I am an event planner by nature. Hospitality runs through these veins like water runs over Niagara Falls. I’m that host that always does all of the cooking, and politely declines your request to bring something when I invite you into my home. So as I’m sure you can imagine, letting others plan for me is a bit nerve racking.
That being said, I wanted to provide some tips for those of you who may be planning baby showers (for yourself, or someone else) in the upcoming future. I hope you enjoy.
The Guest List
- What is your venue?
- How many people does it hold?
- Is this shower for a specific audience?
These are all things to keep in mind when creating the guest list to your big day. Of course, you will always want to over invite as you can usually expect 50-60% of the guests you invite to be able to attend. Sometimes, if it’s a holiday weekend or such, it may be even less. So don’t get discouraged. Just be ready with lots of invitations.
The Menu
If you are having a baby shower at a restaurant, this in most cases will be taken care of for you. You’ll need to figure out approximate attendance, which directly correlates with your budget, and then order food.
If you’re not having it at a restaurant, you may still want to choose the catering option.
If you’re a DIY-er like I am, you’ll want to plan your menu. If you are hosting for a picky mom to be ~ I highly recommend sitting down with her to see if there are any must-haves or food aversions before finalizing. I know my mom is glad she did so.
Here are some of the highlights from the menu for my upcoming shower:
Jungle animal cupcakes
Frozen Lemonade with Fruit
Waffle Fruit Bowls with Whipped Cream
And of course my all time favorite snack… Bruschetta. Nope, she didn’t have a choice.
We will be serving a heavy lunch so it will include ziti, scalloped potatoes and ham, veggies, and a meat/cheese tray.
Like I said, hospitality and fattening people up runs in our blood. If this isn’t for you KISS it all you want to (Keep It Simple Stupid). LOL.
You can see my previous post on invitations here.
So now that you have invitations, guests, and a menu ~ let’s get the rest of the details worked out. Is there a theme? If there is, start early to find plates, cups, napkins and decorations that go along with the theme. If there isn’t, simply go for a color scheme. Pinks or Blues are simple enough if you know what the sex of the baby is. If you’re not sure, for whatever reason and you’re as averse to the color yellow as my husband is ~ pastel it up. Or if your shower is near a holiday ~ get festive and use those colors. Decorations will be super easy to find.
What is the game plan? Do you have games set up for your guests? Are you going to subject your mommy-to-be to the “guess how many sheets of toilet paper it takes to wrap around my belly”? We will not be playing that one at my shower… No ma’am. I found these awesome books at the Dollar Tree in the party section for baby shower games that had 10 games for up to 8 guests. Have 24 guests? That’s all the games you need for only $3! Either way, make sure you have a writing utensil for each guest.
What about favors? There are so many ways to do this. Google baby shower favors X. The X can be related to your theme, it can be candy, it can be whatever the heck you want it to be. Just remember, you don’t need to break the bank on this one. People will just be excited to have a keepsake of the day!
Don’t forget that as the host you’ll need to have a notebook and pen on hand for when the mommy-to-be opens her gifts. It’s your job to write down everything she received, and from whom ~ to make the task of sending out thank you notes as easy as possible. Best of luck ~ and have fun!
Sincerely,
~Nikki
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