Throwing a Baby Shower Your Guests Will Remember
Are you in charge of planning a baby shower? Do you need a baby shower theme? Decorations? Favors? This guide will give you baby shower ideas, whether you are a sister, friend or coworker.
Baby Shower Themes: The first and most difficult thing to do when planning a baby shower is to decide on a theme. After this has been finalized, much of the rest of the shower will plan itself.
There are several ways to pick a theme. A baby shower theme can relate to the mother-to-be and what she needs. It can be a color, a nursery theme, or a specific type of item. For instance, if the nursery is decorated in flowers, the theme could be “A Baby’s Garden.” If it is decorated in a sports motif, the theme could be the parents’ favorite sports team. All the gifts would then coordinate with the room. If the nursery is painted with frogs, the theme could be “Green.” This way, the guests can be a little more creative in their giving. Or the theme could be “Bedtime,” prompting guests to bring pajamas, blankets, and crib items.
For a second (or third, or fourth) time mother, the theme can be really creative. For someone who already has almost everything they need, a theme such as “Reading,” in which everyone brings books for the baby (and maybe for the older children as well) would be a nice change of pace.
Some people do not like to attend showers for second time mothers, because they feel that they have already received what they needed for their first child and are just being greedy. If you feel this may be the case for your guests (such as a group of coworkers), throw a baby shower in which the invitation clearly states not to bring a present. Or spend some money on a nice gift (for instance, a gift certificate to a restaurant, spa, or hotel), and ask that guests bring a specific item (diapers, specific baby food) in exchange for a raffle ticket. They can even bring as many items as they would like in exchange for several tickets. That way, people who wish to be generous can still give the mother-to-be a useful gift, and no one feels obligated to bring anything. At the end of the night, raffle off the prize.
Some other theme ideas include: 1) Look What the Stork is Bringing, 2) Noah’s Ark (good for a shower where the guys are invited too!), 3) Alphabet Soup,
4) Blue is for Boy.
Baby Shower Decorations: The decorations should flow from the theme. A color theme is the most flexible and inexpensive, although a specific theme such as “Teddy Bears” will be easy, as you can buy coordinating tablecloths, plates, and napkins.
Keep the decorations simple. Put a nice tablecloth under the cake and spread some confetti rattles around it. Tie some balloons to the buffet or appetizer table. Add some pastel streamers across the living room, and you’re done. After all, the focus should be on the mother-to-be.
If you are having the shower at work, the decorations can be even easier. Simply put the cake under a white tablecloth and add a bouquet of balloons. A lunchtime event is perfect for the office. Many of the baby shower ideas will work for any location, indoors or out.
Baby Shower Favors: After the shower, give your guests something to remember it by. Candle holders in the shape of a baby item, such as a rattle or booties, are popular and easy to find online or in a party supply store. Other favor ideas include magnets or candies in a pretty gift box. Of course, let the favors flow from the theme. At a “Tea Party” themed baby shower, guests might receive tea cups and saucers. At a “Pamper Party,” an idea increasingly popular for mothers who already have several children and therefore most of the stuff they actually need, they might take home spa accessories such as a loofah or bubble bath.
Baby Shower Schedule: Typically, a baby shower will last approximately two hours. If a full meal will be served, be sure to indicate this on the invitation so guests can plan accordingly. Usually, however, some light appetizers, punch, and cake are all that is needed.
The following is a general idea of a schedule. As your guests arrive, serve them some appetizers, and let them sign a guest book. One idea is to make this an advice book, allowing each guest to write down one piece of advice they would give the new mother. Serve simple appetizers. Two to three dishes are best, along with some cheese, crackers, chips, dip, and fruit. Some ideas for munchies that are easy and can be made ahead of time include: Deviled Eggs (Add salsa and cheddar for a Mexican twist) or Stuffed Mushrooms.
After all your guests have arrived, begin with everyone introducing themselves. This is especially important if this is a mixed shower, with coworkers, friends, and family. Make sure everyone mentions how they know the mother-to-be.
Next, play one or two games. These will serve as icebreakers. Some ideas include: 1) Baby Boggle – See how many baby related words guests can make in three minutes from a sentence such as “I can’t believe [Mother-To-Be's Name] is going to have a baby!” or something else silly and fun. Everyone reads their list, crossing off duplicates, and the person with the most words remaining wins or 2) Baby Box – Place some common baby items (rattle, diaper) in a box. Cut a small hand-sized hole in the side. Give each guest 20 seconds to touch as many items as they can (no peeking!), then have them write down what they felt. The person with the most correct words wins. Remember, short is okay, and have fun!
If there is going to be a full meal, now is the time. Generally, a buffet is best, as the guests can eat while the mother-to-be opens her gifts. If there is not going to be a full meal, give everyone some time to get another round of appetizers, then have the guest of honor open her presents.
After the gifts are opened, serve the cake. At this point, the shower is over. Everyone will socialize for as long as they’d like, and the guests will begin to leave. If the time is important (i.e. the host has somewhere she needs to be), be sure to put an end time of the invitations.
Hopefully this gave you enough baby shower ideas to begin brainstorming. Remember to have fun and be relaxed and you’ll throw a successful baby shower.
What are your thoughts on the subject?Filed under Baby Boy Shower Themes by .
Comments on Throwing a Baby Shower Your Guests Will Remember
5:26 am
See if you can find or make something with a "sugar and spice" theme. That would be so cute and very traditional.
5:30 am
Great editing soon to be POPS!!!
5:39 am
it was the pressure of the stop clock…you’re a PRO!!
5:48 am
Wow what is up with all the thumbs down..Well I found a website that has some really cute themes.It is http://www.babyshowerstuff.com .Most of their themes are really cute & reasonable prices too..Also if you have a party city store in your area,they have a few cute things too.My sister had her 1st baby last year & she did a spongebob theme shower.She likes spongebob & was doing the nursery in that too so..It was really cute..Have fun planning..
3:12 pm
I think moons and stars is really cute!
8:31 pm
How about an "Ode to Baby". Everyone writes a poem or lymerick to read to the mom to be and the best one (either by vote or new mom) gets a prize. This could go well with a book shower where all gifts include a book and have a book theme.
You could do a scrapbook shower if the mom is into that. Each person brings (or you could make at the shower – supply the materials so that everything has the same theme and goes in a matching album) a scrapbook page ready for pictures to be added and you supply a scrapbook to put them in.
You could do a laundry/white shower. The decorations would be clothes lines and everyone bring detergent, hamper, hangers and whites (sheets, bedding, towels, etc.).
Go to ivillage.com for more ideas.
Good luck!
3:42 am
How about a simple fall-ish theme? Little pumpkins, leaves, browns/golds/red colors..
Or to get some ideas, find out the day that your baby shower will be EXACTLY — google the date in history and you're bound to find tons of great things that happened on that day (or your due date) and chose a theme based on a past event?
I love history!.. maybe its just me, but its always been so cute to observe new life being born and relate it to the past in some way. Kinda like blending opposites, yin/yang, etc..
CONGRATS!! <333
9:07 am
First off….I have a page on my website that has some unique/sentimental activities for the shower. These are activities that HAVE NOT been done a gazillion times before.
Now….on to the THEMES!!
Bathtime Showers and Sleepytime Hours
(Moons and stars and rubber ducks would predominate. This themed shower would feature a registry with these items::::bath products, hooded towels, pajamas, nightlights, storybooks, relaxing cds, blankets, crib sheets….etc.)
Activities: Onesie decorating. One-handed crib sheet changing contest (timed)—-if a crib is readily available!!
Children's Storybook Shower: Classic Children's storybooks like "good night moon", "runaway bunny", "where the wild things are", "i love you this much", "dr. seuss", "but not the hippopotamus", "winnie the pooh", etc. You could ask each guest to bring a copy of THEIR favorite storybook to the shower to start off baby's library. The decorations could be prints from the books, themselves….if you look around you could probably find invites that have these types of themes to them!!
Family Tree: If it is a predominately family-oriented shower….focus on the family tree of the new baby!! Have a family tree made for the new baby and this could be a focal point of the decorations. What a great piece to hang in the nursery, too!! Decorations could be this family tree, and napkins/plates with words like "family", "love", "cherish", etc.
Poker-themed baby shower (a totally different idea that might work really well for the daddy-to-be and his cronies….could occur the same day as mommy's shower!!). Buy in for this poker tourney would be a package of diapers. Winner gets a really great gift certificate to some manly place like Home Depot or Best Buy!!! Decorations could be playing cards with daddy being the "King", mommy being the "Queen" and the new baby being the "Jack"????
I make custom diaper cakes designed to match your shower theme….I do really great work and would love to create a cake for the shower and whatever theme you do decide on!!
I am putting some links below that might help you out!
4:45 pm
For the theme take into consideration the theme for the nursery and anything that Mommy and/or Daddy-to-be really like ie: favorite childhood characters, favorite animal or favorite sport. There are many more general themes as well if you are having a hard time selecting a character or style you could do a day in the life of baby theme or welcome baby.
When choosing games it is a good idea to consider all of the people that will be attending the shower. If it is mostly friends your daughters age they may be up for more modern games with a lot of guest involvement. If the shower will have many relatives from older generations then you may want to go with more traditional baby shower games.
When selecting prizes remember that they do not have to cost a lot. Candles, small cookbooks, chocolate, gift cards, and coffee or tea sets. Remeber to also consider the ages and interests of all of your guests when selecting the prizes.
With food it is best to have foods that are easy to eat while standing with a plate or holding it on your lap, unless of course you have enough room for everyone to be seated at a table. Most people opt for small sandwiches and appetizer type foods. Also be sure that none of your guests have any food allergies or dietary restrictions that you should know about.
7:46 pm
why not a girly pink theme for your baby shower…
http://freshbabyshowers.com/pink-baby-shower/
3:56 pm
Set the table with a very bold tablecloth, put out a bunch of different tea pots, post signs to different areas of the house that say "this way" and "that way". Put out an old fashioned clock (the kind w/hands, not digital) set to tea time(make sure it doesn't keep time, you want it to stay at tea time).
For games, think pin the tail on the donkey, but do pin the grin on the Cheshire cat. Play croquet. Make everyone wear name tags with their names spelled backwards…then make everyone call each other by their backwards names or they lose the game.
Ask each guest to come dressed as a charachter in the book.
For the fishing theme, decorate with bobbers, cane poles, set out goldfish crackers, swedish fish(candy), gummy worms,etc.
Make fish cutouts, stick a magnet on the back of each, use a small pole w/ a magnet on the end of the string and "fish".
Very clever themes. They sound like a lot of fun.