Birth Announcements help?

SIL wants me to put together an announcement for her new little boy. No problem at all except I'm clueless on sizing and printing!! lol. I was thinking 5x7, she was thinking 4x6... I'm sure whichever she wants will work, but she wanted me to ask around and see what the norm is? Also, how to you print them? On regular photo paper? Something thicker? (I won't be printing them myself, probably have somewhere around here do it.) Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

I have done both 4x6 and 5x7 and just get them printed through snapfish or shutterfly. 4x6 is cheaper so I generally do that size.

LOL... This is what I do for a living!

Both 4x6 and 5x7 are very common. We offer both sizes and see a lot of both being used for announcements.

We print on both photo paper and cardstock. I would recommend using a higher quality photo paper if you go that route... something like www.mpix.com because it pro quality paper. Our cardstock printer is commercial only or I would recommend them as well.

If there is anything else that I can help with, just shoot me a PM!

Yea I'd go with 4x6 too I think. Just cuz it's SO much cheaper than 5x7's to print.

Check out some of Bree's Templates if you need help with the composition of it she's got 4x6 templates and 5x7 templates in the store.

I buy invitation envelopes and make the invites/announcements 4"x5.5", then I can print at Wal-Mart for the 4x6 price (which is cheap) and I don't have to get the huge envelopes that cost a lot.

I also do custom birth announcements, invites and cards.

5x7 should be 1500x2100 pixels (dpi does not matter since the pixel dimensions support up to 300 dpi) with a 75px bleed area (equivalent to 1/4") and 4x6 should 1200x1600 with the same bleed area. I mostly use winkflash, since their 5x7 cards are only $.39 and that includes envelopes. They are fast and the quality is good ... but make sure and check the crop area so nothing pertinent is cut off (even with the bleed area). IMHO, 4x6 is a bit small when you have lots of writing (okay for thank you cards, but the text can get small on announcements and invites). Good luck and have fun!

I did my baby's birth announcements at a 4x6 size. I don't know what's standard, but I was printing over 50 of them, so I didn't want to pay the price for 5x7s. I just had them printed at Wal-mart. I adhered them to coordinating solid cardstock and tied some organza ribbon through at the top, and sent them off. They were so pretty and I got a ton of compliments on them.

Have fun!

BTW, I didn't leave any blank margins, and nothing was cut off. They printed perfectly.

I did this one for my dd. I used Lullabee by Mandabean and Robin Carlton. I had them printed on 4x6 photo paper from scrapbookpictures.com The quality was fabulous and IMO the price was very good especially since I had to do so many copies!

Every BO I have done has been 4X6...I have been printing them off at Wal-Mart One hour on thier luster paper...They have all been so gorgeous.

I always recommend 4x6 because it's cheaper to print, lol.

For anything that has to be mailed, look into envelopes (and printing costs) first and size accordingly. The first time I designed invitations I didn't do that, and I ended up having to send them in envelopes that were way too big because I didn't want to spend a fortune on specially sized envelopes. Oops!

For birth announcements I usually do 5x7. If you're printing someplace that doesn't include envelopes, you can sometimes get cheaper envelopes in AC Moore or Target (the envelopes meant for card makers, near the scrapbooking or stamping supplies) than in a place like Staples. For other cards and invitations I do 4x5.5 so I can print at home and fit them into invitation envelopes (4 3/8 x 5 3/4).

As for weight, I print at home, so I have more options. The paper I use is Epson's Premium Presentation Paper Matte, and it's 44lb/9mil. It's a little heavier than regular photo paper, but is about the same weight as what my first son's announcements came on. (I ordered his, since it was before I digi-scrapped.)

I typically prefer to do 5x7 for a birth announcement. But when you are doing a LOT of them 4x5.5 works GREAT! And if you don't want to trim them, create them at 4x5.3, that's the typical digital print size, so a lot of places will print that size for you. No trim... Woohoo! I have also done 4x8 and printed at ScrapbookPictures.com. They will send the envelopes with the order! That's a great bonus for me!

This is going to sound absolutely terrible, but 50% of the people you send birth announcements to are going to throw them away. I don't see the sense in spending a ton of money printing them at 5x7 size unless you want to include multiple photos. I do birth announcements at the small size ALL the time and my clients always remark that they like that size better than they thought they would. Family members can put it in a 4x6 sleeve album with the rest of their family photos instead of trying to figure out what to do with a 5x7. A nice touch... print a coordinating element on the envelope when you print the return address. You can get affordable invitation envelopes at OfficeDepot in both white and ivory. I love them!

I just wanted to add that the actual dimensions would change depending on the place you get them printed. I have printed stuff at Wal-Mart at exactly 4x6 without a problem with cropping, then another day, they cut it off. Sigh.

I would check first, with whoever you are printing with, to see if they have any recommendations in regards to sizing/cropping.

Personally, I print my announcements at 5x7... but that is ONLY because I have about 300- 5x7 envelopes left over from my wedding... lol! I would go with a smaller size if I had different envelopes... I don't like how a little announcment looks inside that big envelope. It bothers me... lol!!

Wow, girls, thank you all so much for all the tips and advice!! It's appreciated!! lol, a few things I hadn't even thought of yet, like envelopes-I'm glad I asked you girls first.