Guide to Birth Announcement Wording

You're ready to tell the world about the newest addition to the family. One problem, you're not sure what to say. Birth announcement wording can be be clever or traditional. It's really up to you what to say.

For example, my baby is due in early December, so at my house, we're going to combine birth announcement with Christmas care. The wording on our birth announcement will obviously be much different than an announcement sent out for a baby born in July. Have fun with the wording.

As a rule, you might want to include the following information just because everyone receiving the announcement will want to know certain things. Include the baby's date of birth. That might seem like a given, but it's easy to overlook the obvious when planning announcements. Also, include the baby's full name, first, middle, and sometimes last. If you aren't married to the baby's father, some people might not know your baby's last name.

Important baby statistics are also good to include. You could include things like the time, weight, and height of the baby. Plus any other statistics you think are relevant such as how long you were in labor, or even the weather when the baby was born. For example, if baby is born in the middle of a huge blizzard, include it in your announcement.

The wording on your announcement can vary based on who is doing the announcing. If the parents are announcing the new arrival, the introduction might read something like "Introducing Baby Jane Smith..."

Some parents like to involve older siblings, so you could have the birth announcement come from older brothers and sisters. You could start the introduction as follows, "We've got a full house, our new baby brother makes five.."

If the family is religious, consider starting with a bible verse. Or, you could start by talking about the gift you've been given from God.

Another approach is to start with a cutesy line such as, "We woke up to a present from the stork..."

After the introduction, the relevant details like the baby statistics and date of birth should be placed.

Keep in mind the medium you want to deliver the announcement. If you're using traditional mailed cards, wording will be limited to the size of the cards mailed. For e-announcements, you have endless amounts of space to work with and could even tell the story of your pregnancy or birth day.

Whatever wording you chose, prepare the template well before baby's due date. Life will be hectic when arriving home from the hospital and having a template ready to go will make sending the announcements much easier.