You’ve already spent a lot of time, effort and quite a few dollars shopping for everything from clothes to cribs to car seats for your upcoming bundle of joy. You’ve been picking out the perfect paint color for the nursery walls, deciding between a Noah’s Ark theme and baby teddy bears, not to mention the placement of each tiny detail in the brand-new baby room. The same care and attention should most certainly be given to shopping for your baby’s birth announcements.

Birth announcements are truly the best way to share your happiness with the world (while showing off a bit in the process!) To help you sort through the masses of printing companies out there, here are a few tips to help you find the perfect birth announcement printing company for your perfect little one.

Firstly, look for a unique and varied assortment of cards at reasonable prices, with lots of ideas for with or without a photo. This simple piece of cardstock will magically change into once of the biggest announcements of your life, so it needs to be as individualized as your new family. Reasonable prices help to keep your budget in check.

Next comes customer service- the real kind with real people available to answer any questions you may have, and keep you up to speed with the progress of the birth announcements order. But even the best customer service won’t mean a thing if the work is not completed by a trained and talented professional.

What if you like the wording found on one announcement, but like the design and colors of another? The best printing companies will be able to fulfill your request without hesitation. Of course, a variety of appropriate birth announcement terminology and phrases should be readily available.

Ideally, your birth announcements should be completed and sent out to you in under a week.

A definite bonus: if you’re the type who likes to get a jump on things, ask about pre-ordering a particular design and have the envelopes shipped to you ahead of time, enabling you to address them before the baby comes. You can relay any baby information that you know ahead of time (parent’s names, etc.) and simply fill in the blanks when the baby’s born.

Finally, a few additional tips to watch for: if ordering your announcements online, be sure that the company of choice has a physical address and phone number (that always makes me feel a bit safer when ordering something over the Internet). Check for or ask about any “hidden fees", sometimes cleverly disguised as “handling," or consist of an excess shipping price.