on Mixbook.com to get an idea of what we like so we can just insert the info once she's here.

Our hospital takes newborn pictures so we'll probably use one of them as well as a picture of both girls together.

[frecklesinside]

We did them. After paying for the newborn session, it felt nice to AW through the card announcements. They are really nice keepsakes and can be done pretty cheaply. If you keep your eye out you can find deals. I'm not sure how you'd do them ahead of time...we had to wait to take our newborn pictures (at 10 days) and then wait for them to be edited and come back to us. Sure, the important people I'd bother sending the announcement to already knew, but a nice card with pictures was a nice added touch, especially since we didn't directly talk to all of those people or send them pictures.

[mrsh924]

I plan on sending them. We will send them to the same people who we send Christmas cards too. Mainly family and close friends. I've used snapfish, minted and shutterfly. All are really nice.

[jcar]

We did them with DS. The hospital takes nice photos. We also got a promo code for free announcements. We just sent them to those who attended the shower/close family. I'm not sure if we'll do them again this time or not.

[ruemorgan]

If we do, we will use shutterfly because they handout giftcards for breathing. But I'll probably just put something together and post it to facebook.

[wifieo]

Found some on minted.com and there are always coupons out there. We are doing a newborn sesh and I'm old school, I send out physical invites for everything! I just feel like it's a little more special?

[flmama622]

I'll send these. I love mail and cards. I'm old school with things like that. I already have some favorites on tiny prints saved.

[zebraleg4lunch]

We will be doing them. I figure if we're spending money to get her photos taken so we should put them to use. I have the design I want picked out on tiny prints already since I'm a nerd.

[071115]

We do a birth announcement card we have done it with the other two as well. We don't go over board family and close friends. And of course I keep one for the baby book

[jap618]

I plan to send them. I haven't looked at all though. I figure anyone who gave us a gift/came to the shower, work, my OB and my RE.

[lib1974]

I plan on doing them. I have a lot of family that is not on FB and plus I like the keepsake idea of it

[playlawook]

I'll do them, but I'm a designer and I kind of have to on principle. I love getting them in the mail too, and we have lots of out of town family so I think it's nice.

[heyitsmamac]

We didn't do them with Henry but only because we didn't get our newborn photos back til he was 6 weeks old and I felt weird doing it at that point. We might do them this time around. I have good luck with Walgreens for stuff like that and they always have promo codes available to make them relatively inexpensive.

[rquinlin]

I love receiving them, so I'll send them.

[jm0848]

I think I'll send them. I have a lot of old school family members who would appreciate the gesture.

[atangiblewish]

We sent cards to immediate family, the White House, and put it on FB. We just used one of the many shutterfly coupons we got while pregnant. We will do the same thing this time.