Baby Shower Planning 101
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Plan for Success
Planning a baby shower can be really fun. Joining together to celebrate the new life that is being formed and to give support to the mother can be a positive experience for all but it does require some thoughtful planning and preparation. You've probably heard it said that "if you fail to plan then you plan to fail". To make your baby shower a big success, take the planning phase very seriously. Start early and include all aspects of the special event. To get you started, the tips below can help you with every step of the baby shower planning process.
When and Where to Have the Baby Shower
Choose the Best Time and Place for the Shower
It is best to hold baby showers either on the seventh or eighth month of pregnancy. This will give the baby's parents plenty of time to discover the sex of the child, consider names, begin decorating the nursery, etc.By this time, the parents should have a better understanding of what they and their baby need. This will help in deciding the theme, decorations and gifts.
Be sure to check out your guests' availability. Set a date that could easily fit into their schedule.
Holding the baby shower at someone's house allows for a more familiar atmosphere. You can choose the mother's home or that of a friend or relative. During warmer months of the year, the shower can even be held in the backyard.
If no home is available, consider a church building, community center, restaurant or event hall. This option may, of course, depend on your budget. What is important is that your guests have a reserved area to insure greater privacy.
Baby Shower Planning Ideas
Resources to Help You Plan the Perfect Shower
Below are a few tips to help with various aspects of plannig a baby shower. For more ideas, just click on the link that interests you.
- Baby Shower Invitation Ideas
- Impress with invitations: Send out invitations three to four weeks before the event. Match your invitations with the theme of the party. Be sure that the invitations contain all vital information like date, time and location. Include a map for guest who are unfamiliar with the location.
You can choose from store-bought invitations or you can make them yourself. One way to make baby shower invitations is to print them from your computer. There are many low-cost software programs that create cards and invitations. - Baby Shower Decorating Ideas
- Jazz up the place with decorations. Make your venues appealing by adding items that go with your baby shower theme like balloons or toys. Just don't over do it. It is important to have at least one centerpiece at the site. Flowers will make good centerpiece or cute baby accessories that you can purchase on specialty stores.
- Baby Shower Game Ideas
- Have fun with games. There is no need to have a boring baby shower. You can plan some simple but fun games so that your guests will enjoy themselves more. One popular baby shower game is for each guest to provide the host with her baby picture. All pictures are placed on a poster board. Guests try to discover which person each picture represents. The one who gets the most correct, wins.
- Baby Shower Food Ideas
- Feast on good food. You can either decide to cook food for your guests, order from a nearby fast food or restaurant or hire professional caterers. Take note of the expected number of guests that you will have. You don't want to end up with one or two guest without a meal.
The type of food served will depend on the time of day and location. Any shower held during mealtime should include a full meal. For a mid-morning or mid-afternoon shower, you can serve finger foods and snacks.
Choose foods that have a wider acceptance. Stay away from extravagant foods. Be aware of guests that might have special dietary needs. - Baby Shower Gift Ideas
- Coordinate the gift giving. Unless gift giving is organized, the mother may end up with a year's supply of disposable diapers and nothing else. To avoid this, make a list of gift suggestions for your guests. You can either suggest a specific gift in each invitation or ask each guest to inform you of the gift she plans to give.
- Baby Shower Favor Ideas
- Send them away with a favor. Express appreciation for your guests' participation in the party by giving each a baby shower favor. You can purchase these from many online stores or make your own. Craft stores offer a wide variety of options for creating memorable shower favors. Be sure that each favor has something impressed on it that reminds your guests of where they received it.
Choosing the Baby Shower Cake
Three Baby Shower Cake Ideas
Popular designs and shapes of baby shower cakes are nursery items. These are flowers, birds, butterflies, baby-shaped, toys, cartoon characters and other kid stuff. The most common icing colors are yellow, pink, blue, green and white.If you have some baking skills, or if you can follow instructions from cookbooks well, it is advantageous to prepare the cake yourself. You can use your creativity for the design it is also less costly.
You can choose one of your tried and tested recipes or go online for cake recipes. You can get infant or nursery designs from magazines, books or online.
Another option is to order a cake from your local bakeshop or, even, online. Request to see photos of baby shower cakes done by the baker. This will help you know what to expect. Be sure to place your order well in advance and verify your order a few days before the shower.
Another idea for the baby shower cake is to use diapers. That's right - diapers. Of course, this cake is not for the guests to enjoy. However, the mom will definitely appreciate it if there is already a stack of diapers prepared for the baby.
To prepare a diaper cake, all you need to do is carefully stack rolled diapers into several levels (having three levels is suggested). You may use laces and ribbons to keep the diapers in place. However, make sure that you did not tie the diapers too tightly together to prevent them from being deformed.
You can also add small, usefull objects to the diaper cake such as baby toys, bottles, washclothes, baby wipes, stuffed animals, etc. to make the "cake" more colorful.
Popular Baby Shower Gifts
Here is a list of possible baby shower gifts I selected from Amazon. I made sure all the items had a four or five-star rating and a low price compared with other stores.
More Baby Shower Gift Ideas
Still More Baby Shower Gift Ideas
Baby Shower Theme Poll
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Creative Family-Friendly Ideas
Latest Ideas from Idea-Sparks.com
Idea Sparks has a growing collection of ideas in 21 categories including advertising, baby showers, bulleting boards, business, crafts, dating, decorating, gifts, inventions, landscaping, marketing, money making, picnics, romance, scrapbooking, vacations and weddings.
Recommended Baby Shower Resources
- Complete Baby Shower Kit
- The baby shower planners companion. Guide to every facet of planning a baby shower from an experienced planner.
- Baby Shower in a Box
- Everything you need for a fun-filled shower - theme, decorations, games, gifts, etc. - in one big box.
- Baby Shower Games Direct
- Baby shower games and invitations that you can instantly print off and use.
Share Your Shower Ideas
Have experience in planning baby showers? Participated in quite a few? Click the button below to add your own baby shower ideas.
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blackspanielgallery
Nov 10, 2011 @ 4:32 pm | delete
- Nice lens
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lilbabycakes
Aug 8, 2008 @ 3:29 pm | delete
- Hey great lens, i like your article on when and where to have the shower, also, cute gift ideas. Thanks!
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RebeccaB
May 27, 2008 @ 11:50 pm | delete
- Wow - what a wonderful baby lens! 5 stars all the way. Why not stop by my baby shower lens too: Baby Shower Planning Ideas
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Nickis_Trends
Mar 5, 2008 @ 9:40 am | delete
- Wonderful lens. 5 stars.
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Alison
Oct 22, 2007 @ 2:51 pm | delete
- Thanks for the great tips and links. So helpful! Here's another great idea: a diaper cake. It makes a great gift but the cake also doubles as a fun decoration throughout the party. And you can make it yourself. http://www.ehow.com/how_2027288_make-diaper-cake.html
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