Baby Style: The Search for the Ultimate Birth Announcement

I never really understood the point of birth announcements. I mean, especially in the age of social media- I would get them in the mail and think to myself- I know your kid was born. I saw it on Facebook. I saw it on Twitter. And I got all your Picasa photo albums. And my fridge isn't magnetized, so what exactly am I supposed to do with this thing? And then- as with so many other things I pre-judged before actually having a birth to announce- it came time for me to make the "to announce or not to announce" call, and I found myself feverishly scouring the internet for the perfect card to capture little Alexa. I didn't want pink, I didn't want storks. I wanted something that felt modern and reflected the look of her nursery- all about a cohesive theme, must be the publicist in me.

With a little help (okay, a lot of help) from the amazing team at tinyprints, I found just the one. They did some tweaks to customize it in the color palette of my choosing, and even addressed all the envelopes AND created perfectly coordinated return address labels that I will probably use on every piece of mail I send for the rest of my life.

The fact that one of my close friends, Ana, also happens to be the best kids photographer (check out her site here) and took this great picture for us didn't hurt either. Hopefully when Alexa gets older she won't curse me for sending out nudie photos of her to about 300 of my closest friends and family and subsequently posting on my blog for all to see. But hey- we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Lesson learned? Birth announcements are classic and important keepsakes that now I totally get. And with the prevalence of social media and email, the statement an actual piece of mail makes is a stronger one than ever.

So there.