Creative Ways to ‘Spill the Beans’ when you’re expecting
First off, I am a little hesitant to post this. It is probably the most personal entry I have ever made. But we are all friends here, right? You all have to comment to make me more comfortable. If you’ve read this far, you are committed. 😉
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My husband and I had to,…um,…”practice” a lot to get pregnant {I know, too much information}. 😉 When we finally were, we were bursting at the seams to share the news. I didn’t want to just casually tell my loved ones who had been praying so long and hard for us. I wanted to do something to spill the beans in a fun, creative way. I googled and googled and didn’t come up with much. So the reason for this post: I am enlisting your help! We need to create a database of creative ways to spill the beans when expecting!
So what did I do for my first announcement? Well,… I’m more proud of my second announcement. 🙂 So let me share that one first.
We sent this digital picture to all of our closest family…
No one knew I was pregnant (nonetheless pregnant with twins) when we spilled the beans. So, of course, they were confused, shocked, and excited when we announced our pregnancy with “FIVE of us in this picture”. I was in the room when my mom opened her e-mail. She fell to the floor, started rubbing my belly, crying, and saying, “Are you serious?! Are you serious?!” Crazy lady. {Love you Mom}.
Glance forward eight months. For entertainment purposes, (and the fact that there was only one measly picture in this post), I have decided to show you one of my deepest, darkest, secrets. 8 months. Twins. Headed to the hospital.
Please refrain from saying anything that will make me cry, but feel free to have a good laugh…
Do you remember reading the friendship board post Alison created a few months ago? Do you remember it was bright yellow and even had the word ‘YELLOW’ on it? In that post Alison said, “I am loving the yellow. This one, as you can tell, was for Shelley. When she was 8 months pregnant with her twins she wore a darling bright yellow shirt. So the color yellow reminds me of her.” -Yep. This was the infamous shirt.
I was one HUGE. YELLOW. LEMON. I should burn that shirt. 😉
Okay, I’m getting off track. Back to how I announced our first pregnancy. My parents had exactly ONE grandchild. I sent them a bouquet of pink and blue flowers with a note that said “Will we celebrate in pink? Or will it be blue? Time to get ready for grandbaby #2”.
One of our readers just let me know that ‘Life As Mom‘ has a great list going too!
Now it’s your turn. I can’t wait to hear! How did you spill the beans when you were expecting? Adopting? Or just some fun news? Have you heard of any creative ideas? I’m listening….
Missy says
Shelley
I wish I had some good ideas to share, I just wasn’t that creative – but I am excited to hear everyone’s ideas. I have to say you look good in that picture with your twins, but it does not do you justice, you were ADORABLE pregnant with twins!
Ashley F. says
We couldn’t wait for a special, creative way to tell our close family, but I told my friends we were finally expecting #2 by putting our first child in a shirt that says “BIG SISTER” and sending it out. We’re going to put a picture of her in this shirt in our Christmas card to make the big announcement to the masses. 🙂
Julie says
Oh my gosh – I just posted almost the EXACT same post without seeing yours! Crazy!
.-= Julie´s last blog ..So very very wrong =-.
Jessie Roberts says
Same here!! although the shirt we bought for our daughter says “Whoo has a secret? I do I do” on the front with an owl and then on the back it says “Im going to be a BIG sister” with a big owl and little owl. Its pretty darn cute! She will wear it around our family here on a sunday gathering (we’re currently ttc, hoping to find out on mothers day!!) and then i will take a picture of her and blow it up and send it to my parents who live 3000 miles away.
Mandy [Mandipidy] says
I LOVE how you announced the twins! So cute!
I’ve yet to be pregnant, but the plan is to take a picture of me holding up a can of Prego sauce with a “yep I am” expression on my face :]
Alexandra says
I wish I could say I was creative. I had all these great plans for doing something really cute… to tell my husband anyway. But with our first we found out together at the hospital, and with our second I was so freaked out that as soon as he walked through the door I handed him the test. He was so confused he thought it was a joke. While totally boring, I have to admit that I get a good laugh every time I picture his face!
Can’t wait to hear all the fun ideas!!! I ‘might’ need one of them one day!
Rebecca says
I don’t have any ideas to share, but I had to comment on your idea. It’s brilliant and hilarious! Good call.
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..This is what one does when cooped up in an apartment all weekend =-.
jenleahlynn says
i was so stressed about the complications of carrying triplets and we kept it a quiet as long as possible. when we were expecting again (just one this time), i handed my mom the book”i will love you forever” and asked her to read it to my daughters. we were taping a video as she opened the front cover and read the note i had written that she was going to be a grandma again.
i love to see a big happy baby tummy. carrying multiples is not an easy thing.
Sara says
Well we couldn’t hold it in to tell our parents because we struggled with IF for 19 months. So for our friends and other family memebers we sent out an email and posted on facebook with a picture of us and under it it said. (Husbands Name) and (My name) are happy as can be, but come October Baby make 3.
You looked so cute pregant! It kind of looks like you knocked everything over on the table behind you with you belly….lol
Nikki says
Shelley, what a darling person you are. Oh how I miss you! Love the post. Nikki
Cara says
For our first one we took a video of our dog jumping up and down (chasing a toy) and then made a video about him jumping up and down because “we’re having a baby” then we emailed it to everyone. It was dimple and easy but got the point across to lots of family at once.
The second time we waited a little longer to tell people, but we bought a jar of ‘Prego’ spaghetti sauce. I typed up a little think that said “Cara is….” and then taped it to the front. We gave the jar to the family and friends ib town and then sent a picture to those who don’t live near by.
I can’t wait to see what more people post.
Kinzie Sue says
When we found out we were pregnant with our first, we were so excited and wanted to tell our parents creatively. I bought two large wooden letter Gs. Painted them, added wooden embellishments like baby bottles, rattles, etc. Them wrote “Soon to be GRANDPARENTS” We had someone who was travelling back to our home state deliver them. When they opened them up we got some pretty excited telephone calls. They hung those Gs up for all to see as a way to tell all of their friends. Now when other grandchildren are announced, they hang it up each time!
Amy says
With our third I made a shirt for my daughter that said on the front “I’m going to be” and on the back ” a big sister again” and on my sons it said on the front ” I’m going to be” and on the back “a big brother”. We went to both of our parents houses and just acted casual and eventually they noticed. It was fun to let the kids be the ones to share our fun news.
Lindsay says
We enlisted the help of our 13 month old niece. We made a shirt that said “Coming Soon” on the front and on the back “Baby (last name) May 2010”. We had a family dinner and she and i snuck off. I put the shirt on her and let her walk back in the room with the rest of the family. It was a HUGE hit!
GirlyWhirlyMommy says
Shelley…just priceless! I have had a lot of opportunties to announce pregnancies, but having lost six babies prior to our daughter arriving 18 months ago and being born 13 weeks early (27 weeks) at less than 2 lbs we shouted every pregnancy from the rooftops and asked for prayers early; which finally worked! (She is thriving and healthy with no adverse issues being a micro-preemie…thank the Lord!) Our first pregnancy, our (Angel) Grace, was announced via Christmas Ornaments. I found ornaments (from Michaels)that had a spot for a picture in it with a banner on the bottom that said “Baby”. I took my ultrasound picture and shrunk it down, but it was hard to see what it was, so I scrapped that idea and just printed out the words “We’re expecting a…” so that the bottom Baby on the banner worked with the phrase. Needless to say, the expressions were priceless as we were able to see our parents faces as they opened the box at Christmas. Cheers, tears, the works! My mom kept it out every time we “announced” another pregnancy and said that one day we would be blessed and it worked because we have our miracle after all!
Kristi C says
We waited almost three months to tell everyone. When we did it was xmas so after all the “normal” gifts were done we gave each family member a special gift. My MIL – the grandma willow tree – My FIL a grandpa frame MY SIL a teddy bear charm. My Mom – a pram gold charm My Dad and Step Mom – shirts that said Granny to be and Grampa to be…
It was fun to share it that way with them and a good surprise too.
Katie says
I am recently married and haven’t yet had the opportunity to “spill the beans” but have creative friends share in cute ways!
1) Eager to be grandparents, my friends parents had been begging for their daughter to have something “cooking” in her “oven” for some time. When she found out she actually was pregnant, she went to her parents’s house before they arrived home and put a bread bun in the oven. Her mom was very surprised to find the bread in the oven with a “grandbun” flag sticking out of it!
2) Another friend photo morphed pictures of herself and her husband to make a picture of a baby. They printed the pics, put them in baby frames, and gave them out as Christmas presents. If you have ever seen photo morphed pictures, you know how funny they look. It was HILARIOUS to open them!
Shelley, I hope I look as good as you did when I am pregnant! 🙂 I love the yellow shirt!
Christina says
Hmmm, well, this isn’t super cute, but it’s what we did… we also had a long, long time to wait before being pregnant, so when we found out right at Christmas, we gave my husband’s parents a card that said, “We wanted to get you the perfect present, but we couldn’t afford a —– [can’t remember what we wrote]…” and then inside it said, “so we got you a grandbaby! Due –/–/–!” Like I said, not amazing, but it was fun and definitely a surprise for them.
Gina says
For #1 we announced at Easter. I had everyone go outside for a fmaily photo and my husband was the picture taker – he told everyone to smile and say “cheese” and snapped the photo – then said ok, lets do one more “Everyone smile and say Gina’s having a baby”!!!
Then he just snapped away – the looks on everyone faces were priceless!!!
For #2 I texted everyone – LOL
MessyMissy says
Gina that 1st one is so funny!! The picture must be hilarious!!
.-= MessyMissy´s last blog ..Chloe snores. =-.
Amy says
I love the photo idea!!
Kristen says
What a cute idea! Baby #1 we i-chatted to break the news ( not too exciting because our connection was going out at the reveal moment!), and then with #2 we did it two ways.
We actually had my parents pose with my daughter for a picture. She would make a really cheesy grin every time we said “cheese” for a picture so we had taken to saying other phrases to get a more natural smile out of her. We lined them all up (sneakily switching the camera to video) and had them say, ” Kristen’s Pregnant!” It was a great reaction and then we sent the video to the rest of the family.
For our friends we put a video clip of the song “Look out for Mr. Stork” from Dumbo on our blog ( on Labor Day no less ) and told them we’d be expecting Mr. Stork to visit us in October!
jen says
#1 … we sent our wedding pictures (finally printed!) as x-mas presents with a note that we were pretty sure there would be another set of blue eyes in future pics around (date)!
#2 … we hung a sign in our new house when we invited everyone over for the first time that said baby’s room. 😉
#3 … we had daughter call everyone and tell them she was going to be a big sister.
#4 … no more creativity left in my body. i think i called everyone. or they just noticed that i couldn’t handle frenchfries anymore.
.-= jen´s last blog ..orange you glad… =-.
Kate says
I took the picture of my ultrasound (12 weeks) and put it in a picture frame that said “Grandkid” and gave one to my mom and MIL for mother’s day. It was awesome. For the next one I’m copying an idea from a blog called “Inchmark Journal” (sorry I don’t have a link, but you can google it). She did a family tree of silhouettes. For her family she put her husband, her, her child, and a baby silhouette. It was darling! My mom will really appreciate that since she is so into geneology. BTW, loved this post and you looked great.
Sara K. says
For our first child we were too surprised ourselves to surprise our parents. But I did a little something for my grandparents since this would be their first great-grandchild. Growing up my Grandfather always told me not to swallow watermelon seeds because a watermelon would grow in my stomach. So for a while as a little girl I thought all pregnant women had just swallowed a seed and would tell my Grandfather and he would just laugh. So I sent them a baby bottle filled with watermelon seeds and they knew immediately what it meant 🙂
For our second child I found out I was pregnant the day before Easter. We were decorating eggs with our first born who was 3 at the time and I took one of the eggs and wrote “I’m going to be a big brother”. I gave it to my 3yo and told him to show Daddy this special egg, he was very excited. Then we took a picture of him holding the egg and emailed it to our friends and family. I was sure to be on the phone with my parents when they opened the email. It was a huge hit!
Michele @ The Scrap Shoppe says
Oh, I love both ways you announced! We just came right out and told for the one. I was so nervous that my hubby did most of the talking. We decided to have fun with the 2nd and I made myself a t-shirt that said “My kids rock!” thinking our parents would get the plural of kids and start to wonder. No such luck. We had to spell it out for them! We told the rest of the family by having my son run around in a Big Brother t-shirt at the end of his birthday party.
I wrote up a blog post and shared the printout of the “My kids rock!” story. Its also available at ishareprintables.com 🙂
.-= Michele @ The Scrap Shoppe´s last blog ..TShirt Tuesday Scrapbooker Costume =-.
Suzanne says
We don’t have any babies (yet!) but I just read some creative ideas over at Life As Mom
Here’s the link: http://lifeasmom.com/2010/10/telling-others-youre-pregnant.html
Hopefully FishMama won’t mind me sharing her link!
Shelley says
How Fun!! I just linked up to her. Thanks for sharing!
FishMama says
No, I don’t mind at all! Thanks for sharing. Great list of ideas here!
Shayna @ Texas Monkey says
I only have one so far. She’s 2 now. My husband and I had been married for going on 7 years and together for 12 years and pretty much had everyone convinced we would not be having kids. So for Christmas that year I told everyone I wanted to put together a slideshow dvd of our whole family and so everyone sent me baby pics, wedding pics, and holiday pics over the years. I put it all together to music and at the very end had a family shot of all 10 of us and across the top said “Our family of 10 is such a blessing from Heaven” But in July of 08 we will be a family of Eleven. Then showed the ultrasound photo. They went crazy and what was even better was we were filming everyone watching it so we have their reaction caught.
For my inlaws we wrapped up picture frames and did just like you did, had a picture of us that said
Gas to Corpus $80
Money spent on photo shoot $50
New outfits $60
Seeing your face when you realize there are 3 of us in the picture Priceless.
They each got one and opened them at the same time.
The way I told hubby was I put a bib on our Pomeranian dog that said I love my Daddy. He just stood there frozen for a minute. LOL.
.-= Shayna @ Texas Monkey´s last blog ..Flying Bats Craft For Kids =-.
Jessica Harwood says
For my first pregnancy (before a miscarriage) we told everyone by making sugar cookies in the shapes of baby things – carriage, onesie, bottle, etc. – and frosting them in pink and blue. We served them at a big family reunion. Some people didn’t get it at first but everyone thought it was so cute.
Then, when I got pregnant again after the miscarriage, we framed an ultrasound photo and gave to my parents for Christmas (what a Christmas present, huh?!). We also gave one to my grandparents and when we got together for our extended Christmas party (my extended family are all really close), my grandma showed off her photo to everyone. Of course, they all knew it was me and everyone was even more excited the second time around. It was very special.
.-= Jessica Harwood´s last blog ..Doritos Salad =-.
Heather Lynne says
With baby #1, we made a video for our friends & family with clues.
But, for my parents, we gave my dad a little teddy bear holding a heart that said #1 Grandpa on it (this was their first grandchild).
For baby #2, we made a Tshirt for child #1 to wear that said “Big Sister” and the due date. We just took her with us on visits to friends & family and waited for them to read it 🙂
.-= Heather Lynne´s last blog ..Ghost Hands =-.
Lauren says
We waited until I was FOURTEEN weeks pregnant with James before we told. (We were actually “found out” by some of our friends. They saw my SeaBands.) We timed it so that we’d tell at Easter. We knew we’d see my mom and Eddie’s parents but we had to send my dad a gift in the mail. We got each set of parents an Easter basket and filled it with candy, a grandparents’ book, and a granparents’ frame that had an ultrasound picture in it. I wish I’d taken a picture but I was so nervous that I didn’t! It was really cute and special. Hopefully next time we’ll have a good surprise as well. Shelley, I remember Dianne forwarding me your picture! I loved that y’all told that way!
Kelly K. says
We told family and friends in different ways…but I am most proud of how we broke the news to a large group of our friends. We attended our annual Halloween party with all of our friends and their kids dressed as a baker and an oven with a bun in it and waited for people to figure it out one by one as we made our way through the party when we got there. It was SUCH a fun surprise and our friends thought it was great. 🙂
Brandy F. says
With my 4rd kiddo I made my youngest a shirt that said “Big Sis” on it, took a picture then emailed it to my mom since she lives out of town. She totally freaked.. as this was a SUPRISE baby #4 for us! 🙂
My second kiddo I announced to dad by embarrasing him at his office with pink and blue flowers that said “Congratulations” and a card that read “you’re going to be a daddy again!” Everyone in the office got it before he did!
The first kid I made a collage of baby pics and put “Coming in Feb. 2001” at the top and left it on my parents kitchen counter.
Jodi says
It took us awhile to get our #3. So we had dinner with my folks and brought over some cinnamon buns for after dinner. They didn’t suspect anything. My mom opened it and it said theres a bun in the oven! It took a few min but she got it.
BTW I can’t believe that you were pregnant with twins in that picture. I look like that when I only have 1.
Suzy.Q.S. says
Two ideas:
1. For my first child, we decided to wait to tell our family at Christmas. I framed a print that said “Our family is growing by 2 feet…due July!” I then put a picture of 2 baby feet in a black-n-white print, framed each one, and wrapped them as Christmas presents under the tree. When the family opened their presents, they were in for a BIG surprise! It made for a special holiday time.
2. For our second child, we wanted to involve the “big sister” in the process. So, again we waited until around Christmas time to tell (just kinda happened that way). I bought her a silver necklace to wear that said “Big Sister”. And, we got dressed up and put on her necklace for the family Christmas. We then just waited until someone stopped to admire her necklace. At that point, the “secret” was “announced” and she had a special part in delivering the news…also, a special holiday memory.
.-= Suzy.Q.S.´s last blog ..Behind the camera =-.
stacy says
For our first, we wrapped a children’s book about Grandma’s visit for my mom with a scan of our first Ultrasound as a book mark.
For my Inlaws, we made a video of family pictures (from both sides of our family) dropping starting with their grandparents, all the way down to us and then finally the ultrasound. It was to Chicago’s song “Baby What A Big Surprise” and we timed it so the ultrasound dropped when that chorus started.
For baby #2, we took a picture of our daughter holding our first ultrasound with a “Big Sister” shirt on and gave them to the grandparents.
Kristi Youngberg says
For number one we didn’t do anything. For number two we had our daughter wear a “Big Sister” shirt for family party and anytime we were going to be with people we wanted to tell. For the general announcement we posted this:
http://alexandkristi.blogspot.com/2009/09/march-12-2010.html
The best part is, sometimes we would go to a party with her wearing the shirt and no one would notice for a bit. So their reactions were even funnier when they finally did notice.
.-= Kristi Youngberg´s last blog ..When it rains =-.
Amy says
I don’t have any yet, but I wanted to tell you how cute this post was and how cute you were preggo. Aside from the cute tummy, the rest of you hardly even looks pregnant!
Melinda says
I have announced all five kids in different ways to different people, I have done some of the ways already mentioned like a “Big Brother” shirt and a grandparents frame, but I have a few things not already mentioned that worked well. When I was announcing my third, I brought sugar cookies to a gathering of friends where several were either pregnant or had newborns and put phrases on the cookies such as “me too” and “my turn” or “Oct. 11” and handed them out to the appropriate person, it took them a few minutes but they got it. When I pregnant with my fourth I actually wrote my husband a poem and took it to work, but to announce to everyone else I put a note inside plastic Easter eggs that said “A new little (our last name) will be hatching this fall” and we handed them out to didn’t family members and friends as we saw them.
Bonnie says
For our first I just told my parents on the phone…mostly because I worked with my mom and I was calling in sick…again 🙂 I figured she should be the first I told and she deserved an explanation as to why I was skipping work!
For my husband’s parents, we made onesies that said “I Love Grandpa/Grandma” and gave them as gifts.
For the next one I want to make my daughter a “Future Big Sister” shirt and have her wear it to a family gathering. Just to see how long it takes someone to notice 🙂
Jacqueline R says
I love reading all the stories….I can’t wait to have one of my own to add one day :).
And Shelley, I think both of your pictures are adorable!!
Stacey says
For my first one, we put my little girls’ ultrasound picture in the middle of a stack of pictures so that my parents could thumb through and see it. I don’t know what they were thinking, but they assumed it was my SIL who was pregnant. What?!?!?!?!?!
For my second one, we had my daughter wear an, “I’m going to be a Big Sister,” t-shirt. Neither my parents or my inlaws bothered to read the shirt. Geesh, what’s wrong with people!!!
Brooke says
When we decided to tell my family we had just returned from a vacation/business trip to Chicago, when we arrived at the house for dinner we had 4 little gift bags (mom, stepdad and 2 stepbrothers) with us and told them we had purchased them little gifts while we were gone and we’d open them after dinner. Each bag each held a single wooden letter that together spelled out baby.
We told my husband’s family a few days later at Thanksgiving, he offered to give the blessing and at the end he said, “We’re thankful for family and especially the new family we have coming in July.” We really got to see who was paying attention to the prayer!
We were able to record telling both families and their recations are priceless!
Monica says
When I got pregnant with baby #2 I made an iron on that looked like the “baby on board” sticker you put on your car and ironed it on one of my shirts. Then we drove to my Mom’s and my In-Laws and …surprise! My sister saw it the quickest. It was really fun to see their faces! 🙂
(p.s. Iron ons are great for baby announcements too! Make an iron on for your baby with all their info and stick it on a onesie, take a pic, and there’s your announcement!)
Julie says
For our second – we took a picture of my daughter wearing a “big sister” shirt, posted an email that said, “Stell is getting so big…” Our parents already knew, so this was for extended family and friends. Not crazy exciting, but fun!
.-= Julie´s last blog ..So very very wrong =-.
Robyn says
Don’t have any creative ones that I did but one I thought of recently that would be cute is….if you have your hubby, mom, mom-in-law in the car, pull into one of those spots that say “parking for expectant mommy’s only”. When they point it out tell them it’s ok for you to park there!
Amanda@The Hand Me Down House says
I just love this post, Shelley! I love that you shared with us what you did! Both are just adorable ideas — and very special ways that no one will forget! 🙂
.-= Amanda@The Hand Me Down House´s last blog ..Historic Places from our Road Trip =-.
GIna says
When I was pregnant with my twins, we took a picture of my 2-year-old holding a sign saying “I’m going to be a big brother!” and emailed it to everyone. Then I sent it again. Finally, I sent a third message that said, “Did you get that message twice? That wasn’t a mistake.” My sister was the first to get the clues. My mom needed it explained to her on the phone because she didn’t get it.
Amy Deschamp says
I had these beautiful cards made by Ashley Brooke Designs
http://lifeinthejct.blogspot.com/2009/12/big-news.html
and we had everyone open them Christmas morning when we were all together and almost 13 weeks.
.-= Amy Deschamp´s last blog ..More Halloween Crafts: A card =-.
Jeanette Kirkham says
For baby #1 we got a baby bottle and typed a message and put it inside: “Dear Grandpa and Grandma, I am so excited to meet you in June. Your new Grandbaby ” Then we had a friend who was taking a trip mail it from another state (where no one in the family lived) and put the return address as HEAVEN. It was awesome because both sets of parents had multiple options as to who could have sent it to them and they had to figure it out!
Baby #2 I don’t remember how we told our family, but I told my husband in a fun way! We got pregnant sooner than we expected and so he didn’t really know and when he got home I asked him to come over and look at something. When he came over I pulled up my shirt and had the word baby with arrows pointing down, written on my tummy!
Baby #3 We let #1 and #2 call and tell their grandparents
Baby #4 (shhhhh….we are doing this TODAY!) I found the most awesome picture online http://getyourcrafton.blogspot.com/2010/10/is-this-not-best-shirt-ever.html of a halloween shirt that has a skeleton on it with a baby skeleton on the tummy! I totally made the shirt last night and am going to wear it tonight to our ward halloween party….we haven’t even told our kids yet either! We are going to take a picture of all of the family dressed in our halloween costumes and email it our family and see who spots it first!!
.-= Jeanette Kirkham´s last blog ..Craft Night =-.
Julia says
First: I made a website that had something that talked about my husband came first (each with a picture), then came me, then came us, and coming soon Baby (here we included the dancing baby).
Second: We took a Dr Seuss book called, “The Places You’ll Go.” We scanned a few of the pages into the computer and changed it to read, “The Sharps You’ll Know.” I used most of his rhyming words but changed the story to fit our lives. On the very last page we changed the words to include our names and also that there was going to be another one of us and what day.
Third: Since we are nerds. We took an image of the “Computer Properties” and changed the image so that it read info about when the baby was due. We sent it out with a subject of “New Laptop” and the message “We’re getting a new laptop that we’re really excited about and we thought you might be interested in the specs. We’ve attached the laptop specs below. Let us know what you think.”
Forth: This one was to be due a few days before Halloween, so we sent out an e-mail asking people what they thought we should be for Halloween (one of the pictures had 5 characters and the other had 6 characters).
Fifth: We had been pretty good had having a variety of patterns with our children from color of hair, color of eyes, how far apart they are, and gender. So, we posted on our blog about how our kids were learning about patterns and then included a page that everyone could fill out the pattern. At the top of the page it had “answer sheet available ___” of when he was to be born. Each row had pictures including eyes from my kids, what state they were born in, how many months they were apart, gender (baby pictures of the other kids), what years they were born in, and ended with E, E, H, I (the initials of my kids (not really a pattern so I thought they would get it). Some of them got it, but others were greatly confused!
pennymck says
LOL! Is that why you were making fun of Noah last week for liking the color yellow? Yellow is one of my favorites. And that second picture is as priceless to me as the first one! I have no great ideas, but from the grandmother of the above pictures I can tell you all what a joy it is to hear the exciting news in a creative and memorable way.
Amy Edwards says
For our first we were so excited (after 3 and 1/2 years of trying) that we couldn’t wait to be creative – we just blurted it out to everyone! For our second, we found out in December, so we had ornaments made with all of our names and the word “baby” and gave them as presents. For our third, we were surprised ourselves, so we knew everyone else would be too. I couldn’t sleep that night after taking the test and ended up writing a poem that we mailed out on “baby footprint” paper. It said:
“Someone’s having a baby, her face is aglow. In just a few months she’ll begin to show.
What will baby be, a girl or a boy? Doesn’t really matter, it’s our bundle of joy.
Don’t think of your friends, this is a family event. To only our relatives has this announcement been sent.
Don’t figure this out by asking each other, you might ruin the surprise for baby’s grandmother.
Now here is a hint, but it is very small – Baby’s mom, dad and brothers are awaiting your call.”
We mailed these cards out and for the next few days, we were so excited every time the phone would ring. Our family would always start the conversation by saying, “Did you mail me something?” I guess they were all nervous it wasn’t us since on both sides of the family we had siblings that only had boys too.
Thanks for letting me share! So much fun reading everyone’s ideas!
.-= Amy Edwards´s last blog ..Good Excuse =-.
Lori says
I have 6 boys and have done some cute things, but I am running out of ideas. So, THANKS ladies who commented!!
Next to the individual picture frames of our children I wrote in one “Picture coming end of February”.
We had the baby brother wear a shirt that says “I’m the big brother”
We went to Build A Bear and made a cute teddy Bear with my voice saying, “Congrats Nana for grandbaby #6!” (SHe had the bear for over a week until she finally squeezed him hard enough to hear my voice!)
We bought M&M’s that were baby blue with “boy” written on them and pink with “girl” written on them.
Hmmm..I can’t remember the others!
THANKS for the adorable post!!
Tammy says
We are adopting, we announced our decision to adopt, and the country (Philippines) to each of our families separately…for my family, we gave my Mom, brother and sister-in-law each a key chain and a key, each key chain was identified (Grandma, Uncle Tim and Auntie Charleen). The key shows a penguin family of three. Each key chain was put in a box and they were all wrapped the same way. we gave them their presents after dinner one night. For my in-law’s, my husband created a series of clues on cards and had one card for each family member. The clue cards were numbered and had a snapshot of the history of the Philippines… It took them a while and some prompting – but they all got it… The best part was my MIL getting all nervous and acting out by sweeping the floor and cleaning the kitchen table (neither was dirty).
We are still waiting for our referral (2 years today), so we’ve had a lot of time to think about our announcement…we’ve written a book using blurb.com…and we’re going to have a “book launch”…at the end of the story…the family will find out if it’s a girl or a boy.
Thanks for sharing…I’ve loved reading all the stories!
p.s. you looked super cute in the lemon top!
.-= Tammy´s last blog ..A Baby Little One Carrier =-.
Carie says
When my boys were 4 and 6 we found out we were pregnant and it was a suprise, so I made a sign that said “We are going to be BIG brothers!” took a picture of my boys holding it and sent it out to everyone in an email.
Kendra says
I LOVE IT!!! You had some great ideas!!!
With our first, I bought bedtime books that had to do with Grandparents reading to their Grandchildren and gave them to our parents. My mother in law didn’t even get it, we had a good laugh.
Our second pregnancy, we made our daughter a sweatshirt that said, “World’s greatest Big Sister” and had her wear it… Again it took my Mother in law some time to catch on… haha
Brenda Picanco says
I was 11 weeks pregnant around Halloween last year and was expecting my third. I wore a red shirt and copied and enlarged the “Prego” spaghetti sauce and pasted it to the red shirt. At the bottom I had the expiration date as my due date. It was a fun way to tell all our family and friends.
Jennie says
Friends of mine that were expecting dressed up for Halloween last year. She took a large box, painted it up to look like an oven and wore it. Her husband wore an apron. He was the bun-maker and she had a bun in the oven. Too cute.
Sierra says
For our one and only, we just called everyone. He was a surprise and we didn’t even know we were pregnant until 8 weeks. We were too excited to do anything “cute” I guess.
I draw my christmas cards every year. They look very cartoon-y (if that’s a word), so, when and if we get pregnant soon, I’ll draw my husband and son holding what will look like an x-ray “board” over me and it will show the little one.
That’s about as creative as I can get right now.
If I can’t get it in the christmas card, I’m not sure what I’ll do! My sister made a calendar for the grandparents that had a picture of the ultrasound on the date of the due date. I thought that was cute.
I’m excited to read all the ideas!
Candra Wynne says
A friend of mine had two girls…. when she was announcing her third baby she made the oldest girl a big sister shirt… and then the 2nd girl wore a shirt that said “moving up” on the front and then on the back it said “from little to middle” because she was now going to be the middle child. It was adorable and really think I am going to steal it when we have our next one 🙂
With my first I was so sick the beans spilled pretty fast for family that lived around us, but we did something very similar to your “priceless” one over email for family out of town.
With my second we announced it on Christmas day.. I made my parents an ABC book with different things that my daughter loved to do with them such as “W- watering the garden with grandma” I added pictures etc. to make it all cute. The Z came up and on the next page it said “I can’t wait to tell my brother or sister what great grandparents I have” I had a picture of the sonogram below it saying Merry Christmas and the date he was due. It was deafinatly a winner!
Rebecca says
I was too impatient to share the expecting news in a creative way but with our third I sent a picture message over cell phone to family & close friends (we live out of state) with a pink ribbon tied around my tummy to announce she was a girl. I brought blue & pink ribbon to the doctor with me.
One of my friends took a picture of her holding a bun in her oven (her actual oven) and put that picture on facebook – I think she e-mailed the picture to some people as well.
If we have another it may be fun to take a picture with my kids holding up a total of 4 fingers by my tummy.
Cori-Lynn Meyer says
Love the wizard of oz one….so original…..
congratulations on the twins….it is so life changing.
Alisa says
For first we told everyone on Easter. We do an Easter egg hunt every year so I got a plastic egg and decorated it with grandma on it and when the kids found it they gave it to my mom and inside was a picture of the ultrasound.
For my second we told everyone at midnight on New Years. We had a cleaver way to shout it out but I cant remember how it went now.
I think you looked GREAT! I am so happy you did this! When we were trying to think of ways to tell I looked all over the internet too and found nothing.
Shan says
When we found out we were expecting it was a big surprise to both me and my husband. We only told my sister and my parents, then waited till we found out whether baby was a boy or girl before we told everyone else.
So…My mom’s birthday was in March. I had a tiny onesie made that said “Happy Birthday Grandma! See you in October!” and one for my dad that said “Watch out Grandpa, here i come!” and had them both open them at the same time. I have it on video. It was awesome, they thought i was lying.
I told my boss/friend by having one of my other coworkers/friends come over to my desk (which was right next to my boss) and ask me how my doctors appointment was. I told her that they did an ultrasound and found something but wasn’t sure what it was, i could tell my boss was kind of uncomfortable (which was the plan) so then i said “Hey Aaron! Maybe you know what it is?!” and handed him an ultrasound pic of the baby. It was so funny!
Em says
I wish mine would’ve been so creative! lol My first one was a shock, so there was no thinking it all through! My second one was a bit of a surprise as well but, I knew days before I took the test, just like I did with my first one.
Anyway, I took my mother and husband out together to dinner. Where I had called ahead and prearranged a dinner of baby things, like baby carrots and baby corn, baby back ribs, etc. It was a bit messy but, the end result was worth it.
At the end of the dinner, I asked them how they liked their dinner and told them that there was a theme going and handed them each little bags. Inside each was a bib. For my husband, it said, “I love daddy”. My mother’s said, “That’s it, I’m going to grandma’s”. Followed with a little onsie with similar sayings on it.
My husband remained confused for quite a bit, but my mother started squealing and pointing to all the dishes and then to me and then to the bibs!! It was hilarious!
Dianne says
With baby number 2 we had been trying to come up with a fun way to tell everyone. We were at my parents house for Christmas Eve and hadn’t told anyone but my mom yet. Needless to say I was very nauseous and I got up to run to the bathroom and threw up all over my husbands shoes. EVERYONE knew immediately. It definately not how I had intended to tell my siblings but it was effective.
Jennifer says
I’m not pregnant yet, but I have a cute idea that I want to use. I have heard you can put a fortune cookie in the microwave for a few seconds and open it enough to get the old fortune out and put a new one in. I want to type my own message/fortune to my husband “your going to be a daddy soon” and put the “lucky numbers” on the back as the due date (like 03-15-11). Hope I get to use my idea soon!
Danielle says
I love your post, and the pictures! Here’s what I’ve got,
#1- We bought bibs that say “I love grandma” and “I love Grandpa” and gave them to our mom’s on their birthdays, (only 1 week apart.)
To announce that we were having a boy we sent our parent’s flowers with little notes attached from the baby. One note said “I have my Daddy’s parts.”
#2- We sent out pictures of our 1st child with notes that said, “Comming from Heaven in 2007, baby #2”
#3- We did the T-shirt thing. We were taking a trip to see the grandparents the boys had shirts that said “just call me big brother”, and the oldest had a shirt that said “just call me Big brother again.”
But here is an idea I’ve fome up with but haven’t been able to use yet so I don’t know how well it’ll work but here you go.
Using invisable/re appearing ink and write the words “Urine on the secret, we’re having a baby!” so when they put the right chemical or put it up to the light they’ll see the words. And the word “urine” because you pea on the stick to tell you if you’re pregnant or not. Just a little play on words.
Congrats to all/any who use these ideas!
Veronica says
You are so cute and SKINNY pregnant with twins. Seriously!!! Oh my goodness, all you see are those bundled babies in your tummy.
Back in my day, we called on our rotary phones and said, we are pregnant, I don’t even think it was acceptable to say ‘we’.
However, my son and his wife, came over after Mother’s Day one year and brought me a wrapped gift. I was busy, put it down and said…Oh you kids shouldn’t be spending your money on gifts, you already spent the day with me and brought me desert! They stood there waiting, waiting for me to open the ‘gift’. Inside was a wrapped frame stating “Baby _______ Due Date:______”, it was a refrigerator magnet! How stinkin’ cute was that? It was a frame for me to use when the baby came. I was shocked, excited, thrilled! Wondering why didn’t I open the gift earlier 🙂
Congratulations!
Beth B says
With our first, we sat down and personally told each set of grandparents to be. Lots of tears – some happy some sad. 🙂 With our second, we sent everyone a picture of our oldest kissing my belly. With our third, we sent a picture of our two girls each holding a sign. Our oldest’s read “I’m a big sister.” and our youngest’s read “Me too!”
Deborah Robson says
My sister was 3 months pregnant and we were all so excited we got her baby a stocking for christmas. (It was the first grandbaby). I found out I was pregnant a few weeks before and didn’t tell anyone except my husband. We got a 2nd tiny stocking to put beside my sisters babys stocking. When everyone noticed it was there they were a little confused but soon figured it out!
I found out about a week later it was twins! I just called everyone and told them that. I wish I did that differently, but I was in shock and couldn’t think straight! haha
Deborah Robson says
oh and how we told extended family that we were seeing at christmas…my sister and her husband, and my brother and his wife wore t shirts that said aunt and uncle on them.
Jenny says
I could really have used all these ideas several weeks ago when I wanted to announce my fourth creatively, but was way too tired and sick to come up with ideas. I also tried to find ideas online, but couldn’t. So this is a fabulous post and I’m sure the ideas will be well-used. My daughter ended up telling my mom before she was supposed to tell. So I learned to not tell the kids until you’re ready to tell others!
Brooke - in Oregon says
Oh my gosh you are just totally adorable!
.-= Brooke – in Oregon´s last blog ..p 365 January finished =-.
Monica says
For our first baby, we announced at Christmas (seems like a great time to tell everyone and what a gift, right!) We wrapped up a calendar (I think it was an Anne Gedde’s one with pictures of babies) that was placed in a gift box opened to the month I was due. Then we circled the due date and wrote in Baby Miller’s Birthday. It took everyone a few minutes to get it but they were quite excited when they did.
My sister just announced her next baby. We had pictures taken of all the grandchildren put them in frames and then she included a blank frame saying that grandbaby number 5 was coming in June.
Tam @ Sew Dang Cute says
LOVE that picture Shelley!!!! Love the way you announced the twins – great idea!
.-= Tam @ Sew Dang Cute´s last blog ..Guest Blogger: Home Decor Painting Tricks by I Am Momma Hear Me Roar =-.
Noreen says
When my daughter was expecting her second little boy, she said, “We decided what we are giving Robbie for Christmas.” When I asked what, she replied, “A little brother!” He was actually born on New Year’s Day.
Malissa M says
I didn’t do anything special for our first one (was too excited to wait to share the news!) But for my second one… I got pregnant right around Christmas time, so we put a card in a box with tissue paper and wrapped it for my parents. The front of the card said “Merry Christmas Grandma and Grandpa, we hope it’s all you wished, but just in case we thought we’d add…”
Then on the inside “A new GRANDBABY to the list!” They opened it in front of the whole family and it was priceless!
With our third we took a picture of our little girls holding a sign that said “We’re going to be big sisters” and sent it to our parents. No note or anything, just the picture. That was a fun one too!
Cynthia says
My daughter and her husband met us at the airport with a sign that read, “Scheduled arrival: Baby Lastname. November 3, 2008. Looking for Grandparents-to-be!”
Kim @ seven thirty three says
We tried for 8 months to get pregnant with our son. So when it finally happened we were in HEAVEN! We could not wait to tell our parents. Our first child was adopted so although we had one, this was my first pregnancy. I went out to the store and picked her up a shirt. I ran to Joannes and grabbed some stick-on/iron-on letters and spelled out Big Sister. Mind you I did this after work and had 45 mins to put it all together and get to my parents house! I told you we couldn’t wait!!! We told them the day we found out. 😉
ANYWAY – she walked in, took off her coat and was just sort of walking around with a big grin on her face. My mom was the first to notice and when she screamed everyone came running. It was a GREAT way to announce our blessing.
After dinner at my parents we made a special trip to my in-laws and did it all over again. It is a great memory.
Shelley says
Kim, I don’t know why, but reading your comment totally choked me up. I love it. 😉 Thanks for sharing.
Lady in a Smalltown says
After a few weeks of exhaustion and sore boobs I finally peed on the stick (and then another and then another) on a Monday and then got on Amazon and rush ordered some books. On Thursday I got up the nerve to call the doctor and had a (rushed) blood test that afternoon. On Friday the books had arrived, I peed on another stick (wiped it off) and stuck it in the book “My Boys Can Swim”. I stuck it in with the mail. When my husband came home I told him to go through the mail. He was confused at first and then saw the test. I even found a way to sneak pictures of him finding it. (Yes, I waited 5 days to tell my husband.) I was about 7 weeks.
When I was 13 weeks it was my half birthday. We had been away for my birthday that year, so we had our parents and my sister over for dinner. At the end of the night I gave them each a little bag with a photo frame and a pacifier. The frame had our little blob’s ultrasound. No one could believe I had kept it a secret so long. It also happened that my son was born on my birthday, so we told them exactly 6 months before he was born.
At Thanksgiving we just announced it to my husband’s extended family at the beginning of dinner with an announcement about a family wedding and another baby.
At work I walked up to each of my coworkers throughout 2 days and whispered it to them. Only 3 people out of about 40 found out from someone other than me. Some of my students found out from family that knows me, so I just let the word spread.
We told my niece and nephew by giving them books about babysitting. We have a friend that we are always treating to dinner (she is young and a student). I told her long before we were expecting that she would just owe us lots of babysitting. When we were ready to tell her I just said she would have to start paying up in June.
I don’t know how we will announce the next one (hopefully conceived some time next year), but I want to be creative.
When I got engaged I told my students with an anagram. Bachelor is to single, as husband is to married, as fiance is to ?? I told them I would tell them a secret if they got the answer right.
.-= Lady in a Smalltown´s last blog ..Hoo Are You Tuesday =-.
Lady in a Smalltown says
Oh, and when we went for the anatomy scan I had to leave school early so I told some of my coworkers I would come in the next day wearing pink if it was a girl and blue for a boy. The next day I donned blue jeans and a blue sweater. Of course, having really wanted a girl, it took me all day to say “my son” or “he”.
Now I can’t imagine why I ever wanted anything other than him.
.-= Lady in a Smalltown´s last blog ..Hoo Are You Tuesday =-.
sharla says
After Thanksgiving dinner with both sides of our family around the table, my then 4 year old brought out dessert wearing a tshirt that said “I’m going to be a BIG BROTHER!” that I made using an easy tshirt transfer printed from the computer. My MIL and SIL were the first to see it and squealed with delight. Then my mom saw it while my dad, who was sitting on the other end of the table kept asking…What’s going on? Why is everyone so excited? On the back of his tshirt it said “arriving May ’08” He also wore the tshirt to preschool and LOVED all the attention. It definitely added to his excitement =)
Dee says
Warning…long comment…
My husband and I had been trying for quite awhile and were beginning to think it wasn’t going to happen on it’s own. We didn’t let anyone even know we were trying in case of that problem so we constantly heard the comments from everyone about needing to have a baby, especially the in-laws. We were devestated to hear his younger brother (not only in age, but maturity too) and his girlfriend were going to have a baby. At the time, they were engaged to be married, he didn’t want kids, she did. They had to move their wedding date up drastically to February since the baby was due on their original wedding date. This was extremely hard to constantly hear how this wasn’t the son the in-laws were hoping to get a baby from. At this point, I didn’t even think we would get pregnant and on my way to the wedding shower, I realized I was late. Ran in to take a test and ran by with a quick glance as I was leaving expecting another negative, as usual. Followed up with 3 more positive home tests just to be sure. That night, stopped to get one more test and a cd by Creed with the song “With Arms Wide Open”. Shocked when my dad was in line in front of me and freaking out he would see the tests. Thankfully, he didn’t even notice. Did one more test, just in case. Wrapped all tests up in a box and when my husband came home, I told him I had a new theme song for him and played “With Arms Wide Open”. He figured it out right away and I gave him the box to open to verify. We decided with his brothers wedding right around the corner, to wait to tell everyone until after.
That Monday, I went to my doctor…for another test. They made fun of me for still not believing it and having so many tests done. That afternoon, my husband called me every hour at work saying “maybe we should tell”, I’d say, “if you want to, ok”. Then another call “Let’s wait”…”ok”…another call “maybe we should” this went on for 5 hours until he finally called and said he broke down and told a friend. We had to tell our parents.
I went and got frames, printed out “Baby C” and est. due date. For my parents, my sister had 3 kids, so I had their pictures in 3 of the spaces and my note in the 4th. They saw it right away and freaked out in a good way. For my inlaws, their frame had “Baby C” and est. due date with my BIL’s info and the other was the same but with our date. They were extremely thrilled and then felt bad for all the comments not knowing we had been trying. They just wanted one from us and instead were getting two within a month of each other.
Jacque Charwood says
My brother and his wife sent my mom flowers (I was 18) that had a card that said “Happy Grandparents Day!”
.-= Jacque Charwood´s last blog ..My reasons… =-.
Jacque Charwood says
OH! And for mine, I had a big dinner… served baby carrots, baby back ribs, etc etc… and then for dessert I served a 2 layer cake that was pink and blue. 😉
.-= Jacque Charwood´s last blog ..My reasons… =-.
kimberly says
The second time my husband and I thought I might be pregnant, he thought we should wait a bit until we did the test, but I couldn’t. So I did it in secret. I bought my hubby a “best dad ever” card, wrote a big positive sign in it and gave it to him later that night to let him know. 🙂
.-= kimberly´s last blog ..Sunday Sundries =-.
Nicole says
When I first got pregnant, it was around my hubby’s birthday. He is an avid golfer so I wrapped up a small kids’ golf set as a birthday gift with a card that said “Will you teach me how to play in about 9 months?” Unfortunately I miscarried three days later and that’s how the rest of the family found out. When I got pregnant again right away, I was a little in disbelief so that night when he came home really late from work I just said “I think I’m pregnant again” as he crawled into bed. ha ha We told my parents about the second pregnancy with a frame of the ultrasound that we gave my mother on Mother’s day.
Baby#2 I got a box of golf balls and wrote BOY? on half and GIRL? on the other half. I left it on the table with a little note about not yelling “Fore” on the golf course but yelling “FOUR” instead. We told the family with the typical “Big Sister” tshirt.
Fun memories
Valerie says
4 kids and 6 pregnancies… I’ll share my favorites. Baby #1, my husband and I treated our parents to dinner. We said we just wanted to thank them for all they had done for us (we had stayed with them both for awhile – husband was sick.. long story) but midway through dinner we pulled out gifts… they got baby booties and bottles and other cute little baby things. They loved it!
I told my husband by spelling out “I’m pregnant” with our sons bath toys (the abc letters that stick to the tub)
I told my husband by leaving a trail of notes from the driveway to our back door. They said things like “I love you” “You are a great Daddy” and then taped to the door was a pregnant stick figure. He liked that one. 🙂
We announced one by making a preggo belly cake and taking it to my parents house for dinner.
Jennifer S. says
With our second pregnancy I sent out a photo of a bun in our oven and wrote something out like “We have a bun in our oven. It should be done baking by December 15th!” I think I got all weirdly comical when I was pregnant, but everyone acted like it was cute. =)
Leilani says
With #1 we were just finishing construction when we told our parents we were expecting. We had been doing laundry at my in-laws house because we didn’t a running washer/dryer. To say thanks we brought a little gift of goodies. At the bottom was a onesie that said “What happens at Grandma’s stays at Grandma’s”. The excitement and confusion was priceless.
Kristina says
We live in a different state than my parents and so for the first pregnancy we bought baby themed gifts for each member of my family and sent them all in one box. We had just gotten back from a trip so we used that as a cover. We told them they had to all be together to open it.
The second pregnancy we announced at Christmas time so we figured out what the approximate size of the baby was at that time (12 weeks = small lemon), went to the grocery store and found 8 things that were all about the size of a lemon (red potato, kiwi, Romo tomato, etc). We wrapped them all up and handed them out at the same time to have everyone open them. The best part was seeing everyone’s faces when they opened their food item and then trying to guess what the heck it all meant. We got guesses from “You want us to plant a garden?” to “Are we cooking a soup?”. It was great!
Tandy says
When I was pregnant with our twins (#2 and #3 for us as well) my mom suspected I was pregnant. My mom, sister and I had spent a week in Phoenix for Thanksgiving with my grandma and in spite of my best efforts, the early pregnancy fatigue (and then some because of the twins) and nausea were kind of hard to hide. I didn’t know I was pregnant with twins yet, and my husband and I had decided to wait to share the news of the pregnancy until Christmas. At my first appointment, I was approximately 10 weeks along. My OB did an ultrasound and discovered two heartbeats, not one. I was shocked! We had three more weeks until Christmas and I knew I couldn’t hold on to that kind of news for that long. We copied the ultrasound pics and took a copy to my mother-in-law’s house first. I will always remember her reaction, she was so excited. My husband is also a twin and she just giggled and grinned. It was great.
We took the same picture to my parents and walked in saying “We come bringing glad tidings of great joy!” and my mom said “I knew it! I told your dad the other day I thought you were pregnant!” and I said “That’s not all!” and handed her the picture. Imagine her surprise when she saw the two blurbs on the ultrasound. I love that we were still able to surprise her even though she suspected the pregnancy. 🙂
Not super creative, but it’s what we came up with on kind of short notice.
Momma says
We tried for 2 years before we got pg with our daughter so no fun ideas. Though I did take a test at 3 in the morn and called my husband (he was working nights) and then we had to wait HOURS until we could call our family! 😉 We adopted our son and didn’t really have a creative way for that either. I hope we get to try something fun sometime, but who knows if we will get that chance again.
My friend just did a baby gender reveal party where she did the cake idea. Her 3rd and final girl. 🙂 It was so fun!
.-= Momma´s last blog ..I was featured =-.
Elizabeth T says
So I am not very creative, but somewhat proud of how we announced our last two pregnancies. It took us quite while to get pregnant the first time and we were just too EXCITED to be creative that as soon as we had ultrasound we just emailed the picture to family, subject “New family photo”. They were thrilled so it was worth it.
Our second pregnancy we announced on April First, April Fools Days. Our oldest wore a shirt that said “Oldest Child” (That was the April Fools part) on the back was a note that said “Until November.” Took some people a really long time to figure out what it meant and for them to really believe us. Here is link to how we blogged it http://toryandelizabeththornton.blogspot.com/2008/04/michelles-april-fools.html
Our current pregnancy we wrote a note from the older two children’s point of view about a brand new movie we went to see. It discussed what they thought of the movie and a special veiwing of an interview between director and producers and the surprise ending, it was a double feature (yep, twins). Then ended it with a “poster” of the movie – the ultrasound picture. (That was how we got people to really believe there are two little munchkins growing in there.) And the link to that blog post http://toryandelizabeththornton.blogspot.com/2010/07/double-feature.html
Like I said, not super creative, but at least it made me feel good.
Michelle says
I just wanted to say what an amazing and *absolutely, make-me-cry beautiful* babies bump that is! <3
Shelley says
awww. you are sweet. 🙂
Sarah Lewis says
When we were PG with our second we got the grandfather willow tree Father’s Day and signed the card from with our daughter’s name and baby (our last name) it was great since everyone was gathered around while they opened their gifts.
For our third on our son’s first birthday for his last birthday gift he opened with the grandparents over was a “Big Brother T-shirt” that got a great response too.
katwedel says
I told my husband by leaving a little bottle of baby shampoo in the shower next to his shampoo. It didn’t take long for him to see it and put the picture together!
To tell my parents – we had recently been to the game reserve, so I put together a short slide show with photos that we’d taken of all the baby animals. The final slide was a pic of a baby in-utero with the due date.
Kathy says
I love the creative ways that you all “spilled the beans”. As a grandmother I can tell you there is no greater gift than grandchildren.
Billie Jean says
When I married my 2nd husband, I already had 3 kids. He was fine iwth that, didn’t want any of his own & would help me raise mine. Fat forward a year and everything changed. After being told he had a 18% chance of getting me pg, it happened on the first try. The very earliest day I could take a pg test was Christmas morning – so I snuck into the bathroom, POAS and stared at the little pink line in disbelief. I then dug out the present I had wrapped and hidden (hoping) and my husband unwrapped a “I love my Daddy” bib – I took a picture of that moment and the look on his face is priceless! Fast forward 2 years to when we got pg with the next one – I ordered a t-shirt that said “Big Brother April 2007” put it on my then 1 year old son and sent his picture out to everyone. The next baby, I wasn’t so creative since he was a big surprise – I just blabbed to anyone & everyone who would let me tell them I was expecting baby #6!
.-= Billie Jean´s last blog ..Yummy Stuff Germs amp Other Disasters =-.
Marcip says
When we got pregnant I made cards for the grandparents and mailed them… When they pulled them out of the envelope the front said… Surprise! On the inside it said… We’re Pregnant! and on the back was a picture of the sonogram.
I wasn’t that thrilled with the way we spilled the beans but it worked. I will have to keep an eye on this list you are making so I can do better the next time around!
My favorite is the way we found out if we were having a boy or girl. http://www.themarciandjimmyshow.blogspot.com/2010/07/total-copycat-post.html
Amy says
The way we announced with our son by painting some picture frames and it said “Baby [Last Name]….due in July” and I inserted an ultrasound photo. We unveiled the presents at Christmas time. It was wonderful.
Some other cute ideas…Buying little pacifier ornaments and attaching a tag that reads, “See you in [insert month]”
A retro 50’s style photo of me reaching into an open oven and pulling out a bun. This sounds like a lot of work to really pull it off. But it would be super cute in the end.
I loved the idea, listed above, about a family photo and then digitially altering the photo with an x-ray over the belly. Cute!
Kate says
My family knew we were pregnant but desperately wanted to know what we were having. I had everyone over to dinner to tell them all at once. I had a bakery make a cake and frost it white (there was a baby carriage on top, all in white) and had them tint the cake inside PINK, so that when we cut the cake for dessert everyone knew it was a girl!
Kimberly says
My husband and I don’t have any kids yet, but I already know exactly how I want to tell him. He is an avid sports fan, and being Canadian, hockey is in his blood. We are huge Anaheim Ducks fans and even have season seats. So to tell him we’re pregnant, I want to wrap up a tiny little Duck’s jersey and give it to him. We’ll probably do the same thing for his parents. I can’t wait until I FINALLY get to surprise everyone. We have been waiting until my husband graduates to start trying to get pregnant, and he’ll graduate in March. We’re crossing our fingers to get pregnant early next year!
Jessica says
While I don’t have any good “spill the beans” stories, I wanted to make you feel better by telling you that I was equally as big with my first daughter because she was 12 pounds at birth! So even though I only had ONE baby inside, it was like having two! I feel your pain!
Anne says
How could anyone say anything bad about your pic.You were such a pretty pregnant.Many of us weren’t.You were.And the pic announcement is perfect.
Kristin says
To announce our first to my local family I gave my mom a picture from our recent wedding. My belly had a flap cut into it and when you opened that there was a copy of our first ultrasound. To announce our second to local family we did the “I may be little but I’m the BIG BROTHER” shirt on our oldest. For others they saw this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5YPmxrg7S0. With my third I wore a “Here I Grow Again…” shirt and waited for someone to notice which took FOREVER. LOL To announce it to our older children we came up with a round of Blue’s Clues: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=8084fa592e50060f05f894&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url. I just put that video on my blog to announce it to those that didn’t get to see my shirt.
.-= Kristin´s last blog ..Autumn has Fallen =-.
Angie says
First and foremost, you were adorable in that yellow shirt with your sweet baby belly!!
With our daughter, we blurted it out! With our son, we all went out to dinner with all of our family and friends for my husband’s 25th birthday. my daughter was wearing a cute little big sister shirt, and it took forever before anyone noticed! I wasn’t very clever, but everyone was excited. My sister called me with her 2nd baby and told me that they were “expanding” their house by 2 feet. 🙂
.-= Angie´s last blog ..Better late than never =-.
Donna says
My Daughter had been trying ( via fertility treatments) for 3 years, she did not find out she was pregnant until she was 4 months! She found out 2 days before Christmas. On Christmas day she and her husband arrived early for dinner and brought the gifts in and handed my husband and I a gift that we “needed” to open now. In the box was a note printed on baby paper that read ” Dear Grandma and Grandpa thought you might need these in the near future, Love Baby Garrett (the last name), in the box was a package of newborn diapers! I have an embroidery machine, and my second daughter came over and held up a white t-shirt and said Mom I was wondering if you could embroider “Baby On Board” on here….
Gloria says
Aw Shelley LOVE your creative ideas 🙂 Mine’s not half as creative but here’s how we announced our bambino…
We started trying while on vacation in Italy (nicknamed our ‘babymoon’ & ‘operation guiseppe’). Something about the wine, pasta, or Italian countryside but it worked, we came home preggo. We waited to tell everyone until after the 1st trimester (superstition).
Since we did wait to tell, we had a sonogram. We scanned it and sent it as an attachment to this email: “While we were in Italy, we saw ads for this awesome movie and it’s actually coming to the states. You all have to check it out! Attached is the movie ad. Coming soon, March 27th, 2009”. (March 27th 09 was my due date).
Gloria says
PS- you look darling in your yellow shirt. Seriously! I wish I looked half as good when I was going to deliver and I was only carrying 1. You really should hide that picture so you don’t make the rest of us look so bad 😉
Lara says
I love how you announced your twins shelley. I remember seeing that on your blog and thought it was so cute.
.-= Lara´s last blog ..Im dreaming of =-.
danielle says
Baby #1 we put the ultrasound picture up in a frame on Grandma’s wall (she has a framed picture of all her kids and grand kids at around age 2) and didn’t have to wait long for people to notice. 🙂
Baby #2 we wrapped a picture of our oldest wearing a shirt that says “I’m the big sister!” We gave this ‘gift’ to both our families at christmas time.
FUN times!
Ashley says
For kid #1, the announcement fell on Mother’s Day. We got our moms together for a “Mother’s Day Brunch.” just told them we wanted to celebrate the day altogether since we were in town for a quick trip to see them. They opened their gifts as the same time. The card read “First came love, then came marriage, soon comes a grandbaby in the baby carriage!” Gift had “i love grandma” bibs, etc. They freaked! It was awesome.
For kid #2: Announcement fell on my mom’s bday. I had a photo pendant made for her. One side was a pic of my son. The other side said “Happy Birthday Gigi! Love, Big brother”
For kid #3: Kid #2 was only 7 months old when we got preg. Announcement fell at Christmas time. We asked our parents if they were done shopping for the kids. “Why?” “Because zoe needs a big sister shirt.”
For kid #4: We were kinda tired from kid 1, 2 and 3. The oldest had just turned 4! I think we just told our parents we needed another carseat. Ha!
.-= Ashley´s last blog ..Tag! =-.
Emilie says
For our third child we had personalized fortune cookies made up. We brought them to Thanksgiving dinner and told everyone our 2 year old son had just discovered fortune cookies and told us he REALLY wanted some for Thanksgiving dinner.
We had two different sayings you could get in the fortune cookies:
“June 12, 2007 will bring a new bundle of joy”
and
“And then there were three. 06-12-07”
Let me tell you, it was TORTURE to wait for everyone to get done eating. Because everyone knows you eat fortune cookies at the END of your meal!
But then it was so fun to see everyone’s brains making sense of their “fortunes”. It was awesome.
.-= Emilie´s last blog ..Paris- Tuesday- September 14- 2010 =-.
Michelle says
We found out we were having a baby right before Easter so we invited both of our families over for Easter lunch and gave them all Easter eggs with notes in them that said things like, You’re going to be an Aunt!, You’re going to have another grandbaby!, etc. It took some of our family members a second to process but it was pretty fun.
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Inexpensive Date Night Idea =-.
Jessica says
We were fortunate to have my husband’s parents, grandparents and my parents and grandma together on Mother’s Day. My in laws were up visiting Joel’s grandparents. They stopped over that Sunday to have lunch with our family. Joel said he would say a prayer for our meal. During the prayer, he was thanking God for the opportunity to have family together, for the food, and FOR THE BUN IN THE OVEN. This pretty much ended the prayer as my mother in law started screaming and crying. Hugs and tears were shared all around. I think with our next one, we will dress up our son in a big brother shirt. Hopefully it will be soon 🙂
.-= Jessica´s last blog ..This Moment =-.
Jennifer says
For baby#1 I gave my mom a frame that was baby themed and had Baby (Last Name) due February 2007 for her bday where there were lots of family gathered. For motherin law we asked her to hand us the paper from the printer/scanner and it was the ultrasound.
For baby #2 that is incubating now…..we had our son tell most people. Funniest was when we went to visit a new baby cousin he said I am going to have a baby and they all were like yeah whatever and it took awhile for him to convince them. Really cute. He has no problem telling people that there is a bay in his mommy’s belly. It has been fun!~
Emilee Hunter says
In my parent’s home growing up at Christmas time Santa would always put a paper with our names on unwrapped presents. When we were expecting our first we bought a baby bath and put a piece a paper on it that said Baby Hunter. We snuck out early in the morning to place the bath amongst the other gifts. After everyone had gathered and were done admiring their own Santa gift they were looking around at the others and noticed the bath and were so happy and surprised. Sadly, that was the day my morning sickness began and I kinda ruined the day for everyone with my tummy troubles. What a bitter sweet day.
Tenley says
With baby #2 it was Halloween and I had my daughter hand out Hershey bars that had been custom made labels that said HeorSHe is coming in June of 08
Devony says
My cousins adopted 2 girls and then found out they were pregnant a few years later. To tell everyone they have a family birthday party for the mom, and her hubby wrapped a gift with a bottle of pickles, some ice cream, and the due date in it. It was very cute!
We adopted our first and didn’t tell anyone but immediate family, so when we picked up our daughter and sent out an email with our family picture, everyone was very surprised! Then I got pregnant with our second daughter and I was so surprised I couldn’t even think of anything cutsey to do! This gave me some ideas for my next one! Thanks!
.-= Devony´s last blog ..A girl and her kitty =-.
Shawna says
After having 5 kids…I don’t even remember how I told people! But a friend of mine told her husband by making him a “baby” dinner. Baby back ribs, baby carrots, baby peas…he didn’t get it until she announced the menu with emphasis on the “baby”.
Jana says
I am so happy to have found this! We are “practicing” as you have so kindly put it and I have googled some ideas as well. They have all been…blah. I keep brainstorming but haven’t come up with anything yet.
His mom is a Pediatric Nurse and I am thinking about having all of her patients for the day handing her a packing peanut and saying Congrats. Then at the end of the day popping the news about our little peanut. The husband doesn’t think it’s that great though…
.-= Jana´s last blog ..Mummies =-.
Patty Price says
I think that sounds ADORABLE!
Candace says
My husband is the saver and I’m the spender, so we’ve clashes from time to time. When I get pregnant, I’m going to get a crib and put it upstairs. When Hubs gets home, I’ll say something to the effect of “I may have overspent the budget this month! Don’t be mad, but I saw a piece of furniture we just HAD to have!” then I’ll send him up to check it out. Oh boy oh boy I can’t wait!
Mindy says
I went and bought a maternity dress pattern and asked my mom to make it for me. It was hilarious!
.-= Mindy´s last blog ..How to Clean Your Blinds =-.
Lucy says
Wow there are so many clever ideas..I didn’t read all of them, so I hope I’m not repeating…..
We chose to tell our parents during Thanks-giving dinner grace. We usually go around the table and say what we are thankful for and once everyone had had a turn my hubby said “I forgot to say thanks for our new baby” Needless to say everyone had a big ol’ cry….ate tons of turkey…the end ! I’m sure amongst all these wonderful comments you will find your own unique way of telling your family….Good luck and Congrats ! XO
Jennifer Simon says
We were shocked to find out we were pregnant! We had only been married a few months and I had two years left of college. I ended up going to the doctor’s because I was in a ton of pain from a cyst and needed pain medication. (Or so I thought) Telling our parents was not exciting because they all knew I was going to the doctor’s, and they had been calling all afternoon checking in to see what was going on. Telling our extended family was a blast! We found out December 12th and we waited until our family Christmas to announce our joy. We played holiday charades after the gift opening was finished. When it was my turn I said I needed a partner. I called my husband up with me and we acted as if we were holding a baby. Everyone guessed Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. When we kept telling them they were wrong, they finally figured it out. We had a blast, and everyone’s reactions were priceless!
kelli west says
I was not so creative. I was just so excited that we told everyone. I think we told them when we were about 6-7 weeks along. The BIG shocker came when I was 20 weeks along and found out i was having twin boys. So when we called all of our parents and siblings we told them “we are having boys” the normal response was, “oh your having a boy” and we would repeat, “boys, 2 of them” and they would all get excited. when i told my mom and sister they thought I was lying and playing a joke on them. It took me about 5 minutes to convice my sister. i got off the phone with her and about 5 minutes later she called back saying, “Kelli you better not be lying to me” lol…. it was pretty funny.
Angela says
For baby #4 (who will hopefully be born this week!!) I recorded the babies heartbeat at my first prenatal appointment and posted it on our blog, post titled “Name that tune” So many fun comments!
Mickie says
Well- My parents already knew I was trying to get pregnant, via lots of medical intervention…. they knew I went in for an embryo transfer- they knew the bun was baking… but everyone was waiting to hear if it stuck. They thought they would have to wait two weeks to know, but I knew after ten days. So, I brought both my parents a little gift- my dad got an ice cream bowl that said “grandpa” and my mom got a little book to fill out our family history in. Surprisingly, neither of them got it. It took five minutes and me just staring at them before it finally clicked!
Sue says
I don’t have any ideas, but I think you look great with your twins belly…They have to grow somewhere:)
Cherie C says
My husband was out of town when I found out. I decorated a blank cigar box on the outside with memories from our wedding day. He returned from his trip and saw the box and commented, “That’s pretty nice.” Then started to walk away and then decided to look inside the box to see a pair of white baby booties and my (sanitized) pregnacy test stick! He was falling over happy!
Heidi K says
I told my husband by making letter cookies that said “Congrats Future Father.” My mom had jokingly said once that whoever gave her the first grandchild would get a car, so I told her she owed me a car.
natalie says
so cute! my family knew right off the bat that we were expecting, but my husband and i waited till around 18 wks to reveal the news to extended family and friends. since this was not our first pregnancy we were a bit nervous and wanted to wait. we ended up creating a website and put i put out an email telling people to check the new website we just created. since i have a small blog and etsy shop my friends automatically assumed it had to do with that! they were all shocked that it had nothing to do with crafts!
Michelle says
I am a photographer so I love capturing priceless moments with my camera. When I found out I was pregnant, I got the family together and told them I wanted to try something out with my new camera. They all lined up and just before I pressed the shutter button, I said : “Say, Michelle’s Pregnant!”. I got some great shots of their suprised/happy/crying expressions. Love it!
Lissa says
I’ve seen a card with the math problem “When does 1+1=5 (or whatever baby this is). My sister had the first grandchild so she sent my parents a bib in the mail that said “I love my Grandparents.” We went to the store and took a picture of a Baby Ruth, Prego Sauce and hamburger buns and sent it to everyone who had text messaging with the message “What do these 3 have in common?” (baby, prego, bun) Some people it took them a minute but it was fun listening to their guesses (“They all have so-and-so many calories” etc.) I also heard if you have the family or a big group of people together for a picture, you say “Say ‘Lissa Is Pregnant!'” Then you get their reactions on camera as well. Fun fun! And I hear you on the being huge pregnant thing. I’m that big and due in 4 days and I am only having one!
Janelle says
With our first my dad owns a restaurant and we make a onesie with his logo and it said futue employee on it. For my husbands parents it was his mom’s birthday and we made a picture slideshow video of her family and then each individual family was included at the end and since we are the youngest we were last. There were a couple of pictures of just us and then our ultrasound picture finished it off. With my second child I designed a movie poster to announce my pregnancy to my dad’s family. My mom and her husband took us out to dinner and we had the waitress bring the check with an ultrasound picture in it. (My mom totally didn’t get it!) For my husbands family, it was around Easter so we put an ultrasound picture in an egg that said “Give to Grandma”. So when one of the kids had found it they gave it to her. Only we had taken the info off of it and she had no idea which of her 6 kids it was…I get too into this! And don’t feel like you look bad in your picture! You are so tiny everywhere else and at least you had 2 babies in there…my first was 12lbs 8oz…probably bigger than your twins combined!
Tricia Richner says
Such clever gals you all are.
.-= Tricia Richner´s last blog ..Mommy Journal- Diary or Notebook- 100 lined pages- ready to ship- personalize =-.
Amy says
I purchased a onesie from our alma mater, Baylor University, when we first decided to have a baby. Two years, lots of medical appointments and even more prayers later, I received a phone call telling me that the IVF had worked and I was pregnant. When my husband got home, I handed him the bag and said, “I have a present for my baby’s daddy!” There was also a card with a bear on it that said “Save early! Save often! I want to go to Baylor! Can’t wait to meet you, Daddy. Love, Baby _____ Baylor Class of 2030!”
Our second pregnancy arrived unexpectedly without medical intervention. We found out the Saturday before Mother’s Day. We celebrated Mother’s Day with my family and I signed my mom’s card “You’re the best Nannie. We love you. Love, Noah and Baby _______–coming in December” I took her picture as she read it. It was a great moment.
Kristin Bolling says
I’d love to share my way of sharing my news of TWINS with you too. Please give me your email address though. I love to send pics of the things i am explaining
Kelly says
I found out I was pregnant with our second a few days before Christmas so I bought a white onesie and alphabet stickers in red. I stuck “Coming Soon” on the front of the onesie and then wrapped it up in a pretty red leather box so it looked like there would be jewelry or something delicate inside. My husband and I had promised not to give each other presents that year because we were saving to buy a house so he was surprised when I said there was a small gift for him. It was so fun to watch his face when he opened it, he had to ask me 4 times if I was serious. We then wrapped the gift back up and brought it to both of our parents’ houses and his grandparents’ house to share the news with them. It was by far the best gift we could give anyone.
We also had a small party to reveal the sex of our first baby. We decorated the house in pink and blue and invited everyone over for dinner. When it was time to share the news we opened the door to the nursery where pink balloons, an “It’s a girl” sign and girly baby outfits were hanging around the room. It was also very fun and it made it a fun event for everyone.
Billie St. Clair says
I must say both of your ways of telling your family that you were expecting brought tears to my eyes (yes, literally!!). I can only imagine what your family was feeling, thinking and experiencing! Both of those ideas really touched me, but I definitely like the photo of the five of you the very best!! Sweet, sweet, SWEET!!!
How did we announce it? My husband & I had gotten married in April 2003. In August of that same year, I was feeling pretty rough and definitely feeling nauseated. I took a pregnancy test without ever telling him I even suspected that I might be pregnant. When it was positive, my plan was to wrap the pregnancy test in a jewelry box and present it to him when he got in from work, but he called to tell me he was going to play golf with the guys from his office after work and would be late. I went ahead and told him over the phone BECAUSE, when he announced that he & I were getting married (he’d been a bachelor for 15+ years), he did it on a certain hole of the golf course…the same one they were going to that day. When they got to that hole on the golf course, they all played it and before they walked away, he basically said “once before when we played this hole, I announced that Billie & I were getting married. I thought it only fitting to tell you here today that we are expecting our first baby too!”. The two guys are both very family oriented and great dads, so of course they were ecstatic over our news! :o)
Shelley says
awwwww. your comment brought tears to MY eyes. You are so sweet. Thanks for leaving your adorable idea here too.
Barb says
My nephew and his wife announced last week by carving a stork jack – o lantern. He made it is profile picture. People had to pay attention to his pic in order to figure it out. It was fun and creative!
Patty Price says
When we announced our first, it was my dad’s birthday and mom’s birthday was eight months later – almost exactly. We told dad “your present is due to arrive on mom’s birthday.” It took them all a little bit of time to figure out what we were saying. But it was fun.
Heather LaFrance says
For baby number one we were telling the family on father’s day weekend. for my dada and FIL we purchased grandfather frames and gave it to them. Instead of a picture inside, we put the due date information. Needless to say, it was a top gift that year.
For child number 2 (my favorite way to break the news) we took pictures of my son dressed up in different clothes/costumes or different places around the area. We made a book out of it with 1 picture per page and a little line underneath. The story looked like it was about what he could be when he grows up. For example, we dressed him up in a police uniform and under that picture it said he could be a police officer. The final picture was a sonogram pic of #2 and it said no matter what I decide to be I know I’ll be the best big brother in the world. Then we gave due date info.
For the third baby, we announced at Christmas. I make family calendar’s for my entire family. Everyone opens theirs at the same time because they all get different pics and want to see each others. Well, under the July month, we put a small pic of the ultrasound and on her due date put that Baby LaFrance #3 would be here!
very cool post here. I’ll have to put the book idea on my blog so you can see examples if you would like.
.-= Heather LaFrance´s last blog ..Ebates Rocks! =-.
Lisa-Marie says
For our first, we went to a shop where you could paint your own ceramic pieces. We painted a bowl for each member of my family. When we went home for Christmas, we stopped at the store on our way into town and bought icecream. We told everyone we brought dessert and one of their Christmas presents. We dished everyone’s ice cream in their bowls and waited til they got to the bottom. They said, “Grandma (auntie, grandpa) to be in 2003!” It was so much fun!
.-= Lisa-Marie´s last blog ..AWKWARD =-.
Maryanne says
So creative! Love the one where you were telling people you were having twins.
For our first we just sent an ultrasound pic to family through e-mail – they didn’t even know we were trying to get pregnant so it was a big shock, but not too creative.
Now that I’m pregnant with my second, I made my son a t-shirt where I ironed on Big Brother to Be, the ultrasound picture, and my due date and then stuck that picture on a card to family and close friends. My grandma thought it was the most creative thing, but I know lots of people do it =D
To tell everyone like on Facebook, I said I had the Egyptian flu….got some people scared a little, but it just means I get to be a “mummy” again – it was perfect to do before Halloween.
To tell my blog readers, I created this post as it tied in with a review I was going to do for a company: http://craftymommydiva.blogspot.com/2010/10/19th-mommy-mondays.html
.-= Maryanne´s last blog ..35th Scrappy Saturday =-.
Ashlie says
We gave each member of the family a special wrapped gift. We gave the soon to be grandma, Grandma’s Cookies. We gave a soon to be uncle, Uncle Ben’s Rice. Soon to be aunt, Aunt Jamima’s Pancakes. At first the family was a little confused as to why we had wrapped up random food items and given them to them, but eventually they caught on.
Lori Brown says
We were ALL surprised by baby #3, most especially hubs and me! We had recently had birthday pictures taken of the girls and hadn’t given them to the grandparents yet, so we gave them a gift (I think it was Father’s Day) of a picture frame with three openings. The girls’ pictures in the first two and a “coming soon…” note in the third. It actually took them a few minutes to get it.
.-= Lori Brown´s last blog ..Gratitude- November Stamp of the Month blog hop =-.
Lisa says
For #1, after almost 8 years of marriage, we finally got pregnant. We were in Chicago with my family, celebrating my parents 35th anniversary and I wrote a poem. We had a manager of the restaurant we were at video it. You can’t hear but you can see my mom banging on the table.
For #2, we did the tshirt thing (big sister)
For #3, which was a TOTAL shock after 2 kids born thru IUI, I made my husband a 3 panel card. My oldest gave it to him and he figured it was a card she made him. On the outside was her birth picture and the date (we called her Sack of Potatoes), inside showed my 2nd daughter birth pix, Sweet Potato and her birthday. Then you open it up and there’s a pic of the pregnancy test and its said “French Fry” due 11-25-06. My husband was STUNNED. I have it all on video and we still laugh when we watch. It took him an hour of “what? How? I don’t understand” to fully understand. Then we bought a minivan and when my parents came to visit and my oldest was rambling about our magic doors, my parents were “WHy did you get a new car?” and my husband said because we couldn’t fit 3 car seats in the old car. My dad’s face was priceless. He was almost as surprised as my husband.
Sarah H says
We found out with our first on Christmas Eve, so we headed to the dollar store and bought a onesie and then wrapped it up and gave it to my in-laws at the big christmas eve dinner that night. They opened it and everyone said ‘does this mean what we think it does?’
Laurel says
On our 4th baby, my husband called to annouce it to his brother and my sister in law that we were expectingand she gave my an idea to use to tell the sex. It was around Easter. We all get together and dye eggs and have an Easter egg hunt for the kids. When we started dying eggs and I wrote the on the egg,”It’s a Girl and dyed it pink”. My sister in law hadn’t told us she was expecting too and knew the sex already to, so she waited until i dyed mine and she dyed her egg. It said It’s a boy and dyed it blue. Then we showed Grandma the eggs.
Tina says
I never got to announce my pregnancies creatively but for my third we were able to announce the gender. I took a picture of myself and my other two kids. My oldest held a sign the said “It’s a…” and then I took an identical picture but this time with my shirt lifted and the word “GIRL” was written on my tummy. I used some brads to put the “shirt down” picture on top and the “shirt up” picture on bottom, then I cut only the top picture down the middle. It looked like one picture but when you held it you could bend it open and see the results inside. They all loved it, even the ones who had to be told that they could open the picture.
Elizabeth Hosto says
For the first pregnancy I had a custom made cartoon with three panels, the first scene was a bun in an oven the second was a dead rabbit and the third was a sundae made with pickles. I sent it out to everyone with no other information than that and everyone had to guess what it all meant. The second pregnancy I made a t-shirt for my son that said “I am going to be a big brother” took a picture of him and sent out photo cards to everyone.
.-= Elizabeth Hosto´s last blog ..Things I Like – Vacations =-.
Nemia says
Wow, so many answers already! This is what we did for Nr. 4.
I bought three cute cuddly toys. I wrote on the one side of a piece of cardboard: There is a baby growing in Mama’s belly!, and on the other side, I painted a nice picture. Then, I cut this cardboard into many pieces.
I put the pieces and the animals into a nice bag. Then I invited husband and children for a fun activity. I let each of the children pull an animal from the bag and then pieces of cardboard. They had to connect the puzzle and read what was written there. And they had their little cuddly animals as presents.
It was a very nice way of telling them.
Charmaine says
My brother and SIL just announced they were expecting #3…how did they do it…they had their oldest son, who is almost three help them. They made a video…their oldest memorized a little speech, he acted as if he was a news reporter. He’s sitting at the table with a few sheets of paper in his hands and says “breaking news…my mom is having a baby”…he goes on to say a little more, then he does a little dance with his sister. It was so adorable…I couldn’t believe he had memorized his whole speech. My brother mailed that out to all of the siblings so we would find out around the same time.
Charmaine
Michelle B. says
I love all these ideas!
We had some trouble staying preggo, so when we found out we were pregnant with twins we kept everything pretty hush, hush and only told our parents…At 14 weeks we went to my nephews 1st Birthday Party. I signed his card Love, Auntie Michelle, Uncle Marky and the Twins! My Sis-in-law read it (to herself) looked up at me in shock said “Really?” and then proceeded to run me over in her attempt to give me a hug…Everyone at the party had this stunned look on their faces because they had no idea what was going on. it was great! I spent the rest of the party showing off the ultrasound (thank goodness presents were last and they opened our last!)
Alice says
for #1 we gave my mum and dad presents – mum’s was a knitting pattern book of bootees and bonnets, and inside was a note saying “we like the ones on page ##”, and dad’s was a collection of nursery rhymes, with a note saying “time to brush up on your nursery rhymes” – Mum got it straight away, Dad took a little while….
My husband told his parents when they asked if we wanted wine for dinner – he said I will, but my wife won’t, cos she’s not drinking at the moment
Monica says
With my 2nd we sent my parents out to eat and the waitress delivered them a card that told them thank you for all you do from us plus a ? for our third I asked my husband to go in the attic to get me a box and when he was up there he said which box and I said , it says maternity on it, he flew down the stairs lol to tell my parents I made my mom a totebag with all the grandkids represented by a drawing there were 8 and my sister in law was preggo so that made 9 and there were 10 little drawings, she had to count it a couple times!!
Fun On A Dime Lady says
When we found out we were pregnant with our second, We made my son a t-shirt that said “Big Brother” on the front. (When I say made, I mean we printed/colored the words and taped it on his shirt with clear tape. – In a photo, you couln’t tell how ghetto it was.) Anyways, we took pictures of him playing with his toys and put it on our blog to see how long it would take for someone to notice. It was actually quite funny and after a few days we made another post talking about a mystery on the blog. That got some people looking. They just had not been paying attention and it was so fun to hear their reactions!
.-= Fun On A Dime Lady´s last blog ..Friday Brag Fest – 10-29 =-.
Tina Wright says
When we found out at my 1st Dr apt (8 weeks) that we were having twins we stopped on our way home & made copies of the Ultra Sound & bought some cute picture frames & scrapbooking supplies.
We put the picture in the frames & decorated them with baby scrapbooking stickers the cute material & saftey pin ones etc. & they said “Good things come in pairs!”
At first my mother in law didn’t get it she just said oh look is this the baby?
I said ya & so is this!
She just about died of excitement.
My mom got it right of but thought she was being Punked! =)
She couldn’t believe twins!
.-= Tina Wright´s last blog ..Halloween 2010 =-.
Tiffany says
My husband bought me baby naming books and I was going to open them in front of his family (on my birthday) to let them in our secret. To tell him, it wasn’t creative but special nonetheless. He knew that day his company was having layoffs. Before he left I gave him a hug and a kiss and said “no matter what happens today, we have something to be thankful for” I feel like crying just typing that!! He was so happy if he’d gotten laid off he probably wouldn’t have cared (at least until the hysteria later set in). 😉 Unfortunately that pregnancy ended in miscarriage. So the 2nd time I was SO excited that I couldn’t contain myself. I had planned to do something special but the minute he came into the bathroom I said “guess what” with this huge goofy grin on my face and a pregnancy test on the counter. He’s like “um, you’re pregnant?” lol. No poker face there! To tell his family we put our sonogram photo in his mom’s birthday card so when she opened it in front of the entire family everyone knew!
.-= Tiffany´s last blog ..Heartbroken =-.
Tam says
wow! I have just spent the last few hours reading all these amazing ideas…. I married my gorgeous man last week and we have been trying for baby no.2 (we have a daughter who’s 3 next month) for a while… NOW I know that when I am pregnant with the next (hopefully) I will be doing something awesome!!!1
Thank you all for the time out and wonderful evening!!
xx
Tiffany says
When we found out I was pregnant I had 8 months left before I graduated college. I knew my little brother and i were both graduating with Bachelor degrees on the same day, only we lived 1,500 miles apart. So I called each member of my family and had the following conversation:
Me: “Hey! You know how Ryan and I are graduating on the same day?”
Others: “Yeah. It sucks.”
Me: “Well I’ve been thinking that you should just stay out there and go to Ryan’s graduation because you’ll be out here in June to meet the baby anyway. We can swap graduation stories then.” (I treated the news like it was no big deal)
Dad: “What baby?!”
Mom: “Hooo hoo hoo!!! Really?!”
Mom and dad got it right off, Ryan however, did not.
Ryan: “Yeah, that would be easiest for Mom and Dad.”
Me: “Ry, did you hear what I said?”
Ryan: “Yeah you think they should all stay here.”
Me: “No. Before that.”
Ryan: “yeah. You said they’d all be out there to meet the…. wait a minute!”
The plan worked flawlessly!
Spark*Amy says
For #1 we had just found out my stepbrother’s girlfriend was expecting (kind of my hint that AF hadn’t come and I should take a test). I found a book titled, “Funny, You Don’t Look Like A Grandmother” (b/c my mom doesn’t!) but I taped our ultrasound pic on the inside cover. She laughed when she saw the book and then got it right away when she saw the u/s pic “Is this YOUR ultrasound?!!”
For #2 we had to just tell them b/c I was soooooo very sick all day long, that mom and MIL were getting worried. So I just had to tell them I didn’t need to go to the doc/hospital because I already had LOL! My mom announced it at the family Xmas party she hosted that year during our family prayer! everyone was excited and I was just green!
Vampire Natty says
My sister and I have come up with a cute way of telling the whole family that she is pregnant by using my daughter as the announcer. She is still too young to talk so we are going to make her a shirt that says Aunt Jodie and Uncle Jack are giving me a new baby cousin!!! Or something to that affect!
Colleen says
We spilled the beans about baby #2 by asking for a double stroller for Christmas (by its brand name)! My husband’s parents figured it out immediately, but we had to wait a few days for my parents. They called frantically from the baby store asking if we had intentionally asked for a stroller with two seats!!
Cheryl says
I am stealing a friends from more than 10 years ago…thanks Janel! Their family tradition was for her father to say blessing at family meals. To announce the birth of their first child (the first grandchild on both sides), they invited both sets of parents over for dinner. As father went to say grace, Janel’s husband asked if he could say it instead. He opened “Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the wonderful grandparents seated around this table. Please bless them…”
Shelley says
Aww..that just choked me up reading it. Super cute.
Jamie says
For our 1st, my husband and I invited my family over for lunch with the pretense that one of the Christmas gifts we ordered for my parents came in super late. We put the sonogram picture in a photo album that had a place in the front cover for a picture. Then we wrapped the gift in Christmas paper (so as to not throw anyone off) and let them open it. The funny thing was – both my parents thought the album was a bunch of pictures we put together from a recent family vacation. It took both of them more than a few seconds to put it all together – which made the moment even funnier and cuter.
For baby #2… my mother guessed before we even got a chance to tell anyone. And she guessed EARLY – like two weeks late early, lol. We tried to keep it a secret from everyone else for awhile longer, but then while getting my bridesmaid’s dress fitted for my sister’s wedding the dress shop owner guessed too… then proceeded to run up and down the aisles announcing to the store that “She’s Late! She’s Late! How exciting!!” At that point we figured we might as well tell everyone the worst kept secret in the world, lol.
(As for my husband’s side of the family, he just texted all of them. Boring, but the best way to get everyone at the same time to avoid any “Why did so-and-so find out before MEEEE????” arguments, lol)
Karen says
With our third child, we took our family out for dinner, but got to the restaurant early. We asked the waitress to watch for a signal and then to bring over a high chair. When she did, I said, “Oh, no – we don’t need that until June!”. We luckily picked a family friendly and not a quiet restaurant – there was a lot of screaming!
jessica says
i LOVE LOVE that idea!!
cassandra aubut says
For our first- it was Easter, and my parents still hide baskets for all of us kids (Even though we are 27,24,and 18!) but this year, we hid a basket for my parents filled with Baby Bottles, bibs that said “I LOVE Grandma/Grandpa” Booties, etc, and an ultrasound picture. My parents were so competitive and when they found their basket first (In the oven!) it took them a couple minutes while they were gloating to realize what was actually in the basket! Hubby had the whole episode on film! Priceless when my Dad finally put the basket down and realized what was in it! Mom instantly started crying!
for baby #2 (my kids are 12 months apart!) We knew the whole family would be at my house that day- so we put my 3 month old son down for a nap wearing a onesie I had decorated like a football jersey (DAd is a huge Chicago Bears Fan!)The front Said “BIG Brother” and the Back where the players last name is we wrote “Januray” and where the football # is, we wrote 08.
My brothers, friends, and both sets of grandparents were there and when Brody woke up-
i asked my Mom to go upstairs and brig him down. She brought him all the way downstairs and was playing with him on her lap when my Dad said, “What is one his shirt?” The whole place erupted in laughter and screams! NO ONE expected that so early!!
Carrie says
I photoshopped a picture of a jar of Prego spaghetti sauce-and played around with the catchphrase that was so popular at the time. I changed it to read “Preggo” and “It’s In There!” and sent it out as an email announcement, along with the due date. It got big laughs-I wish I’d kept it!
Ellen says
We weren’t creative with our first because of years of infertility. We were just ready to finally share some good news…
With the second, I got a little more creative. We had kept it a secret that we were going back for more shots, but everyone knew I was worried that Seth would be our only child.
My parents were coming by for dinner on their way somewhere when I was about 7 weeks pregnant. We had just something normal for dinner, nothing fancy. Then I told them that I had something special that I’d made for dessert. I had made a cake earlier in the day. I frosted it white, and then I wrote “I’m PREGNANT!” on top with dark food coloring.
I put it on the table, and they started screaming. It was great. I got their attention by telling them I had something neat for dessert, but I could tell they weren’t expecting anything nearly as special as what they got. =)
Casey says
For our first, I bought a fathers day card before we started trying so that I would be ready when it did happen and I woke my husband up at 3 in the morning with the card after I took the test. For our families, we wrapped baby bottles with a note inside that said ‘Congrats Grandma and Grandpa!’ and gave them to our parents. They were so surprised and really excited.
For our second, after 2 misscarriages I was a little hesitant to tell anyone, so we actually waited until I was 21 weeks to tell anyone. I didn’t really show, but it was starting to announce itself, so we just called everyone and told them that time. I wasn’t very creative that time, but I have lots of fun ideas for the next one! 🙂
One cute idea that one of my friends did was that she posted a picture of her halloween costume. It was a black shirt that she had sewed on a skeleton costume and then she added a baby skeleton (a cartoon-ish one so it didnt look freaky). It was really cute.
Brannon Z says
Not too Crazy but.. .. .. with #2 we were moving, and sent out cards, Our new Home will grow byt 2 feet & Just a Hair
Jennifer says
Love the “five of us in this picture!”. We compiled a list for Christmas announcements. You can view at http://www.happymamagifts.com/blog/2010/12/06/17-creative-ways-to-announce-your-pregnancy-at-christmas/.
My favorites on this list are 1)bring all of your gifts wrapped in baby paper and 2)insert a birthday invitation into every stocking, including due date and hospital
Ruby1977 says
The first time we were pregnant, we were driving through my in-law’ town to drop off our dog so they could watch him for the weekend. Before we left, we said he had a thank you gift for them and gave them a little wrapped box and when they opened it up there was a soother! They were SHOCKED.
The second time we told family was at Christmas and I’d started doing an annual calendar for them with pictures of the grandchildren in it. They were slowly going through each month in front of everyone, reading each caption, and when they came upon the month that we were due, there was a picture of my daughter with a note saying “I’m going to be a big sister.” We caught THAT one on video. It was awesome!
michelle says
so happy for you, any advice we have to practice alot to and it has not happened yet. thanks
Mama Mimi says
Well…we announced it differently to different people. To MY parents {with my first} we changed our youngest nephew into a onesie that said “I’m gonna be a big cousin” and carried him around until people caught it. It was EXTRA hilarious, because as fate would have it…the DAY BEFORE my other brother’s wife had announced they were expecting…so at first glance people thought I had bought the onesie for her but couldn’t figure out how I got one made same day….it took them a while to figure it out but then they were squealing!
Telling my in-laws we had them shirts made that said “I’m gonna be a grandma/grandpa” since it was their first grandbaby.
To tell our friends we got pink and blue m&ms that said “we’re pregnant” and made cookies with them and brought the “dessert” out after dinner.
To announce our second {Ethiopian adoption} we told everyone by putting our 1 year old in a “big brother” shirt and he held his little African American cabbage patch doll, which was wearing a “little sister” shirt. Our family got it right away {for the most part} but our friends were a little slower 😉
Susan says
My nephew who is a master chef at a very popular restaurant, bought pacifiers and dipped them in a homemade candy to make pacifier pops and gave them out to his parents and grandparents.
Tara says
For my husband I bought a cake and had it decorated with pink and blue that said “Congratulations Daddy” and had it delivered by a co-worker to him at work.
For the grandparents, and my sisters I bought pink and blue candy and had them packaged with tags that said #1 grandma and #1 aunts.
April Driggers says
are you freakin’ kidding me? TWINS??? and you’re like…wearing SKINNY JEANS!!!! Wow… I’m jealous! 🙂
jessica says
with our first we printed a scroll with all different “grandparent names” and wrote “its time to start thinking you are gonna be a grandparent!”
with our 2nd we had the family over for breakfast and as we sat i told my mom-n-law i forgot a pan in the over.. Only to hear her screaming -she found a hamburger bun wraped in ribbon with a note saying “we ahve a bun in the oven”
with our 3rd i took a picture of our family’s feet and creatively added a note saying “the ____ are growing by two feet.. due nov 2011”
Betsy says
For my first, we went to visit my husband’s parents. While playing golf with his dad, my husband told his dad. That night at dinner, (the whole family came for dinner) he said the blessing and added that he was so thankful for the addition to be added to our family in a few months. Everyone was too excited to eat!!!
mary says
With our first – I was only 19 (had been married for 5 months & moved into our newly purchased home about a month earilier) – when we had a house warming party so everyone could see the new place – I wore a shirt that I made with “OOPS !” on the front !
Helene says
We put a family tree wall decal on the inside of our front door, and put a post-it with a question mark on the frame of the baby to come… Got my mom’s attention!
Tori aka Farm Marm says
I don’t really have anything creative…For baby 1 we just told everyone. For baby 2 I found a card that had a picture of a kid in a mini van getting a happy meal, and it said something about going to be buying for two soon…I also announced #2 to my hubby by taping the test to the toilet seat lid, hubby had to go in to use the bathroom to find it..lucky for me he always went asap when he got home! We announced #3 to his parents by giving them a sealed letter when we left for a trip, they opened it when we left..nothing fancy for #4, 5 or 6. I have also had #7,8,9. They all ended in m/c. #7 my hubby announced it in a prayer. After that we just keep it secret. I have to pass 16 weeks to feel “safe”. I did post a pregnancy ticker on my blog..took a while for anyone to notice it. Shelley your pica are absolutely darling! You look wonderful! I think that no matter what shape, weight gain or size a woman is during pregnancy, she is beautiful!
Michelle says
With my first I was too excited to be creative.. We just blurted it out but with my second I put the test in a pair of baby booties with a card that said are you ready for round 2 and left it on his pillow.. it was pretty cute with my third It was cristmas time so I got a tiny little stocking and put the test inside it.. also bought a tree ornament that said parents to be 2010..wrapped it all up in a glittery blue box and gave it to my man when he came home from a hunting trip..We were so excited! We told his parents by giving them a tree ornament that said “And unto us a child is born” With a lil baby Jesus.. it took them a min to figure it out but when they did His mom started crying..his Dad just sat in shock lol it was great! Just found out last night that I am pregnant with our fourth(and final) baby. I really want to make this one special so I am gathering ideas before I tell Marc. Thinking something to do with spring.. it was unexpected we were not gonna start trying for about another year so.. thinking maybe a flower pot with the test that says “sometimes spring comes early” or I dont know..something like that! lol Can’t wait to get some more ideas!
Meghan says
We had been ttc for a 2 yrs and ended up doing IVF. It worked the 1st cycle – with twins and I am currently 7 wks prego! There are NO surprises during IVF as my hubby was with my thru all my appts. I wanted ONE surprise for him so I told him our blood pregnancy test with the doc was rescheduled the day after from the date he thought. After I got the + result I ran over to the Five Below store and picked up a kiddie size soccer ball. My hubby LOVES soccer!! I left it in our back yard. We are getting a new patio/fire pit put in so when he came home I said “Let’s walk out & see the progress the contractcors made today”. We are looking at the patio outside and I asked “why is there a soccer ball out here?” and he says “They were probably playing it over their break”. I said back, “But it looks like kid size ball hun! Go pick it up”. He said “I’m not messing with their stuff!”. He TOTALLY wasn’t getting it. So I go over & pick up the ball with my back facing him & say “hun, there is a note on the ball!!” and he asks, “A NOTE!!? What?!”…so I turn around holding the soccer ball in front of me and the note I stuck to the soccer ball read “Will you play with me in 8 months Daddy” and I had a second note below it that read “ME 2!”…he was STILL perplexed! I had to finally say, “We’re pregnant…and with TWINS!”. He thought it was a joke for a few seconds and was saying “Wait….the blood test is tomorrow!!” I said, “I got you!! Surprise!” He cried and cried and couldn’t believe I pulled one over on him without him knowing.
Kris says
I blurted it out to my parents (as i live in the same house with them) and then i couldn’t help but tell everyone on facebook (i only have close friends and family) because me and hubby have been trying for 6 years… and this well, we didn’t expect it now… lol love how that works out eh? i’d given up hope…
So, I blurted it out.. and i was gonna supprise my husband.. but i forgot that he had my phone at work (he works 4 hrs away and stays away all week) and i forgot that facebook sends all my incoming messages to my phone >,< so the suprise was spoiled… 🙁
But, i'm an evil wife and i told him it was a mix up… and i went and got a "baby on board" window decal and i'm gonna frame it with the lil pregnancy strip and wrap it up and give it to him tomorrow night ^_^
For his mom who is visiting us from across the country next month we have a bit more devious idea in store ^_^
when we go to pick her up at the airport i'm gonna be wearing a shirt im gonna put print on that's gonna say "hi grandma" on it right over my belly. and we're gonna have a sign saying "we have a suprise" that i will hold in front of it until just before she gets to us ^_^.
Mrs. Gross says
We too had been trying for a LONG time prior to getting pregnant the first time. People finally quit asking us if we were trying to have a baby because my answer was always – we’re trying just nothing yet. So when it did FINALLY happen, I didn’t want to tell anyone (except my husband). I finished my 1st trimester at the end of August so we decided to invite both sides of the family over for an end of summer BBQ. Right before eating we told everyone we wanted to make an announcement. We told them that being on the fertility drugs was getting to be too much and we were tired of trying to get pregnant and so after many weeks and a lot of discussion we had decided to stop trying. And then my husband comes out from the back room wearing a shirt that says “My boys can swim” and announced that we didn’t need to try anymore because we were already pregnant. The screams and applause were so loud you would have thought a celebrity just walked into the room. Now we’re trying for number 2 – fingers crossed it happens soon. We’ve been trying for 2 years already.
Shelley says
Aww thanks for sharing! So so fun. Prayers being sent your way for baby #2. XOXO. 🙂
Tash says
We weren’t expecting to get pregnant when we did. It was a crazy morning when I found out. I took a pregnancy test but before I could share the news, someone had stolen our van in the middle of the night and dumped it on the side of the road in a foot of mud, so my husband had to go to the police station and do a bunch of stuff. So I found an old necklace jewelry box, put the test in it and a little note from the stork. He loved it!
For my mom, I bought a book called, “I’m pregnant” and left it where she would see it when I went for a visit.
For my MIL and FIL we put a pair of baby booties in bags from a&w (grandpa and mama burgers) and then gave them it all wrapped up in a gift bag at breakfast one morning. Captured their reactions in a series of pictures.
Nana Jayne says
After the holidays in Louisiana, we anticipate the arrival of Mardi Gras with king cakes. Tradition is if you find the plastic baby in the king cake you should buy the next one and so on. Well, one evening my daughter & her boyfriend asked if we weren’t going to be busy they wanted to come over. When they arrived they had a king cake. After everyone visited for awhile we had cake. First thing you know plastic babies were turning up in everyones piece of cake. I asked what was with all the babies and my daughter said “We are going to have one!” Totally a wonderful surprise!! Fast forward a week later, You remember all of the babies in the king cake, well the idea kind of took on a different twist, she found out she’s having twins!!
Lauren H says
We found out we were pregnant with our first around my fathers birthday so we went to DQ and purchased an ice cream cake with “Happy Birthday Grandpa” on it. It was his first grandchild so it wasn’t hard to figure out the message. I will never forget his face as it filled with tears!
Our friends were a bit more creative then we were they did a game of scabble and spelled wearepregnant in the letters. They video taped his mom reading it in the letters and she flipped!! It is by far my favorite video. I think this is how we will tell our family in the future!!
Emily says
I haven’t read any of the comments yet, so sorry if these are repeats.
With our first one, we copied off the ultra sound and framed it and gave it to our moms on Mother’s Day.
With our 2nd, I had made up a family contact sheet with the names, address, phone number of everyone in the family. On ours, I put our 3 names followed by “and ?”. Only those who looked carefully saw it at first.
With our 3rd pregnancy, which was twins, we had a get together with my family and my husband took a picture and said, “Everyone say ‘Emily’s pregnant'”. Then, we showed them the ultra sound to let them figure out it was twins.
A few other ideas from family and friends:
A friend who had 2 and was having twins made up t-shirts for the whole family that said 1+1+2=4. Then they wore them to a family function.
My SIL made Christmas cards that added, “and baby” at the end.
My brother who lived far away had an ultra sound just hanging up on the fridge when we came to visit.
My friend made up a whole poem using Dr. Seuss’s Things. Mom came out with a “Thing 5” shirt on after all the kids were spotlighted.
My friend had pictures done where she and her husband were together in a group, and their 3 kids were in a group. Then photoshopped into the background was a + between parents and children and an =6 after the kids. Then she printed them off, framed them and gave to parents. (And later put on FB)
That’s all I can think of. Hope that helps someone!
Shelley, you look so cute with the yellow preggo belly. I totally understand and hate all picture of me at 8 months along with twins. But what a blessing they are! 🙂
Tiffany says
the yellow shirt incorporates the “yellow brick road” :)) so cute!
Jessie says
We were pregnant with twins (but didnt know it at the time when we told our family) after trying for awhile too! i found out the week of Christmas. So naturally we tried to think of a way to do it while opening presents..
so my husband actually came up with the idea — we took a picture of us (and daughter who was 2 1/2) with a sign saying “We Are….” and then framed it… then next to it in the box we had a Jar of “PREGO” spaghetti sauce. My father in law HATES spaghetti and he was so confused… so was my mother. in law and i finally said “get it?” and then everyone cried. it was awesome!! here is the video! —
http://tomjessroberts.blogspot.com/2012/04/our-christmas-present.html
this is how we announced to the world – (note my daughters face in the “twins” part… i didnt even tell her to do that! http://tomjessroberts.blogspot.com/2012/02/double-trouble.html
Becky says
For #1 we took my parents out to dinner and handed them a gift. Its was a rocking horse picture frame with a pic of a bun in and oven, on the back we wrote the due date. My dad was confused at first and wondered why we had given him a door knocker!
#2 (#1 was only 9mos old!) we were all out at Macaroni Grill for my birthday dinner and I had copied the ultrasound and put it in small plastic frames for everyone and passed them around. Right as I passed them around, the lights went out in the restaurant so no one could see them well. So we had to just tell them!
#3 we just told them when they came for a visit and on FB! No more babies now, we’re done!! LOL
Jen Shelton says
For my daughter, we waited past Halloween, but changed our plans about a holiday reveal since my mother-in-law would be moving in with us. There was no way I could hide it with her in the house! We called my mom (who lived about 5 minutes away), & begged her to come over because we had something she REALLY needed to see. I had the ultrasound on the table, pointed her to the table, & snapped a slightly blurry picture of her excited face. My husband huddled his sisters up at a family event (don’t rememberwhy I wasn’t there), & while he was telling them, a very keen-hearing aunt overheard & started yelling about it. Word spread quickly! One of the sisters blabbed it on Facebook immediately after being told, which I thanked her for stealing my thunder. I had told my pregnant bff by text as soon as I found out, & she kept giving me looks at Halloween while discussing her own pregnancy with my family. She had expected me to break!
With our son, we try to go camping every year on our anniversary in October. This was our daughter’s first camping trip, & we invited my mom & step-grandmother (who missed camping since my Papaw’s death) to go with us. As soon as we got there, I tucked 2 tests into my pocket & took off to the bathroom. When I got back, I fixed up the little gift bags I had tucked away in our tent, presented them, & had them open them together. Grammy still talks about how sweet she thought that was!
Tei says
Baby#1 was completely unexpected so it was a HUGE excitement.
We invited the family over for supper & since my husband is a chef, no one ever says no to supper @ our house- so instead of making something fancy, we made them Baby back ribs, baby potato’s, baby corn on the cob & had baby ice-cream cons to top it off.
Half way through our supper, we told everyone there was a theme- It didn’t take long & everyone was gleaming.
Baby#2 we had been trying for a while so people were waiting for us to spring something on them with in time. I surprised my husband with this-( keep in mind my husband is Korean)
I created a little onsie that said:
(Front) Made in the USA, with Korean Parts
(Back) Round Two
And I made it all with the Korean theme , colors & numbers.
For the grandparents, we had fortune cookies made & when they cracked them open to read their message they read: SURPRISE!!!! & had our babys due date.
Rachel says
With my first pregnancy, we announced it at a family gathering at our home. My mom, husband, and sister-in-law all have a birthday within a week of each other. I had a cake made with the stork and pink and blue icing. We kept it I. The box until everyone had gathered around. Everyone just looked at it for the longest time. My mother-in-law thought the bakery had given me the wrong cake! The looks on their faces was priceless!
Penny says
I LOVE all the ideas that everyone is sharing. I don’t have any creative ways to share but wanted to let all of you know that the ones that I have read on here are awesome. I do need some help with coming up with a clever way to announce my pregnancy to my daughter (she is 14 and has been asking for years for a brother or sister) I would love to surprise her with a cool way of telling her. Any help or suggestions would be great appreciated.
Jules says
To tell my parents: I was getting ready for a big day of photography & had my backdrop all set up. My parents were comng up for the evening, & I told them I wanted to take some practice shots before shooting the next day. The first photo was a silly one. Then I told them to be serious. That is when I said “,Okay, 1, 2, I’M PREGNANT!” And snapped their picture not once but 2-3 times. Their expressions went from serious-to shocked-to excited. I loved capturing their expressions! 🙂 That was for our first (& only). But I’ve been trying come up with something just as fun should we get prego again. 🙂
Valerie D. says
I was not creative at all when telling my family I was pregnant. To be honest I was in to much shock to think clearly. Finding out you’re having twins will do that to you. 🙂 You look adorable in that picture. But I know exactly how you feel. By the end of my twin pregnancy, I could only fit in to one dress!
Jenni P says
We didn’t announce our pregnancies any special way. Matter of fact, I try to hide them as much as I can, I just don’t like the attention that comes with them. Perhaps the next pregnancy will be cute!
Hannah says
My husband and I are trying right now, but when we do get pregnant I’m going to tell him by getting a picture in a photobooth. When the first one is about to take, I’m going to hold up a sign that says “You’re going to be a dad!” and then watch his reaction for the next three shots!
Kristi says
To announce my first pregnancy (and the first baby in our extended family), my husband and I took my parents and grandparents out to lunch. When the check was brought to the table, I pulled out baby items (a pacifier, a rattle, and booties) from my purse while searching for my wallet. Once my parents noticed the baby items, we told them I was pregnant and they would be seeing a lot of these little items from then on! They had been waiting for a grandchild for six years before this announcement so they were ecstatic.
Chelsea says
We stuffed a pillow up my husband’s shirt and took a picture of us together with a sign that said, “Guess who’s pregnant?”
gigi says
I’m having a hard time finding inspiration for creative ways to announce. It’s important to us, as we miscarried last time, and everyone knew about it and it broke everyone’s heart. It’s been so hard waiting til the 12-week mark! We decided to announce to our parents/sibs on Mother’s Day when everyone’s together. I’m imagining something straight and to the point (no poems or riddles), something they can open as if it’s their mothers day gift, and something big/fun/memorable (If I could have it written out in fireworks, I’d do that haha). I keep seeing the same ideas a hundred times over. The literal Bun in the oven, the Easter Egg Hatching, and the most common, the Big Brother/Sister Shirt. Seriously ladies, after reading like a hundred comments, out of curiosity I did the “find a word on this page” search, and the word “Shirt” came up 71 times… on an article titled, “Creative Ways to Spill the Beans”. Feeling uninspired :/
Rachel Goodspeed says
So I’m looking for ideas!!! My father is legally blind, and with our first pregnancy my husband and I surprised him by recording the baby’s heartbeat in utero and we told him it was a song i wanted him to listen to xD It worked perfectly! But now we’re pregnant with baby #2 and I don’t know if we can top that one… x.x Any ideas? He doesn’t know briel(sp?) so he wouldn’t be able to read it. Thank you all in advanced!!!