At my previous job baby fever was on an all-time high, within our team we celebrated 5 incredible first-time mums and two first-time dads. All up that was 7 baby showers in the space of a year.
Fortunately, I was a part of the in-house design team and I was asked to help create decorations and styling for each baby shower. At the beginning I was overwhelmed, I’ve never been to a baby shower before, where to start, what do people like at baby showers?
One thing that made the process easier was the first baby shower was going to be for one and only Shana aka my twin aka the co-director of Good Gatherings. Shana and I have been friends for 4 wonderful years and bonded over our birthdays being a day apart, our love for all food, sharing clothes, have a cheeky cocktail and of course going extra on all every event possible. I knew Shana was so excited to be a mum and she wanted to have a woodland theme.
That was all I needed to know and now let me take my experience and help you.
Here is what you need to know if you are planning a baby shower:
1. Think about mum or dad to be
What would she/he love? Does she/he already have a theme in mind? Definitely ask! Is she/he a game sort of person? Would she/he love a bit of pampering? Would she/he love something sentimental? The more information you can gather from your mum or dad to be, the easier it is to customise her/his day to their taste. But if you know her/him well, don’t doubt yourself and remember having a full which is a surprise is the most amazing thing.
2. Start with your idea/theme
Do your research! Think of an idea and get googling. I have found some amazing inspiration on Pinterest. Some of the themes I have done were woodlands, jungle, pretty in pink, monochromatic, a baby is brewing (for the fathers to be) and baby shower with balloon cloud and origami heart raindrops. Remember sometimes less is more and most importantly it has to be in the style that mum/dad to be would love.
3. Choose a colour palette
Once you have a theme, colour palettes are easy. Would your mum/dad to prefer pink, blue or natural tones. Colour can be an easy way to bring the idea together and create cohesion.
4. Find amazing vendors
There are so many vendors out there that can help you. Now more than ever, it's so important to support local/small businesses. So do some research and see how they can help you. It can be cost-effective to hire someone. Good Gatherings has a couple of amazing themes that would suit a baby shower - our Boho is the crowd favourite and would be a perfect idea for a shower either indoor or outdoor. Think about hiring someone to create a grazing platter for you, or look into someone to create the invites/advice cards, or how about hiring decorations from a local vendor? Vendors are there to make your life easy, shop around, and find the team that suits you personally. At Good Gatherings, it's our goal to make sure that you enjoy the day…we want to take the stress off you!
5. Think about the small details
Small details go a long way. Comfort during the baby shower is important for everyone but especially for mum/dad to be and grandparents. Ensure there is comfortable seating for everyone. The worse thing would be for mum to be to get stuck in a chair!
Words mean so much. At previous baby showers I’ve helped out in, we created advice cards and words for the future. All guests can join in no matter if they have children or not. It's a beautiful keepsake that the family can look over in the future. Your words might just be the pickup someone needs.
Plan in advance and give your guest plenty of notice, lock in your location and time, then your guests will know exactly where and when to arrive.
There is no shame in asking for specific gifts - too many times have I seen mums be getting 20 dresses for their baby girl but didn’t receive any onesies. Think practically, baby showers are an amazing opportunity to give your mum or dad to be those presents that they really need.
6. Games
Games are the best way to get all guests interacting with each other. Some of the best games I’ve seen are:
Guess that baby - guests guess when they think the baby will arrive, what weight baby will be, what eye colour baby will have, and many more.
Baby Bingo - guests get to cross off common baby gifts as mum or dad to be open their presents, first person to get a row will get a prize.
Guess the baby food - guests are split into teams of two, one blindfolded and one feeding. Feed the blind-folded guest a spoonful of baby food, the first person to guess it correctly gets a point. The pair with the most points at the end gets a prize.
There are so many games which are easy to create, customise the game to your theme to give it that extra wow factor!
Planning can be a mission so hopefully, the above ideas will help anyone that is wanting to throw their mum or dad to be the best baby shower. I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions below on what you did for a friend’s baby party and what activities you did that made it epic.
Laura xo