The ultimate guide to making a baby newspaper (with free templates!)

Calling all parents and parents-to-be! If you're looking for a creative way to celebrate your baby on the way, we've got just the thing: custom baby newspapers.

In this guide, we’ll show you some of the ways our customers have used baby newspapers to capture the excitement of each milestone moment. See how you can share the news with a printed pregnancy announcement and create a unique keepsake for your baby shower – plus how to make a first birthday newspaper and more ideas!

And don't worry if you're not a design pro: we've got free templates to make it easy.

So, let's dive in and make big headlines about your little one. You can use the links below to skip to a specific section of the guide:

•  Making a pregnancy announcement newspaper
•  Making a baby shower newspaper
•  Making a first birthday newspaper
•  Other ways to use baby newspapers
•  How to order your baby newspaper

Making a pregnancy announcement newspaper 

After months of waiting and anticipation, you’re ready to share your happy news! Whether you’re looking to do a big reveal on social media or just surprise your close friends and family, a newspaper will make your announcement an unforgettable event.

Boston-based creator Chantal Disarro went viral on TikTok with her vintage-inspired photoshoot featuring a one-off edition of Le Bébé Times, printed on our digital tabloids. “The first pregnancy announcement I’ve seen that I actually love,” wrote one commenter.

“We had such an overwhelming response to our newspaper pregnancy announcement,” says Chantal. “Everyone was telling us how unique the idea was and wanted to know how we made our newspapers. It made our announcement that much more special and now we have a keepsake we can save forever!”

So many people asked about the newspaper that Chantal followed up with another video explaining how she customised our vintage template for Canva to create her design.

"It made our announcement that much more special and now we have a keepsake we can save forever." Chantal Disarro

Chantal has shared her pregnancy announcement Canva template with us – and now you can use it, too! It’s all set up for our digital tabloids, which you can print from 1 copy. The template is free to edit on Canva:

Pregnancy announcement template

Printing your pregnancy announcement newspaper

The template is set up to print with the design on the front and back pages (pages 1 and 4) with a blank internal spread. After you've customised your design, follow our ultimate guide to print your newspaper.

Remember to check your PDF closely after downloading to make sure it matches up with your design in Canva.

2. Upload your PDF to your Newspaper Club account. When you're ready to order, click the blue 'upload PDF' button at the top right of our website:

From there you can create a Newspaper Club account, upload your PDF and order your newspaper. You want to order a digital tabloid newspaper printed on 55gsm improved newsprint.

It's been great to see how different couples have made the template their own so far. Mum-to-be Mariah Barents resized the template to work with our bigger digital broadsheet size (also available from 1 copy). And with some small tweaks to the design, she created The Pregnancy Post:

If you're just showing the outside of the newspaper for a photo shoot, you can keep the inside spread blank (like Chantal's template). But if you’re planning to send your newspapers out to loved ones, you could add details and photos to the inside spread, too.

Here's another take on a pregnancy announcement newspaper:

Parents-to-be Briana and Alan Chazaro also used our digital tabloids for their pregnancy announcement (above). “I’d wanted to try Newspaper Club for some time,” says Briana. “So when we got the news I thought, ‘What better way to share than with a newspaper?’"

They printed a short run of a 4-page newspaper to share with family and friends. The Chazaro Times included photos from their pregnancy shoot with photographer Hellena Cedeno, a QR code for “baby’s first playlist” and a custom crossword puzzle. (Read our tips for making your own crossword puzzle!)

Making a baby shower newspaper 

After you’ve made a splash announcing your pregnancy with a newspaper, why not keep the excitement rolling for your baby shower? Take the newspaper idea a step further and create a one-of-a-kind keepsake for your celebration.

Digital consultant Alex Sall printed the first edition of The Oinounews for her wedding in 2021. When it came time for her baby shower, she kept the tradition going with another edition printed on our digital tabloids:

“We do editions for every milestone in our lives now!” says Alex. “Designing this newspaper and surprising our family and friends with it was one of the best parts of our baby shower.” Here's what Alex included in her newspaper:

• Maternity photos and sonogram
• Baby-themed word scramble
• Celebrity baby names matching game
• Baby shower playlist (with QR code)
• Parenting tips page for guests to fill out (and she provided some pink pencils, too!)
• Baby photos of Alex and her husband Moshe (‘Who will our baby look like?’)

You can buy Alex’s newspaper template from her Etsy shop. It's all set up with the correct dimensions and margins for our tabloid newspapers and is ready to be personalised for your baby shower:

Baby shower template on Etsy

Making a first birthday newspaper

As your little one grows and reaches that exciting first birthday, celebrate with a custom newspaper capturing the journey through their first year.

If you’ve been documenting your baby's growth month-by-month, this is a great way to share the photos. Fill the rest of the newspaper with special memories and a record of favourite things and major ‘firsts’ – smile, tooth, steps. You can also include messages from family and friends sharing their wishes and love.

"The newspapers made tear-inducing Christmas gifts for his adoring grandparents that are still treasured now." Ellie-May Collins

Designer and consultant Ellie-May Collins used our digital tabloids to mark the first birthday of her son, Theodore James (above). "Before he was born, I'd been gifted a Baby Record Book but it didn't leave much room to add the personality that was growing as rapidly as baby T himself," says Ellie-May. "So, when his first birthday came around, I set to creating a keepsake that captured more of his first year. In search of total design freedom, I turned to a newspaper!"

Here's a flip through Ellie-May's 20-page newspaper:

"I loved the end result and they made tear-inducing Christmas gifts for his adoring grandparents that are still treasured now – five years later!" she says.

As for Theodore's own copy, Ellie-May says it's been read to him as a bedtime story countless times. She also rotated a couple of pages in a frame in his nursery to switch up the decor.

Want to print something similar?

Ellie-May is happy to offer her design services to anyone looking to make bespoke baby newspapers for baby showers, announcements or birthdays. Get in touch with her at ellie-may@thegoodtrouble.co.uk to chat about what you need and get prices.

Other ways to use baby newspapers 

A custom newspaper has countless possibilities for other joyous milestones, including…

Birth announcements

Once your baby arrives, introduce them with a personalised birth newspaper featuring all the details that make their arrival so special.

New parents Jenny Nguygen and Bob Stel created a clever fold-out layout to announce the birth of their daughter, Jet Chi Stel. The digital tabloid opens up into a life-size poster of baby Jet!

Using a newspaper was “a more playful and modern way to introduce Jet than the usual letterpress card,” says Jenny. “The newsprint really brings in the coolness factor, almost like a zine.”

The birth announcement was a hit with friends and family, especially those who live far away and wouldn’t get a chance to meet Jet in person right away. “The format really moves people and they keep it on their fridges!” says Jenny.

Gender reveals

Forget the colour-coded cakes and confetti-filled balloons. Share the breaking news of your gender reveal with a bespoke newspaper!

"When my husband and I decided that we wanted to find out the gender of our baby, we knew we didn't want to do your typical gender reveal," says Alexandra Rose Hubbard. "I wasn't one for the pink vs. blue and wanted to do something timeless and unique."

Alexandra designed a digital tabloid with the big news inside. They hosted a party for friends and family and handed out copies of the newspaper to everyone – when prompted, their guests opened the newspapers to see the headline 'It's a boy!' (Alexandra shared a video of the moment on Instagram.)

"It was so special and everyone was so excited to open up their newspapers! There were a lot of cheers and happy tears and it was such a beautiful and unique day," says Alexandra. "We couldn't be happier."

Alexandra says that one of favourite parts of making the newspaper was collecting family predictions. Close friends and family sent her their thoughts about what the baby will look like and what characteristics they might have. "It will be fun to go back on and see who was close!" says Alexandra.

She also created a crossword puzzle specific to their baby. "This was particularly special for me because growing up me and my dad would do crosswords together - I would start them and he would finish them," says Alexandra. "That's always been a sweet memory of my upbringing so I wanted to incorporate into the start of our journey as parents."

"Newspaper Club made it so easy for my vision to come to life. We plan to use newspapers as a tradition for birthdays and other announcements!" Alexandra Hubbard

You can share copies of your gender reveal newspaper in person if you're having a party like Alexandra, or you can post copies to friends and relatives if you aren't able to share the news face-to-face. Schedule a video call to watch them open the newspaper in real time!

How to order your baby newspaper

To print your newspaper, we need a PDF. If you've created your design in Canva, follow our ultimate guide to download your design as a PDF.

Check your PDF closely after downloading to make sure the final PDF matches up with your design in Canva. In some cases, the Canva export process can produce unexpected changes to the PDF. We print the PDF that you upload, so always double-check your PDF before ordering.

When you're ready to order, click the blue 'upload PDF' button at the top right of our website. You'll be able to create a Newspaper Club account and upload your PDF.

Our automatic PDF checker will flag up anything that doesn’t follow our artwork guidelines, like low-resolution images or content in the margins. If you need any help with your PDF, just write to our friendly team at support@newspaperclub.com.

When will your newspapers arrive? Delivery takes 1 - 7 working days in the UK, and slightly longer for overseas. Check our delivery calculator to see when to expect your order to arrive.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about making your own wedding newspaper, we're here to help! Just write to our team at support@newspaperclub.com.