Make your exciting news public. Your baby is unique, so why not make his birth announcement unique as well? Enlist you friends and relatives. As soon as you are prepared to announce your news, corroborate the essential details (girl/boy, name, weight and time of arrival). Guarantee that nobody and nothing gets ignored in the enthusiasm. Giving everyone a unique keepsake of the happy event is the ideal way to mark such a wonderful occasion.

Getting a jig launchBefore baby arrives, work smartly on your announcements.

• Pre-address the announcement envelopes, either by hand or using your computer to print out labels.

• Prepare the announcement on your computer, leaving the birth data area blank. Then when baby arrives, quickly fill in the information and print. Or with one stroke of the Enter button, e-mail the announcement to everyone. For superior designing you can hire the services of professionals also.

• Seek aid-n-assistance in advance. Once the baby arrives, let those excited grandparents, aunts, and uncles stuff the envelopes.

• Create a photo card. Have your partner take a Polaroid of the baby on the day of his birth. Then make as many copies of it as you need on a color copier at a local office-supply store. Fold the 8 1/2x11-inch paper so the photo becomes the front, and add your baby's name and other birth information inside the card.

• E-mail your announcement. Use a Web page to keep friends and family posted. If you have access to a website through your Internet provider, you can post vital statistics, digital photos, and daily anecdotes. Just be careful not to identify your family by last name, hometown, or phone number because anyone on line can access your Web page.

• Encash your children's creativity. Let your elderly younger ones use and hone their artistic skills. Make your older children cut nursery shapes from different colors of crafts paper like a teddy bear, a nursing bottle, a rattle, a cradle, or any other baby-related item. Then ask the kids to paste the colored shapes onto a folded piece of pink or blue crafts paper. Let them print the vital information inside the card.