How to collect addresses for your birth announcement

You've got a beautiful birth announcement designed. The printer is ready. And then comes the question that catches nearly every new parent off guard: where does everyone live again?

Collecting addresses sounds like a small task. It isn't — especially when you're trying to do it in the first weeks with a newborn in your arms.

Why it's harder than it looks

In the past, people sent cards to family and close friends whose addresses they knew by heart. That's mostly gone now. Everyone moves more often, almost nobody writes letters, and most of your communication happens on your phone. You have everyone's number. You have almost nobody's street address.

The classic approach is messaging everyone individually. That takes hours. You ask the same thing twenty times, receive replies scattered across three weeks, and end up with a mess of screenshots and notes on your phone — while also having a newborn.

Who should get a card?

Before you start collecting, it helps to know roughly how long your list will be. Work through these four circles — in this order you rarely forget anyone:

1. Close family. Parents, siblings, grandparents, godparents. You usually know these addresses by heart.
2. Extended family and friends. Aunts, uncles, cousins, friends from way back. This is where it breaks down: you have their number, not their street.
3. Colleagues and neighbours. Your immediate team, your department, the neighbours you actually talk to. Agree up front whether you send one card per department or per person.
4. The people who were there. Your midwife, gynaecologist, maternity nurse, GP. Almost always forgotten, and it's the card that tends to mean the most.

Two practical things: count one card per household, not per person, and order about ten extra. Someone always gets added, and you'll want to keep a few yourself.

Finding that you don't have most addresses from circles 2 and 3? That's normal. It's also exactly why one shared link beats twenty separate conversations.

One link for everyone

A better approach: create one private link where people fill in their own address. Share it once with the whole group. Family and friends fill in their details at their own pace, and you see everything neatly in one place.

No follow-up with twenty separate conversations. After a week, you see who's missing and send a friendly nudge to just those few people.

Here's how it works in practice:

1. Create a free address list at geboortekaartje-online.be
2. Share the link via WhatsApp, text, or email
3. Family and friends fill in their own address, in their own time
4. You see all addresses neatly in one overview

The one tip that makes the biggest difference: start early

Share the link during your pregnancy.

Not because it's urgent yet, but because you have the calm to do it well. You can add a personal note — "we're expecting soon and want to send you a card" — and people respond without any pressure. No rush, no chaos.

Wait until after the birth and you're doing this in the most intense weeks of your life. With a baby on your lap, barely any sleep, and family cycling in and out. Even sending one message can feel like too much.

What about people who aren't comfortable online?

Not everyone in your circle will be at ease with online forms. For the grandparent who calls anyway:

• Ask a family member to help them
• Give them a quick call and fill in the address yourself while you're talking
• Or add the address manually afterwards via the import feature

One or two exceptions is normal. The other fifty addresses you'll have in two days.

You'll use this list more than once

This is something most parents only realise later: the list you build now is one you'll need for years.

Thank you card after the birth. Christening invitation. First birthday. Each time roughly the same crowd, with small changes. Build the list properly once, and you barely need to think about it for every card that follows.