It’s Just What Every E-Baby Needs
Cross the zeal of new parenthood with the possibilities of cyberspace and what do you get? Babies Online, e-Stork and My Baby Pix, to name just a few Web sites offering birth announcements online.
For proud parents who are just too frazzled to get those announcements out, Internet companies can make the job a bit easier by building the site for you. New parents just send in baby’s name, birth date and particulars, along with a photo and in a few days their little snookums will be online.
Your search engine can link you to more than 30 companies offering online birth announcements. But browse the sites first, because packages vary. Some economy models offer a stripped-down announcement for free or a small fee, while others offer more features for a bit more. Most offer several designs, and many let you include a letter and update your baby page. For security, companies issue a password or private e-mail address (which you or the company can send to friends and family). Those who’ve really gone baby bonkers can also send in an audiotape of baby’s first coos and cries, or a video.
To see what was available in baby-cyberia, we logged on to a handful of these sites.
* Baby Land (https://www.babyland.com). For $29.95 this company will run your announcement for three months. You choose from four designs. For $25 more you can add audio and for $75 more, video. The package sounds good, but the site is hard to navigate because it has shopping venues and parenting guides.
* Baby Village (https://www.babyvillage.com). This easy-to-negotiate site offers eight styles and three Web home sizes: cottage, home and estate. Cottages cost $30 and include two months on the Web and seven photos; homes cost $60 for four months and 13 photos; $100 buys an estate, which includes four months, 13 photos, and the chance to update the site with new photos and news, plus three 15-second audio clips.
* Baby’s Home on the Web (https://www.websights4u.com). This site is user-friendly and even gives instructions on how to best photograph Junior. For $39.95 you get three months online. Plus, they’ll e-mail your special access address to 10 friends. For $59.95, you get a baby site for one year, two updates and 50 of your friends receive your baby’s e-mail address.
* Babies Online (https://www.babiesonline.com). The service is free. That’s the good news. But parents must scan and e-mail their baby photos, which may explain why the site has only one example of an announcement photo. The quality control is questionable: A little boy was announced on pink “It’s a Girl” graphics, but then, maybe that’s what the parents wanted? (Sleep deprivation does funny things.) The page remains active for 30 days after it’s created or updated.
* E-Stork (https://www.e-stork.com). One of the most organized outfits, e-Stork sends new parents an easy-to-follow “Web Site Baby Album.” Parents choose from six designs and send eight photos, birth statistics and an optional letter, which the Web site will showcase for three months. In three days, parents have a private e-mail address and the site is online for $39.95. Extra photos, guest book, sound bytes and video clips are also available.
