Birth Announcements

The sophisticated, quirky paper designs created by Mr. Boddington's Studio have long been some of our favorites, so you can imagine our delight when we spied the baby collection recently created by the mythical paper man (who "has no tolerance for haggard looking correspondence").

Full of gorgeous birth announcements, baby shower invitations, art prints, stationery sets, and keepsake birth certificates, each of the collection's designs is more beautiful than the last. While the letterpress paper goods created by the New York-based company are undoubtedly high-end, they won't break the bank. Prints start at $25, birth certificates at $30, and stationery at $30. Contact Mr. Boddington's Studio directly for quotes on birth announcements and baby shower invitations, which usually take four to five weeks to ship.

Old-world but modern, whimsical yet refined, these baby goods will definitely stand the test of time — as long as they're safely ensconced behind glass on your wall. No tot could resist playing with paper this pretty!

Have you heard of Animoto? It's an easy-to-use website that allows even the most technologically challenged among us to become video producers and editors, with professional-looking results. Thanks to a new partnership between the site and celebrity nursery and baby apparel designer Wendy Bellissimo, Animoto is now the perfect way to announce your baby news, document your little one's first year, showcase favorite pregnancy photos, and more. The site enables you to create unlimited 30-second-and-under videos for free, or you can upgrade your service for $5 per month or $30 per year. The Wendy Bellissimo-designed backdrop gives your work a gorgeous, finished feel.

Here are five videos we'd love to make using the new service:

1. Announce your pregnancy by incorporating a creative photo and snapshots of the parents-to-be through the years.
2. Announce the arrival of your new little one by turning baby's first photos into a video.
3. Recap your baby shower by compiling all your favorite photos — a great way to make long-distance friends and family feel as though they were there.
4. Alternately, if you're "hosting" a "baby shower in a box" for an at-a-distance friend, then create a special video for the mom-to-be. You could include messages from her friends and/or their baby photos for a game of "Guess Who?"
5. Create a video to show on a big monitor or TV screen at your baby's first birthday party recapping his or her first year of life!

We've seen our share of the most creative paper birth announcements, as well as video and photo essay announcements. But for parents who are looking to share their big baby news without reinventing the wheel, Nursery Notice just may be the way to go. We love that the service is eco-friendly, and the clean, modern templates are easy to update with birth details, photos, and a digital guest book. At $34 per month, Nursery Notice is also a lot more cost-effective than most printed announcements. Plus, you can archive your site on a CD once you're done with it so that it doesn't get lost in cyberspace.

What do you think? Is announcing a baby's birth over a website impersonal, or the way news will be shared in the future?

We love a beautiful printed birth announcement as much as anyone. But with iPhones and Flip cams making it so much easier for anyone to become an at-home documentary maker, it's hard to resist the urge to take your baby news into the digital age. Here, we share five of the best hi-tech baby announcements that we've seen to date. Enjoy — and welcome, lil ones!

Isabella Jane: This proud dad documented the action-packed journey to the hospital that he and his wife made in the midst of an NYC snowstorm last Winter to deliver baby Isabella:

Keep reading for more birth announcement inspiration!

The boys in the Spelling-McDermott house are now officially outnumbered! Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, along with their children — Liam, 4, and Stella, 3 — welcomed a baby girl, Hattie Margaret, to the family yesterday morning. The new mama, who decided to wait to find out the baby's gender, tweeted the announcement to her friends and followers, saying, "Our family is so happy to announce tht 10/10/11 R baby girl Hattie Margaret McDermott was born at 7:08am. She's amazing!" Congratulations to our blogging partner and one of our favorite Twitter moms!