Hi. I'm the anon from the watercooler post "I'm Pregnant"

I'm looking for creative and fun ways to tell the grandparents that we're expecting. I'll only be 8 weeks along at Christmas, but I won't be able to hold it in any longer. And since it's the grandparents first (both sides) I want them to know and share the joy.

Someone from the other post suggested a gift from the baby, but I'm struggling with this... What?

Also, this will be done in a large family setting (Each side being seperate, but containing grandparents, a great grandma, the parasite's aunt & uncle, plus cousins and our aunts and uncles)

You have been wonderful and supportive. Thanks

How about a picture frame for both sets, with "Grandbaby" on it -- or, a child-oriented frame with a handwritten, "Photo to be inserted in XX months"?

I told my mother on Mother's Day, but I am afraid it will be a "little bit obvious" for your time...

I found out I was pregnant around my mother-in-law's birthday. I purchased a bib that said "I Love Grandma" and wrapped it up as her gift (don't worry, I got her something else also). She opened it, looked up in confusion, saw us smiling, and got the message. She was thrilled!

Put up an extra stocking for Santa to fill! Fill it with things a baby will need. Invite both sets of parents over for Christmas dinner, and don't say a thing until they notice 3 stockings hung!

Buy them a worlds best Grandmother/Grandfather shirt/mug/whatever as a Christmas gift.

Give them a Gift Certificate for Babies R Us as a Christmas Gift...

Have your husband give you a maternity outfit as a Christmas gift and unwrap it in front of them. (Since you don't know just how big you will really need it, buy the biggest and just return it after the holidays! ) OR Have him wrap up your prenatal vitamins as a gift to be unwrapped in front of them!

Subtlely start discussing names in front of them as if they should already know and it doesn't matter. This is especially good if you are considering their names as part of naming your child.

With my parents (at the time both of my sisters-in-law were also pregnant) we invited them over for supper and after we ate I went in and brought out the two bibs I had purchased for them and said something like, "well you know how you are going to have 2 grandchildren, well, now you're going to have 3." Ends up one of my sisters-in-law had twins so they ended up having 4.

With my husband's family (it was around Easter time) and we got this big ceramic plant pot that had a design my mother-in-law really likes and filled it with Easter grass and down inside was this plastic bunny container with an ultrasound picture inside. My mother-in-law started crying immediately, and my father-in-law just looked at it like he didn't know what it was.

Our gifts were small and simple. Something that says grandma or grandpa on it is great. Like the picture frame above, or the bib idea. For aunts and uncles if you want to go that far the same would work. Otherwise something like a snack or drink that they like would work with a card attached that says Merry Christmas Grandma, or Uncle etc. Heck just a cards would do it to! Give everyone a card with just their name on the envelope and a card with Merry Christmas Grandma inside, signed I can't wait to meet you June ??, 2005

If you have to bring any food you could write it on a cake or spell it out in cupcakes or cookies on a tray "We're expecting June ??, 2005"

Another way to do a gift could be a family gift to everyone from Santa, or to the baby from Santa if you do Santa gifts at that time too. You could wrap a small rattle or blanket and let Grandma and Grandpa be the ones to see the gift with the card reading "To the new baby"

For our second one we also told at Christmas and we had our first change out of her "good" Christmas clothes into a sweatshirt which read "I am going to be a big sister May 31, 2003." As everyone read it they found out.

I can't wait to find out what you decide on. As you can tell I love the excitement in telling everyone. Good luck!

How about buying each set of grandparents a "Grandparent's Brag Book"? They are small photo albums,suitable for carrying around, that actually have "Grandparent's Brag Book" on them. Wrap them for Christmas and put under the tree. Have a camera ready to catch their reaction and make that the first picture for their "Brag Book".

When I was pregnant, I went to the local maternity store and they had greeting cards to the grandparents. Inside there was a message from the baby with a very sweet message to the grandparents, talking to them about coming into the world. My mother-in-law still has the card 14 years later.
Maybe you can find a card like that, introducing the baby to them.

When my wife and I found out we were expecting our son, we waited until my mom's birthday to tell my parents. We all went out to dinner and then came back to our house and had my mom open her "main" birthday gift, which consisted of a baby car seat for her car.

It didn't sink in right away, the look on her face was priceless (first grand child).

When we told everyone that we were expecting our second, we taught our son to say "I'm going to be a big brother" for everyone. He got the biggest charge out of everyone's reaction to him saying those words. Made him more apart of the process as well.

I will share on last story. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law put together a video from their recent "vacation." They placed the first five minutes from their vacation on a video tape and proceeded to jump to their recent ultra sound video of my nephew.

My brother-in-law thought the plan was to have both sets of parents over for dinner and then they could settle down and watch the "family vacation" video. My sister-in-law had other ideas. Instead of having the parents over for dinner, she planned a surprise 30th birthday party for my brother-in-law. So instead of showing the video to just the parents, they were able to show the entire family as well as friends.

We told my parents by serving what was nominally my birthday cake - it had "Congratulations Nana & Granddad" written on it. They got it as soon as they read the cake. We told DH's parents by giving them a small wrapped box and having a paper inside that said "Congratulations Grandma & Grandpa" on it. They had to have it explained to them, several times. SIGH.

I like a lot of the ideas already listed, esp the gift for the baby left till last under the tree, or the brag books - you could use a US shot as the first picture in there (they usually have the date typed on the US too.)

OR take your US and scan it and use it to make cards (Shutterfly or Ofoto or similar) that say "Merry Christmas from (mom's name), (dad's name) and Baby!" and hand those out.

My daughter and son-in-law kept it real simple. They called one day and when I answered they both said, Hi Grandma. It took me a few seconds but when I got over the inital shock then I was screaming Woopeeee.

I told my mother on her birthday, by taking a photo of my positive preganancy test (to give the real thing was too weird) and wrapping it in a box for her "gift". The look on her face was something I will never forget.

I'm not sure if you have had an ultra sound but if you have make copies and put them in a picture frame. Or have santa put a present under the tree for the baby.

If you are really crazy wrap a big red bow around your stomach so when they arrive they ask about it.

My stepson and his wife bought a "T" shirt for our grandson that said I'm a big brother. He wore it at a family picnic!

You can always write a poem or something for them to read out loud with the announcement hidden in there. We did this for my mother, basically it started with what a great person she is, what a wonderful person she has been throughout our lives and how we wanted to share the best news in the world that she was going to be a Grandma. Of course, she re-read it three times before jumping up and down. She said it was the best way to find out.

My sister-in-law cross-stitches and made 2 pictures that she presented to my in-laws - one said Grandma and the other Grandpa. They knew right away.

You could make a "baby's first Christmas" ornament into a necklace and wear it aroung your neck. Make sure that it is big enough for them to be curious enough to look!

You could put three real or fake snowmen in your front yard--a mommy snowman, a daddy snowman, and a baby snowman. Or just two snowmen, but one is pregnant. Then put a sign in front of them with something like: "The Smiths" (although you should probably not use Smith unless it is actually your real last name).

LOL Z. Good call telling them not to use the wrong name...

Let us all know what you decide!

AND how it went over!!

Yes, lets have a poll on names!