Planning the perfect baby shower

Last updated on January 12th, 2023 at 09:16 pm

I am planning a baby shower for an expecting friend of mine and it got me thinking that I am constantly sharing birthday party tips and advice here on my blog but never any other type of events that I plan. Planning parties is one of my biggest passions. I swear, I should become an events coordinator, I love it that much. My friends are always quick to pick up the phone and ask me to host, plan and organize their events. No matter what kind of party it is from birthdays, weddings, christenings, baby showers down to dinner parties, I have done them all a few times over. Yes, I have even helped someone plan their entire wedding and my own of course. I love organizing, researching and watching it all come together in the end.

I am so excited to see that baby showers are getting more popular in the UK too. When I moved here nine years ago, it was just starting to take off. I thought I would share with you all some of my tips and tricks to throwing a perfect baby shower along side planning my friend’s very own Garden Baby Shower.

© Jill & Kay Photography
© Jill & Kay Photography photo credit 

THEME:

The first thing to think of like any good party is the theme. With baby showers it usually goes around whether it’s a boy or girl but nowadays so many people like a good old fashion surprise instead. It’s easier if you do know the gender of the baby as for girls you can go butterflies, birds, fairies, and pink or for boys you have trains, cars, airplanes and everything blue. For those gender neutral showers there is always Peter Rabbit, Baby Pea in a Pod, or  yellows and greens. For my friend’s shower, I am planning a garden tea party themed shower.

Along with theme comes, what you will decorate it with and what your invites will look like. You can do modern e-invites or make them special yourself to match your theme. A lot of baby shower decorations come with matching invites too. Check your local craft stores for some but also don’t forget to check out those charity shops too. I know I can whip up some tea cups and saucers all mix match for my garden baby shower at my local charity shop for next to nothing.

GUEST LIST:

Not to be completely sexist but most baby showers are ladies only. However, having said that the new modern baby showers have been known to do couples too. Why not celebrate the father-to-be as much as the mother-to-be? But men coming to a baby shower is still rare sorry guys. It’s usually the bride’s female family members i.e. mother, sisters, aunts, grandmas and than father-to-be’s female relatives and of course female friends to attend.

Regardless of who you invite, providing event testing in Charlotte can protect everyone who attends. These tests can be administered at the door and provide results in 15 minutes, ensuring that the party is Covid-free. Safety is important, especially for the mother-to-be, who is already at a higher risk of complications from Covid.

VENUE & INVITES:

A venue is all in the eye of the planner, I say. It can be an intimate baby shower in your front living room with immediate family and friends or it can be a reason to throw a party in a beautiful location. My friend has quite a bit of family and friends attending and not a big back yard so I have been using VenueFinder to scope out just the right location for our garden baby shower. It’s perfect because you can select your location, the type of venue you are looking for (in my case a beautiful courtyard), for how many guests and it will do the work for you.

I think the venue is what makes the occasion that much more special. Some people don’t think to hire a venue for such a small occasion because they think it will cost a fortune. I had my daughter’s christening in a wedding venue with a big group of my friends and family and I watched for deals on off peak times for this venue as it was mesmerizing and in the end, I only had to pay for food and got the venue hire free. My head goes into complete party planning mode when I see so many beautiful venues listed all together on this site.

As long as your venue is fit for your purpose it will be perfect. For example, I may be looking for a beautiful courtyard or garden to host my garden baby shower in but I will also have pop up tents available or a place where we can move indoors if the weather has other ideas than participating on the day. Always have a plan b if you are relying on weather.

FOOD & FAVORS:

This is my favorite party of planning a party, the food. I am a huge foodie. I love making food as pretty as the party. Themed food is even more fun like fairy cupcakes or vegetable train sets. Pinterest is great for food ideas for a baby shower. Rattle cake pops are a huge success for baby showers. With my garden party I am thinking all about mini cakes and shaped sandwiches to fit the theme. Edible flowers will definitely be sprinkled about on food trays giving them color and a garden feel. Coloful punch is perfect for drinks. Every one gets social around food and drinks so spend time setting the scene perfectly. The drink station should be separate than the food table so people can gather in different areas get what they need while they mingle.

Don’t forget the favors. These don’t have to be a big deal but something to say thank you for coming. This could be from little sweets in a baby rattle, a baby bootie candle to little keyrings. Baby Shower Host has so many great options for baby shower favors. Or want to make them yourself, get the girls around and wrap colors mesh over a handful of sweets with a ribbon.

GIFT TABLE AND THE GIFT CHAIR:

This is an important part of a baby shower where the mother-to-be sits upon a throne and gets showered with gifts for her new arrival. Clearly the whole point in the “shower” part of baby shower. I dream of beautiful flowers behind a plush comfy chair for my friend surrounded by friends in a garden. TIP: Make it into a photo booth area for the party and than use it for the opening of the gifts.

I like to make the famous diaper cake as a centerpiece of the gift table to invite guests to set their gifts next to it. And it makes for a great present for the mother-to-be to take home. They are so fun to make and another thing you can get your friend’s around to help you put it together. The more you get involved the bigger the diaper cake can be! What’s a baby shower without a diaper/nappy cake?

GAMES:
This is where the fun begins. You can get hundreds of free printables of baby shower games online and ideas from pinterest on what to play to match the theme of your party. Guess the Baby’s Weight, Guess the Diameter of the Bump, Changing Diaper Station, Memory Game and Baby Bingo are some of my favorite ones to play. Don’t forget to reward your guests with prizes for winning.

BabyShower

Have you planned a baby shower before? What are your favorite games to play? Would love to hear, comment below. I hope my garden baby shower goes without a hitch! Check out my Garden Baby Shower Ideas below!

*collaboration

4 thoughts on “Planning the perfect baby shower”

  1. Outstanding plan. I hope your friend will be happy if she hear about your plan. All these photos are look gorgeous too.

    Reply
  2. Great post ,, this is an amazing baby shower, thanks for sharing…I am hosting a baby shower on next Saturday for my sister in law and i’m very confused how to start what to do .. I would like people to leave thinking the food was great, and they had a good time. after reading your post my questions got answered ..thanks for helping me.., you saved so much of my time. 🙂

    Reply

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