How to Throw a Baby Shower
I had no idea how to throw a baby shower when my sister decided to do just that for our cousin last month. If I’m being honest, I’ve only been to about 3 & I barely remember 2 of them soooo…not a lot of information to go on. If that’s you or you just want some new ideas for a baby shower, I’m going to walk you through exactly how to throw a baby shower!
My sister & I mix & matched some of these steps. We had a couple of ideas in mind, used the plates we found at Target + the invites to really help solidify it, then chose a date & time, and then followed everything in order from there. In this post, I’ve streamlined it all for you in order but feel free to work however is best for you.
Let’s go!
Step 1: Pick a Theme and/or Colors.
Get on Pinterest! If you’re not already, you totally should be. It’s the best place to see other ideas & save the ones that you like or maybe want to consider. After Pinterest, we came across a few themes but none we could agree on. We ended up deciding on colors: pink, gold, and white. We love flowers & loved the pins we saw that featured pretty flowers so we decided to incorporate flowers into the shower. From there, Baby in Bloom was born.
Step 2: Pick a venue. Pick a date. Pick a time.
We threw the Baby in Bloom shower at our house. It was easier and convenient for us & the guests. The date was…challenging because when we first started planning, COVID19 was still a pretty big deal. We changed the date a time or two but ended up settling on just about as far out as we could go without risking the baby arriving early!
The time is important too. It helps set the tone for the food. For example, if you’re having the shower from 12-2p.m., then you’re going to want to serve food that works for lunch, for a meal. If the shower is going to be from 2-4p.m., then snack-style food works. We chose 2-4p.m. so we could have food that works more as snacks & would be a little easier to eat. To me, the venue, date, and time all really go hand-in-hand and play off of each other so keep that in mind.
Step 2.5: Once you choose a venue, the date, and the time, you’re gonna want to get a guest list from the Mama-To-Be. While you’re waiting to receive that list, it’s time to find invites! We got ours from Etsy & I love them! Etsy is always a great place to go because you can just about find any type of invite with any theme. And if you can’t? A lot of shops on Etsy will do custom orders. Just reach out to one & ask. Target, Party City, Walmart would also probably have invitations or you could even make your own.
Pro-Tip: print out the guest list/save it on your phone that was given to you & write down “yes” or “no” for each person that RSVPs. You want to make sure to keep track so you know how many chairs, food, and games (print outs) you need.
Step 3: Pick the décor.
The venue is really going to help form some of your décor so keep that in mind. We were hosting this shower in our living room & kitchen so we had smaller spaces to work with but still wanted to make the most impact. I had the idea to paint mason jars pink and then fill them with flowers to put them in the living room & on the table where we were going to place the food. We also wanted a banner to hang across the mantle. The one that we used I found on Etsy (that place is perfect & has everything!).
Balloons:
I saw Macy putting the balloon arch together (she did the whole thing herself! I’m so impressed!) and she had the top part stuck to the top of the mantle & I just knew that it had to go there! So we did a balloon “column” on each side of the mantle. It turned into a little photoshoot place for the family but it also really dressed up the room & added to the banner & the rest of the décor. Another option would be to do a balloon arch over a doorway or the mantle, coming down stairs if you have some in your house where the guests will be able to see it.
Flowers:
We had to have flowers, of course! We went to one of our local grocery stores that has a great floral department & selected the flowers that fit our vision & made the arrangements ourselves. Tulips, daisies, & baby’s breath were the flowers of choice in all of the mason jars. We wanted them to all have the same flowers but we didn’t want them to look the same so we mixed up each one. With the bigger arrangement for our coffee table, we bought a full bouquet & put it in a vase. That one was no muss, no fuss! My mom is great at flower arrangements & we definitely wouldn’t have been able to do this part without her.
I highly recommend picking out your own flowers & making the arrangements yourselves. It’ll save you money but you also get to make sure that your vision comes to life. Another option would be to have a florist make all of the arrangements for you or to have a florist order the flowers that you want & then you make the arrangements yourself.
Pictures:
When my cousin announced she was pregnant, I knew that I wanted to take maternity photos for her. We did her photo session about a month before the shower so I was able to have a couple of photos printed that we could put out on display to really add to the baby shower feel. I used picture frames that we already but you could always pick some up at any of your local stores like Target or Walmart. They don’t have to be fancy-the photos are the stars!
Step 4: Pick out the food.
I’m the food person in this house. I love cooking, baking, & I’m always trying new recipes so the food portion was turned over to me. Due to COVID, we wanted to have food that was pre-portioned or at least easy to grab without having to touch everything. Our shower was at 2p.m. so we went foods that leaned towards snacks. Snacks & finger foods! Yum! Here’s what we chose to serve: fruit skewers, veggie cups, meatballs, Chick-Fil-A nuggets, trail mix, mini key lime pies, and pink velvet cupcakes (it was a girl, I would’ve done blue velvet for a boy!). For drinks we had water and raspberry lemonade. (More photos are farther down.)
My advice would be to make some things but also have food that’s pre-made so there’s a little bit less work for you to do. So we made the desserts, cut & skewered the fruit & veggies, & the meatballs we were able to make in the Crockpot so it was hands-off. We bought the nuggets & trail mix. It was a good balance for us.
Other great food ideas: chicken salad sandwiches/croissants, ham/turkey pinwheels, sliders (hamburger or even ham/turkey & cheese), BBQ, tacos, brownies, mini tarts, cookies (iced sugar cookies or regular drop cookies).
Step 5: Pick out the games.
Macy was in charge of this and she did a great job! We (read: I) didn’t want any cheesy baby shower games. We wanted games that you wouldn’t necessarily see at every single shower you went to. Macy got on Pinterest & found several game ideas & created hers from there. She chose Celebrity Baby Names where she chose celebrities & their baby’s names and you had to match them correctly in a set amount of time. The other was the Baby Name Race. In a set amount of time you had to choose a name for each letter of the alphabet. We knew that my cousin’s baby was going to be a girl so we limited the names to girl names. Made it a little more challenging.
Pinterest has a ton of ideas but I’ll give you a few more here: Name That Baby Animal (write out the correct names for an animal’s baby), Old Wives Tales (which one means boy & which one means girl), Nursery Rhyme Quiz (take a line from a nursery rhyme & have them match it to the correct title), Baby Shower Trivia (questions with multiple choice answers about babies & pregnancy), and finally, a Baby Word Scramble.
Prizes:
There’s a couple of ways that you can do prizes for those that win the games. Traditionally, you (the host) would get a gift that the prize winner would in turn give to the Mama-To-Be (so a small toy for the child, a cute onesie, etc). Lately, the trend is to gift the prize winner a prize for themselves. There’s also the option for the prize winner to gift the prize to the Mama-To-Be if they choose. It’s up to how you want to do things! We opted to give the prize winner a prize that they could keep for themselves but if they knew of the tradition & wanted to give their prize to the Mama-To-Be, they could totally do that. We got small candles from Target.
Step 6: Party Favors
Macy had the idea to give small hand sanitizers from Bath & Body Works as party favors with a note that says “Sanitize Before Snuggles”. This is a great gift idea in general because you want to wash your hands or sanitize before having the baby but it’s also great during the time of COVID. Macy made the cute tag for these but you could also probably find some on Etsy. Your party favors could also be in line with the theme. For a Baby in Bloom shower for instance, you could gift flower seeds to the guests. For a lemon or clementine themed shower, you could gift a little packet for how to make lemonade with some sugar or the Crystal Light Lemonade packets or gift a few clementines.
Step 7: Extra Details
Details help make the shower & the theme so make sure to include details. The extra details we decided to do predictions & advice cards, name the food and drinks, & provide (optional) masks because #COVID.
Prediction & Advice Cards:
Macy had the idea to have each guest fill out a little prediction & advice card for the date the baby will be born along with length & weight, hair color & eye color. Then when the baby is born, the mom can look back & see who guessed the closest for each thing! How fun! On one side it had a spot for you to write the trait/characteristic that you hope the baby will get from the mom & the dad. This was sweet for us to read through & see what everyone admired in my cousin & hoped that the baby would get from her.
Names for the Food & Drinks:
My sister wanted to be all cute & wanted to come up with names that are baby & maternity related for all of the food. Some were easier than others but we did it! Wanna hear the names we chose? Here ya go!
-Kickin Key Lime Pies
-False Labor Fruit Skewers
-Veggie Cup-tractions
-Maternity Meatballs
-Pacifier Pink Velvet Cupcakes
-Neona-Trail Mix
-Newborn Nuggets
-Labor Lemonade (for the raspberry-lemonade)
-Ice Chips (for the water)
We got the little chalkboard clips from Hobby Lobby & wrote the names for each food item & drinks. We placed them on the dish or in front of them so everyone would know what the food was exactly.
Plates, Napkins & Utensils:
We wanted to continue the theme throughout so we got pink plates and gold utensils. Target also had cute plates & napkins that say “Baby in Bloom” & “Oh, baby!”. So cute!
We also got gold & white striped flag toothpicks from Hobby Lobby for people to use to get their meatballs.
Presents:
Make sure there’s someone writing down each gift as it’s opened & the gift-giver so it’s easier to write Thank You notes.
Masks:
We got some cloth masks & laid them out by the front door where everyone came in. This way, they could grab one & wear it if they wanted one but didn’t have one. No pressure from us either way. 🙂 People that did grab one did say that they were the softest they’ve had so that’s a plus!
I think that’s it! That’s all you need to know & everything you need to do for how to throw a baby shower! This was a long post but thanks for sticking with me! Hopefully this post helps you throw a baby shower for your loved one. 🙂
Love,
