Most pregnancy announcements to parents happen in a kitchen, take about four seconds, and are followed by a great deal of noise. Nobody remembers what was actually said. This is why people started handing over an object instead, and why the object usually outlives the moment.
Why give a physical announcement at all?
Because the sentence disappears and the object does not. The announcement itself takes seconds and then becomes a story that gets retold with slightly different details every time. A piece with a date on it fixes the version.
There is also a practical reason that people do not admit to. Handing someone something gives them a place to put their hands and eyes during a moment that is emotionally large. It takes the pressure off the reaction, which some parents find genuinely difficult to perform on demand.
What should the wording be?
Something that still makes sense in five years. This is the part almost everyone gets wrong, because the wording is chosen for the surprise and not for the shelf afterwards.
You are going to be grandparents is a headline. It works for one afternoon. After that it is a sign about a piece of news that is no longer news, and it usually ends up in a drawer.
The version that survives names the role and the year rather than the announcement. Grandma and Grandpa, est. 2027 keeps working after the baby is born, after the baby can walk, and after there is a second one. It is the same object doing a different job, which is the whole trick with any dated piece. I made this case for family pieces generally in the quiet power of a sign that just says a year.
Should it use the names they will actually be called?
If you know them, yes, and it is the single detail that makes the piece feel made rather than bought. Plenty of families do not use grandma and grandpa. They use Nonna, Babcia, Abuela, Nana, Pop, Oma, or something invented by an older cousin that stuck permanently.
The complication is that first time grandparents often have not chosen yet, and choosing is something many of them enjoy doing themselves. If the name is not settled, use the surname and the year instead of guessing. Guessing wrong on this is worse than being generic.
How do you handle telling more than one set of parents?
Tell them close together and give them the same thing. This sounds obvious and it is the most common source of quiet friction I hear about. One set gets an announcement in person with a gift, the other gets a phone call two weeks later, and it is remembered for a long time.
If distance means one set has to hear the news by phone, ship the piece so it arrives the same week rather than whenever it is convenient. The gift is not really the point. Being included at the same moment is the point.
What about grandparents who already have grandchildren?
Then the announcement gift is a different object, because the role is not new. A piece that says Grandma est. 2019 is wrong for the third grandchild and right for the first.
For a family that is already several children in, the better direction is something that holds the whole set rather than marking one arrival. A family name piece or a grandchildren list works because it can be added to, and because it acknowledges that this baby joins something rather than starts it. There is more on shopping for this group in gifts for grandparents who insist they do not want anything.
When in the pregnancy should you do this?
Most people wait until the twelve week mark, and there is a reason beyond the medical one. A dated physical object made early is difficult to have around if the pregnancy does not continue, and that is a real consideration that nobody wants to write into a gift guide but which matters.
If you are ordering something personalized, allow for production time on top of whatever date you are working towards. A piece made to order does not ship the next day, and the announcement date is usually chosen around a family gathering that cannot move. Working backwards from the gathering rather than forwards from the order is the reliable way to do it, which I covered in how far ahead to order a personalized gift.
Does the piece need to look like a baby item?
No, and it is better if it does not. This gift lives in the grandparents' house, not in the nursery, and their house is not decorated for a baby. Pastel colours and cartoon elements read as nursery decoration and tend to get put somewhere out of the way.
A restrained wooden or metal piece in the same register as the rest of their wall gets hung in a room people actually sit in. That is the difference between a gift that is appreciated and a gift that is displayed, and displayed is the one you are after here.
What if the reveal is happening at a holiday gathering?
Then order earlier than you think, because December production queues are long and the gathering date is fixed. It also helps to think about who else is in the room. A reveal that happens in front of twenty relatives is a different event from one that happens with two people, and a wrapped object handled privately gives your parents the chance to react without an audience if that is what they would prefer.
If you want to see the range that works for this, most of it sits in personalized gifts for grandparents and wooden signs.