How to Write Baby Poems for Showers and Birth Announcements

Sentimental, cute and flowery poetry has never been my strong suit. Love poems always seem to come out less than desirable, and anything that is supposed to resemble heartfelt sentiments turns to really corny greeting card verse under my hand. It's like magic, and not the good kind. I'm also obsessive and stubborn, so when I hit a brick wall I will find a way to cut, carve, or generally break my way through that wall - somehow.

When my daughter was born, I wanted to shower the world with the news of my blessings. Like many expectant moms, I'd received tons of junk mail that advertised everything from silver plated spoons to really beautiful birth announcements. The cost of those birth announcements (I ended up getting the silver plated spoon, don't ask me why because I can't find it now) made it impossible to even consider purchasing them.

So, I had a couple of brick walls to get through - first, I would have to figure out how to make the announcements myself. No biggie, there's tons of software for that. Second, I would have to figure out how to write poems for a birth announcement ... which was a bit more daunting.

I did break through that brick wall, though, and have since happily penned verses for baby showers and birth announcements for several neices, a couple of very late-coming cousins, and many of my friend's babies - and I now have a scrapbook filled with original verse. Want to know how you can write them yourself? Keep reading.

Baby Poem Techniques

The first thing that you have to do is get it through your mind that this doesn't have to be difficult. After all, when it comes right down to it you're writing a poem for the baby. That doesn't have to be complicated at all.

Along the same lines, my second tip is this: don't try to be a poet. Some of the most beautiful poetry I've seen written for babies has nothing resembling fancy language and obscure words. In fact, most modern poetry doesn't.

Now, for the process. Sit down with your paper and a pen and get ready to do some thoughtful brainstorming. Once you're in a nice frame of mind, try these quick exercises - it shouldn't take more than a few minutes:

1. Baby Theme - Make a list of the first ten baby items that you can think of.
2. Names - Jot down mom and dad's names, and if the baby is born, their name.
3. Hopes - What is the one single thing you most hope for this baby, and what do you most wish for the little one's parents?

Listing your answers on a piece of paper will let you re-read them a few times and discover the way that what you've listed affects you. After considering what you've written for a few minutes, use the things you've listed to write about five short sentences. Don't worry about making the sentences relate to each other - what you're trying to do is figure out how to use the words you've listed to make thoughts that can develop into a complete poem.

At this point, it's usually a good idea to set all your papers aside and do something else for a few hours ... or a few days. Get your mind off of the baby poem completely so that you can come back to it later fresh and ready to look at what you've done with new eyes.

When you come back to your papers, start with the sentences that you wrote. Do one or two of those sentences jump out at you as being the perfect sentiment? If so, you can go on - if not, then go back to your lists and try writing a few more sentences.

Once you've got a sentence or two that you really like, you're ready to write your poem. Start with the sentence you wrote, placing it at the top of a clean sheet of paper. If it's a very long sentence, you might want to break it up into two separate lines. Now, following the same line of thought that your first sentence begins with, write a few more. Break each sentence up so that your writing resembles a poem instead of a story, but don't worry about whether you're doing it "right" or "wrong". In poetry, the idea is to express a feeling, an emotion, and to do it in a way that is clear and descriptive. It's not about whether you have a perfect style - no one is going to notice that anyways. They're going to see work that comes straight from the heart, and love it.

Write the poem out without stopping or re-reading what you've done. If you need some inspiration, look back to the lists and sentences that you wrote before. Then finish writing the baby poem you're working on. You don't want to over-question what you're writing - just let you heart tell what it wants to tell. After the poem is finished, you'll want to re-write it, making sure that you have it looking the way you want it to look and cleaning up any spelling errors.

Don't be afraid to experiment - try reading your finished poem out loud, and you might be surprised at how nicely it sounds. You might also want to let friends or family who have had children read the writing you've come up with. They can help you create a more baby-like mood in your poetry if it's lacking, but I can guarantee that if you've put some thought into your words, there won't be much need for change. They're just going to enjoy sharing your thoughts.

Ways to Use Baby Poems

Come up with some really great poetry and now you're not sure how to use them? Here's some quick ideas for how you can use the baby poems you've written - just type them up and print them out in a variety of layouts and fonts that match what you're going to place the poetry on.

• Short sentimental verses can be written on baby shower cakes or attached to party favors.
  
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• Create scrolls for guests of the baby shower.
  
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• Use in baby shower invitations and baby announcements.
  
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• Play with different font colors and print the poems on sticker paper for scrapbooks.
  
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• Create a first-months photo book for the baby, using one or two lines of your poem on each page throughout the book.
  
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• Compile all the baby poems into a short book that you can create by writing it out in a journal, hand-bind, or use a print-on-demand publisher to create hard back books. Then, gift the guests of baby's first birthday party with these keepsakes.
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