Celebrate your friend’s or relative’s impending motherhood by hosting a baby shower! Need suggestions? Read on for ideas on how to create some great memories when hosting your next baby shower.
When and where
Traditionally a baby shower is held during the new mom’s last trimester, but this is only a guideline. Often family baby showers are held prior to the baby’s birth, while work-colleague or friend-only showers are held after. To be sure, whether it’s held before or after, a baby shower is a great way to celebrate the arrival of the new little one! The celebration can be planned for almost anywhere with the exception of mom-to-be’s home. Give her a well-deserved break, and hold it elsewhere.
Party theme ideas
At a baby shower, the main event, so to speak, is the mom-to-be, but what if the shower is held after the baby is born? Suffice it to say, a party theme will go virtually unnoticed with a newborn guest of honour in the room! Decorations should be simple, easy and baby-centric. Partygoers will revel in everything that has to do with a baby, so keep that in mind when planning a perfect baby shower. A few themes to consider include the following:
- Pink princess. Pink, pink and more pink! Glitz up the table with confetti and glitter, give every guest a tiara to wear and use pretty china and crystal instead of paper serving ware.
- Little cowboy. Have guests wear denim or western garb, add a few hay bales around the room for extra seating and set the table with red bandanas to use as napkins.
- Circus. Make a circus “tent” on the ceiling with red-and-white striped fabric, add lots of brightly coloured helium balloons around the room and serve guests popcorn in authentic popcorn boxes.
Food suggestions
A party just isn’t a party without great food, and a baby shower isn’t an exception to the rule. Avoid foods that are potential hazards to the pregnant mom, and consider keeping it alcohol-free to be a supportive host.
- Bite-sized party food is always a hit.
- Offer satisfying non-alcoholic drinks.
- Salads and a BBQ are delicious ideas, especially in summertime.
Game time
What’s a baby shower without a game or two? Keep your guests entertained with one of these classic baby shower favourites!
- The diaper relay. Split up the guests into two or more teams of three to five players each. Supply each team with a blindfold, a doll and diapers. Each player puts on the blindfold, takes off the current diaper, re-diapers the doll, takes off the blindfold and passes the doll and blindfold to the next player, who has to do the same. Make it more challenging by putting the doll in a sleeper or swaddling it in a blanket. Whichever team is finished first is the winner.
- Baby food taste-off. Buy 12 different jars of baby food (try to have a few with similar flavours and textures). Number each one, then remove the labels. At the shower, have everyone pair off with a partner. One partner will be a blindfolded taster, and the other will feed the taster, then write down the answer. Have the teams move from jar to jar while the taster tastes each one and takes a guess at what food it is. Allow only one bite per taster per jar. Just for fun, switch the roles halfway through the game. The team with the most correct answers wins.
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