During a pregnancy, a lot of time is spent preparing for the newest family addition- painting the walls of the nursery or bedroom, shopping for clothes, bottles, bibs and furniture. Picking out birth announcements to send friends and family is another item that, like everything else, requires detailed thought and planning, as this card is the first impression that much of the world will have in regards to your new little one. It should reflect the combined personality of every member of your growing family, including the latest addition.

It’s time to simplify.

More likely than not, you’ll be sending out Christmas cards to family and friends this holiday season. This time-honored tradition simply reminds those close to your heart that they are in your thoughts and you are sending the warmish possible wishes to them and their family. You spend time and energy (not to mention your hard-earned money) picking out, purchasing and signing the cards, writing out the envelopes, buying stamps and rushing off to the post office to mail your seasonal wishes. By combining your Christmas cards with your birth announcements, not only are you saving money and time, but also simplifying one aspect of your hectic life, all while sending out the highly anticipated item of good news and keeping up with an annual tradition.

If you’re worried about being unable to find the perfect birth announcement / Christmas card combination, don’t worry, as there are quite a few quality-printing companies out there that offer this service. Like with any birth announcement, a good printer will have a variety of designs and styles for you to choose from, but the ideal printer will not only have a wide variety to choose from, they will you to preorder your design and send you the envelopes ahead of time for you to address at your leisure, while you have a bit of time before the baby comes.

Tradition and practicality can come together nicely when you opt for Christmas birth announcements. As I mentioned earlier, pre-ordering is a valuable tool when it comes to such items, whether it’s a holiday birth announcement or not. Pre-ordering allows you to choose your design ahead of time and guarantee that it will be available when your baby arrives. All “known" information, like the parents’ names, big brothers and sisters, etc. call be filled in when you pre-order, and the unknown info, like baby’s birth weight, length, date, gender and name can be relayed to your printing company of choice after the info becomes available. This way you’ll have your custom birth announcements, with or without photos, in days instead of weeks.