Baby Shower Party Ideas
When it comes to life’s biggest events, you don’t get much bigger than the birth of a baby. I had the honour of hosting a baby shower for one of my pregnant friends, and wanted to share a few tips to help you plan and host your own baby shower. As I’ve been to a couple of baby showers before I had an idea of what was expected. Happily, this does not require days of work or slaving over a fantastically elaborate spread. All you need is a group of friends and family, a little creativity and a few personal touches.
When should the baby shower be held?
A baby shower can be held at any time but most mums-to-be appreciate a shower later in pregnancy. By then, she can sure that all is going well and a party can be a welcome diversion as the months tick by. Besides, it makes it seem more real if the mum-to-be is touting a big belly. So anywhere from four to six weeks before the due date is usual, so it is close to birth without too much risk of a labour starting in your sitting room.
Who do you invite to a baby shower?
If the shower is not a surprise, you should give the expectant mother the number you can comfortably accommodate and ask whom she’d like to invite. A baby shower should be an intimate affair, so limit the guest list to close friends and family. The easiest way to invite people is to create a facebook event so you can organise gifts, food etc and message everyone at the same time.
Baby Shower Food & Drink
People don’t expect a proper meal, so think finger food i.e. sandwiches, scones, cupcakes etc. I asked everyone to bring something to the baby shower, so we had a great range of homemade cakes, crisps, mini quiches and one of the guests made the most amazing baby blocks cake that spelt out BABY GIRL. I also had some fizzy soft drinks and although the mum to be won’t be drinking, it’s always nice to have a low alcohol drink for everyone to enjoy such as Pimms and lemonade. This also helps to get everyone relaxed and chatting especially if not everybody knows each other.
Baby Shower Tableware
There are some really cute baby shower decorations and tableware themes including my favourites:
Rock-A-Bye Baby,
Tiny Feet and
Patchwork Owl. In the end I went for a classic vintage tea party theme which I thought would be perfect for a baby shower.
I used the beautiful floral vintage style
cups,
napkins,
plates,
cake wraps,
canapé flags,
Victoria sponge stand and
doilies from the
Truly Scrumptious range as these were perfect for the theme and looked beautiful.
Truly Scrumptious Baby Shower Tableware from Party Packs
Baby Shower Gifts
I found the best way of organising gifts was to ask mum-to-be for a list of things she needed, this included low value items such as cream, baby powder and nappies to larger items such as changing bags. Then I created a I published the list on the facebook event and people could pick what they wanted to buy from a list and could spend as much or as little as they wanted. It's also worth asking mummy friends for any clothes or toys going spare. Also be aware that people quite often buy new born or 0-3 month old clothes so it’s worth buying 3-6 and 6-12 month clothes as well.
Baby Shower Decorations
In keeping with the vintage theme, I used some beautiful
vintage style floral bunting and
hanging tissue balls to decorate the room. A really effective and inexpensive way to decorate any room, great for baby showers, but also birthday parties, christenings and weddings. Everybody loved them and we kept them up afterwards as they looked so pretty.
Vintage Baby Shower Decorations from Party Packs
Baby Shower Games
Delectable dirty nappies
This sounds revolting and it does take a while to get used to tasting the contents of a nappy, but it was really fun to play and got everyone involved. Simply buy a variety of chocolate bars, such as a Milkybar, Snickers, Wispa, Kit Kat, Aero, Crunchie etc. Just before the shower starts, melt each one in the microwave and smear it on to a disposable nappy.
Make sure you number the nappies and keep track of which bar is smeared where. You'll be asking guests to examine the nappies and work out what chocolate bar they've got in them. Set out the nappies for guests to look at, taste and smell, but be warned: some guests might feel a little sick!
Give each guest a piece of paper and ask them to write a numbered list indicating which chocolate bar they think is in which nappy. The one with the most correct guesses wins.
Other games: A popular one is asking all the guests to bring a photo of themselves as a baby. You then put them in a box and everyone has to guess who’s who. We also decided to do a sweepstake on both the date of the birth and the baby’s weight and we all contributed a £1 for each guess. Fingers crossed I'm right!
Truly Scrumptious Cake wraps and canapé flags
