Birth announcement wording: what to include, and 20 examples

What to include

• The baby's full name, as you want it read aloud. First and middle is the classic choice; add the surname if it differs from a parent's.
• The birth date. Many families add the time, but the date is the part people keep.
• Weight and length. Optional, but grandparents expect them.
• The parents' names, or the family name. On a card from a couple, both names; from a single parent, just yours.
• A greeting or a short line that sets the tone: welcome, joy, thanks.
• Older siblings' names, if you want them part of the announcement. 'Big sister Nora' is a lovely way in.

Leave off anything you would not want a stranger to read. A card gets pinned up, passed around, and kept in a drawer for years.

Classic and formal

Traditional announcements are written in the third person, parents first. They suit a foil design and a quiet color.

Warm and casual

Most families land here: first person, a little feeling, the facts in one clean line.

Playful

A joke works best when the facts are still easy to find. Keep the name and date on their own lines.

Twins, adoption, rainbow babies, and one parent

When to send, and to whom

There is no deadline. Cards go out in the first few weeks for many families and in the second or third month for plenty of others, once the house has settled. People are happy to get them either way.

Send one to anyone who would frame it or keep it: grandparents, aunts and uncles, godparents, close friends, the neighbors who brought dinner. If you are counting, our sets start at 25 cards and go to 150, with white envelopes included, so count the mailing list first and round up a little for the keepsake box.

If you want the card in hand by a particular visit or holiday, order about three weeks ahead, and four in December. Every order gets a free digital proof before anything prints, so you can fix a spelling or swap a line before it is on paper.

What to leave out

• The hospital name and the full street address. A card travels further than you think.
• A registry or gift request. Gifts come anyway; thank people for them afterward, in your own hand.
• Long stories about the birth. Save those for the phone.