A pregnancy announcement is a chance for expectant parents to express what they love — and, in plenty of cases, what they love involves pop culture. Whether they’re changing the lyrics to hit singles or taking a cue from classic horror movies (that is not a typo), many of the most viral pregnancy announcements of the last few years have played around with iconic books, songs, movies and TV shows to share the good news.
With that in mind, PEOPLE rounded up a collection of the cutest, cleverest and most unexpected pop culture-inspired pregnancy announcements and maternity shoots.
Where the Wild Things Are
When Kelsey LaBar Black of Charlotte, North Carolina, set out to craft the perfect pregnancy announcement, she didn’t have to look any further than Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. Black tells PEOPLE that the classic story was her husband Joe’s “absolute favorite book as a kid.” When their first child, Luca, was born, Joe’s parents gave the couple his old monster doll, which is now on a shelf in Luca’s bedroom.
“I found the costume for Luca, and then a few days later, we found out we were expecting, so I surprised Joe with the costume and the sign,” Black explains. She teamed up with Bohemian Wanderlust Photography in Lake Wylie, South Carolina, for a sweet, woodsy photo shoot that adorably captures the spirit of the book.
And, behind the scenes, Black made sure things didn’t get too wild: “There were a lot of snacks for bribery involved in keeping that crown hood on a 1-and-a-half-year-old.”
Jurassic World
For the Berkley family of Aubrey, Texas, life certainly found a way — into a hilarious dinosaur-themed photo shoot.
“My family, we’re all pretty big Jurassic World fans,” Nicole Berkley told PEOPLE. When she found out she was pregnant with her fifth child, the expectant mom explains, “We wanted to do something that was fun and fit with our personalities. So, I came up with the idea to do dinosaur costumes with our pregnancy announcement.”
Her family, she admits, took some convincing. “They were like, ‘We’re gonna get in costumes? It’s not Halloween.’ My kids thought I was nuts.”
Still, Berkley said her husband, Daniel, and their four children — Myleigh, 10, Montana, 6, Lane, 5, and 4-year-old Hannah — wound up having “so much fun” in their dinosaur suits. The family met up with Susan Garrett (of Susan Garrett Photography) on a rainy September day in Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano, Texas, where they posed with a sonogram of the new baby.
The results went viral online — and in person. “People walking by were stopping and taking pictures and videos of us. It was a spectacle,” Berkley recalled.
Alien
The internet went wild when Todd and Nicole Cameron staged a clever, albeit horrific, maternity shoot inspired by ’70s cult classic Alien.
The Canadian couple loves Halloween, which falls right around their little one’s due date. So, Todd explained to PEOPLE, “I thought, ‘What better way to pay better homage to having a Halloween child than to do a funny recreation of that iconic [chestburster] scene?’ “
The couple teamed up with photographer Li Carter to put their own twist on the famous scene, reimagining it as a maternity shoot gone wrong — with a twist happy ending. “This alien was kind of like the baby’s first Halloween costume!” Todd told PEOPLE. “I’m hoping [the baby] will be a fellow lover of Halloween. We’re just hoping this one’s human!”
“We Can’t Stop”
When Chad and Andrea Chapman told friends and family that they were expecting their fourth child, reactions were a little more muted than the couple had expected.
“I think we went past what everyone’s idea for our family was,” Andrea told TODAY.com in 2015. “For some reason, four is like this odd number in our culture today, and it’s not celebrated the same way.”
In response, the couple decided to use their baby announcement to send a message. Andrea — who studied voice in college — wrote a parody of Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop,” which she and her husband set to video. They called it “We Can’t Stop … Having Babies.”
The anthem was an instant hit. “It’s empowering for women, especially [those] who are pregnant with their fourth or fifth, and they’re getting negative comments from people,” Andrea said. “You have just as much right to not have children as you do to have 10, if you want, because it’s your body.”
Britney Spears
Who better than Britney Spears to help a couple announce that they’re having a baby … one more time?
In 2015, parents Jerrad and Machel Green put together a clever collection of Britney Spears parodies — complete with new lyrics and impressive choreography — to announce that they were expecting their second child. The pop singer’s hit “Oops! … I Did It Again” was reimagined as “Pregnant Again,” while “Toxic” became “Nauseous,” an ode to morning sickness.
Machel told the Huffington Post, “We don’t know how to be ‘normal,’ so we invoked our silly side again. We hope to show our kiddos that even when you’re all grown up, you can still play!”
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
To announce the news that was about to flip their lives upside down, Dayton and Melanie Duncan turned to their favorite ’90s sitcom: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
In 2014, the expectant couple teamed up with Merryweather Films to record their own version of the Will Smith-starring sitcom’s iconic theme song, and the results were just as catchy. The joyful pregnancy announcement traded Los Angeles for suburban Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, with a special shout-out to Temple University, where the Duncans met as freshmen.
Disney Princesses
In 2017, husband and wife photographers Vic and Marie helped five expectant moms find their “happily ever after” with a magical Disney princess-inspired maternity shoot.
Inspired by the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, which Disney released that year, the Houston-based couple styled five women as classic Disney princesses and brought them together for a charming photo shoot at Newman’s Castle in Bellville, Texas. The soon-to-be moms channeled (from left) Tiana of Princess and the Frog, Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella from Cinderella, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Jasmine from Aladdin.
“We wanted to go outside of that box, something no one had tried to do as of yet,” Marie told POPSUGAR. “And then it hit me: Why not do all of the princesses in a group shot, expecting sweet little babies, and showing off their beautiful bump in a creative way?”
The finished product made a tale as old as time look brand new again.
Source: Read Full Article