Firstly, congratulations! Finding out you are having a baby is life-changing and for the most part, a greatly anticipated and celebrated event. You probably want to shout it from the rooftops and it’s only natural to want a pregnancy announcement that matches your emotions.
Whether you want to just blurt out, “I’m pregnant!”, have a cute photoshoot, or say it with gifts, there are countless ideas to help you share your exciting news. The ideas below are just that, ideas. Use them or adapt them for other audiences or as sparks for your own ideas. Anything goes!
Pregnancy Announcements for Your Partner and Family
Announcing your pregnancy to your partner and close family should be done in person (if possible), or as personally as possible like a phone call or video chat. This way you can see (or hear) their reaction firsthand which could become one of your favorite memories.
You can give them a gift to open, dress up a pet or sibling, or simply show them your ultrasound pictures. Make sure you have tissues on hand for all the emotional responses!
Announcing to Your Partner
Your partner is usually the very first person you’ll want to tell. They’ve probably been hoping for this news as much as you, especially if you have been trying to conceive for a while already. If you have the patience and self-control to stop yourself from simply blurting it out, you can have a lot of fun setting this up.
Make it personal so it’s extra special: include a private joke, reference their favorite hobby (“player 2/3 joining soon” for a gamer), or crack a dad joke before they settle into the role.
Create a Treasure Hunt
Use a series of notes to slowly spell out the news, or clues leading him to a box of baby items. He’ll have fun playing detective to find the “treasure,” and you’ll have fun setting it up.
Use Clothes
Dress up your toddler or pet in a cute shirt that says, “big brother/sister.” Alternatively, you can wear a “mommy” shirt and wait for their reaction. It might take your partner a little while to notice but they’ll quickly catch the meaning. Combine all of these with a “daddy” shirt waiting on his side of the bed if you think he won’t notice fast enough. You can reuse them to announce to the rest of the family at the next gathering or video call.
Say It With Food
Make him a bowl of cereal in the morning; he’ll wake up quickly once he sees this spoon!
Alternatively, bake him a cake with a cute topper, or spell it out using cupcakes.
Disguise It in Another Event
Take the opportunity provided by anniversaries, holidays, and birthdays to sneak your news into a card. They won’t see it coming! You could say something along the lines of, “last Christmas without kids!”
Announcing to Your Family
You’ll probably do this in stages unless you have a big family gathering planned (and even then, there may be some people missing), so don’t be ashamed to reuse the same idea for different family members.
Tell Them During a Video Call
If your family lives far away, you probably catch up with them regularly. During the call hold up your ultrasound images or a cute baby outfit while telling them the news.
Send Something in the Mail
Everyone loves getting mail, and what better to receive than a gift box full of baby goodies, a copy of your ultrasound, or a fun scratch-off card announcing your pregnancy?
Add in a Little Irony
Everyone knows moms-to-be shouldn’t drink alcohol, so why not get rid of the wine in the house with some fun labels? Ask friends and family to have a drink for you in celebration of your news.
A Subtle Approach
After a good meal, hand out coffee or tea to the grandparents-to-be in these cute mugs. It might take a little while for them to notice but if other people are around it’ll be quicker and a fun surprise for all.
Fun Pregnancy Announcement Ideas
For everyone else, an image or video like most of the examples below will do the job well. These methods are especially well suited to posting on social media or being sent in an email. Use this opportunity to flex your creativity (or steal others’ ideas) to spread your happy news.
Chalkboards and letter boards are very handy for writing messages and can be used in most of these ideas. You can also use them for monthly update pics once the baby is born.
Use Siblings or Pets
Have a fun photoshoot with siblings or pets. You can reuse the sibling shirts from earlier announcements or buy a cute bandana for a pet that isn’t used to clothes.
Use Baby Items
Everything is cuter in miniature. A simple picture of some baby shoes or a printed onesie will spark joy in anyone who sees it. You can be as creative as you like with the message, if you can’t find one on Amazon there are plenty of Etsy artists who create custom pieces.
Include Your Ultrasound or Pregnancy Test
There is no need for words with this one as everyone (hopefully) understands what it implies, although you can always include a cute quote or pun if you want to.
Make Fun of Pregnancy Stereotypes
Morning sickness, cravings, belly pics, and nosy mothers. Whether or not you experience all (or any) of these, these are recognizable and used as stereotypes for a reason. Why not take advantage of them for a little fun?
Take a picture of your empty wine glass next to his full beer, or a crazy mix of takeaway food. Have your partner pose with a balloon under their shirt or take a picture of you holding a watermelon. It’ll bring a chuckle out of your friends and family.
Announcing Using Puns
You either love or hate puns but many of them provide an amazing visualization. It can also be a fun way for a dad-to-be to flex those dad-joke muscles. Here are a few ideas for starters.
- A bun in the oven – you could put an actual bun in an oven
- A “bump ahead” road sign
- A little birdie told me
- Have you heard the buzz? – insert bee-themed items here
- Spill the beans
- On top of the world
- About to pop – blow some bubbles, inflate some balloons, or have fun with bubble gum
The sky’s the limit with a huge number of cute sayings you can use for themes or capture in an image.
Theme It to the Season/Holiday
If you love dressing to a theme and celebrating every holiday in existence, this is another opportunity to buy cute seasonal items! Fall/Halloween, Christmas, Easter. There are so many cute outfits and accessories you can find for your theme.
You could make your announcement at Thanksgiving dinner when it’s your turn to say what you’re grateful for, wrap an ultrasound or onesie as a Christmas gift, or hide your announcement at an Easter egg hunt.
Incorporate Your Hobby or Interests
Make a family scene out of Legos, use a quote from a religious text or your favorite book/movie, use a meme. Expecting baby number 2 (or 4)? Dress the family up as Star Wars characters with a sign that says, “The fourth is with us”. If you’re musically inclined, write a song or parody to announce your news. You baby will probably learn to share your interests anyway, so why not start right from the beginning?
Deciding How to Announce Your Pregnancy
This is your announcement and should reflect your joy and excitement. It is happy news after all! If you can’t pick just one idea, choose several for the different people you tell: One for your partner, another way (or several) for different family members, yet another (or two, or three) for friends and to share on social media accounts.
There are no rules about how to announce your pregnancy. You could even not make a special announcement, just confirm when others ask or leave them to find out at the birth. It’s completely up to you.
Choosing the Right Time to Announce Your Pregnancy
Many couples and moms-to-be prefer to wait until the end of the first trimester (around 12 or 13 weeks) to announce their pregnancy, others wait until around 20 weeks (4-5 months) so they can announce the gender at the same time, and some can’t wait to tell from the moment they find out. When and who you announce your pregnancy to is completely up to you.
The main reason for waiting is because there is a high risk of miscarriage in these first few weeks that drops significantly by the end of the first trimester. The more people you share your news with the more people you’ll potentially need to face with sad news. That being said, you could derive great comfort from having a good support structure in your friends and family whether the news is happy or sad.
Don’t feel pressured into telling before you’re ready. You might have friends or colleagues who guess and try to make you confirm the news. It’s okay to avoid telling the truth by saying you’re just not feeling well, or you’re trying to be healthier and that’s why you’re not drinking right now. You can also get your partner or a close friend to help you by diverting people’s attention or mixing some mocktails for you to avoid suspicion.
Some Announcement Etiquette
Pregnancy announcements aren’t all or nothing. You should generally tell people in stages depending on how close you are. For example, your partner is probably the first person you would want to tell.
Soon after that, you might want to include your parents, in-laws, and other immediate family members you are close to. Then a couple of close friends. And lastly, after a few more weeks, you announce it to everyone else. So, you can have a few different pregnancy announcements, tailoring the message to each person or group.
Yes, it’s your baby and your news, and you should be able to decide who to tell when but it’s good to consider who needs to know before others. For example, your grandparents (the great grandparents-to-be) would likely be quite hurt if they heard about it from other family members or read about it on Facebook along with all your other acquaintances.
However, not every family has these types of relationships, and you might be ambivalent about whether Aunty So-and-So finds out at the same time as the rest of the world. The choice is yours, but pregnancy is not the best time to be introducing new stress into your life – so ultimately do what you like.
When making your announcement, you should also consider your audience. Your friends might be highly amused by a slightly suggestive announcement, but it’s probably better to go with something a little more tasteful for certain family members.
When Your Thunder Is Stolen and Announcements Leak
A difficulty that some face with this slow spread of information is that you can have the news leak to people you’re not yet ready to tell. The excitement of becoming a grandparent for the first time might make your mom share the news on her Facebook page. Or perhaps your friend was so caught up in the excitement she didn’t hear that you’re keeping it quiet and assumed it was common knowledge to the rest of your friend group.
While it’s very disappointing, especially if this is your first pregnancy, there’s not much you can do once the news is out. You can do a little damage control like asking mom to remove her post before too many people see it, reminding people that it’s still very early and you aren’t sharing the news too widely just yet, and asking those who know to keep it a secret for a little while longer. Or you can simply accept that the news is out and revel in the good wishes and general excitement.
Cat’s Out of the Bag
However your news is shared, may you have happy reactions and generous support. There are many little surprises still to come like gender reveals and those weird pregnancy symptoms you didn’t know were going to be a thing. Some you’ll want to share, and others you won’t, but this is the first step to including others on your journey. Here’s to a happy, healthy pregnancy journey in the months to come!