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Baby Shower Ideas
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It's an American tradition to uphold! Having a baby is an overwhelming experience so it is important to rely on excellent girlfriends to help you collect all of the necessary goods. (as well as to, eliminate the not so stylish goods!) With more and more people leading busy lives and finding it harder to become pregnant, a shower is a time for a true celebration of a miracle. Tips for throwing a great shower? Here goes...
- Know your audience: Young, old, busy, child-free? Poll a few of the guests prior to planning to see if night time or weekend times work better. You may be surprised to find busy families and others may prefer to get together during a week night rather than a whole Saturday affair.
- Know your guest of honor: Make it personal by creating an event SHE would like most. Not her mom and not you but the mom-to-be. If she is more laid back, she may not enjoy having assigned seating and too stuffy of an event. It's okay to not play silly shower games if she wouldn't enjoy it. On the other hand, just because you don't like games and assigned seating, perhaps she would absolutely love it.
- Enjoy Yourself: Whether you do it at home or an off-site location, the hostess sets the tone for the affair. Relax and enjoy your guests. In turn, they will enjoy their time. Don't create a party that will keep you in the kitchen or hustling all through the event. If your assets aren't in the kitchen, consider catering it. If that isn't in your budget, plan the shower as a high-tea and save on food expenses.
- Meet and Greet: Don't let guests walk into the event blind without knowing where to go, what to do with their purse or coat. Be there to meet them, greet them and introduce them to another guest so they are immediately at ease.
- Print Invitations: This is a delightful keepsake for the mom-to-be and a perfect start to the baby book.
- Fun Beverages: We highly encourage serving a fun beverage like mimosa's or bloody mary's to increase the oooh and aaah volume of the crowd. Steer clear of the mom-to-be's favorite cocktails so it isn't torture for her. A fun non-alcoholic drink is a ginger ale in a martini glass garnished with a cherry!
- End Time and Start Time: Hostess, tired mom-to-be's and busy guests will be appreciative if the shower has an end time on the invitation as well as a start time. Guests don't feel rude about leaving to attend to other matters, the soon to be mom doesn't become exhausted and the hostess has time to clean up. Close friends break all the rules anyway and will then have time to sit and chat without the fanfare.
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Pick a Theme: Pick a theme and go with it. For a more elegant affair, don't over-do too many elements but do go overboard with one central theme. It can be a gift theme, color theme or flower theme. Your invitation sets the tone so be sure to tie it in with what you are doing at the shower. Here are some ideas and examples:
- Gift Theme: The shower can be called 'Around the Clock.' The invitations assign the guests a time of day and their gift should be related to that time. Night time gifts could be sleepers, blankets and stuffed animals. Day time gifts can include bibs, highchairs or outfits. The invitations can be printed with a clock graphic and then pull the colors and graphic into all other parts of the shower. Print the clock graphic on paper placemats or napkins; tie napkins with ribbons in the same color; floral centerpieces can have the same ribbons tied on the vases; party favors can be elegantly decorated cookies to look like the faces of a clock placed in a see-through tulle bag and tied with the same color ribbons. Let your imagination and budget dictate how far you go!
- Color Theme: Think Pink! (or blue!) Go crazy with this color. Have the entire ceiling of the main room covered in pink balloons; pink flowers only in the table arrangements with an elegant pink tulle ribbon tied around the base; pink m&m's can be all around the room for guests to snack on; party favors can be tiny pink guest soap; napkins are pink and so on!
- Flower Theme: If you know your girlfriend's favorite flower is a Lily or a Daisy, go crazy with it! Find an invitation with that flower, make all of the arrangements with that flower, have one flower at everyone's place setting, create a party favor with that flower, decorate the cake with that flower.
- Standard Theme: A high tea event has so many fun parts to it. Start with an invitation in the shape of a teapot or with a teapot graphic. Serve steaming tea, crumpettes and other savories. (Mimosas are a nice touch too.) Create centerpieces with whimsical, wild flower arrangements with an eclectic group of teapots as the vases. So many cities have adorable tea houses with environments all their own.the surroundings are so adorable, the hostess doesn't have to focus as much on the dÚcor. Give each guest a flavorful smelling tea and spoon as a party favor. Try to use mismatched china at the event.
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Additional Fun Ideas:
- Have the grandmothers-to-be assist with you collecting baby pictures of the mom and dad-to-be. It is an additional fun way to decorate the tables.
- Hire a professional photographer to capture the unplanned, spontaneous emotion & moments.
- Music is always a nice touch.
- Decorate tables with diaper cakes instead of floral arrangements.
- Purchase thank-you notes for the mom-to-be that match the invitations as the hostess gift. (Hostesses are not required to give a gift.)
- Create a clothesline across the room with cute, super small baby clothes hanging from clothespins
- Beach baby, Snow baby, Surfer baby or another theme related to the parents interest is always adorable and fun.
- Use monogrammed burp cloths as the napkins for each place setting. The hostess can just throw them in the wash following the shower and the new mom-to-be has burp cloths galore to help her through the first few months of spit-up.
- Hire a bakery to make cookies that look like pickles. Serve with a side of ice cream to represent pregnancy cravings .
- Grammy-to-be shower is a fun idea. As exciting as it is for the new mommy, imagine the feeling of becoming a gran, bubbie or nonnie for the first time! Consider throwing your long-time girlfriend a grandma shower too since she will need many things at her house too.
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How to be the Perfect Guest
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- DO shop from her registry! Those are her most wanted & needed items. It is always appropriate to give group gifts for more expensive items. A fun idea is to give a beautiful Moses Basket loaded with medicinal items such as q-tips.
- DO make it personal and unique. Monogrammed or personalized items are simply treasured.
- DO choose age-appropriate clothing. For example, while a fancy tulle dress is absolutely breathtaking in a 1 month size and will create lots of oohs and aaahs during gift opening, it won't be particularly comfortable for baby or mommy until baby can at least sit-up around 6 months of age. Layette items looks best on newborns.
- DON'T re-gift! If it wasn't good enough for you it certainly isn't good enough for you to give as a gift in public.
- DON'T talk about your own horrible child birth experience during the event.
- DON'T be first through the buffet line even if you are starving.
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