My friend Stephanie of Spaceships and Laser Beams is here with us today to talk about throwing an awesome baby shower!
Stephanie says, “It seems to me that a lot of babies are born in the spring. What a sweet time to host a baby shower! No matter the time of year, hosting a shower takes some planning but I’ve discovered that once you decide on a theme for your gathering, imagination jumps up with more ideas than you could possibly do. Think about where you want to use most of your time and budget and that will help you know how to spend your resources. So how do you get started? Here are a few suggestions that help me narrow down choices.
Decide a Baby Shower Theme
Decide on a party theme by considering whether you want to center on new baby or mom. Baby might be celebrated with nursery rhymes, vintage toys or a trendy theme such as Monsters University. If the spotlight is to be on mom, you’ll want to target her interests and hobbies. That can take you in many different directions!
Sometimes seasonal considerations will point you toward a theme and a color choice, too. Also a casual vs. elegant gathering will steer choices.
Once you’ve decided on a theme it’s time to nail down the invitations, decorations, menu choices, party activities and guest favors.
Let’s pull it all together with an illustration; imagine you’ve decided on an afternoon tea because mom-to-be is something of an Anglophile. Invitations might be shaped like a tea cup, have an individual tea bag tucked inside, and come in an envelope with a floral border. Decorations would certainly include lots of flowers, perhaps chintz china, lace and linen. You’d want cloth napkins, tea sandwiches, and a wide variety of dainty treats to serve with a selection of teas. You’d choose quiet, classical music to play in the background. An activity could be one of the guessing games related to photos of relatives and the family tree. Guest take-homes could be a package of tea and cookies or individual tussie-mussies. All of these ideas work together because they grow out of a common theme.
Hosting any party takes planning and effort, but a baby shower is such a special occasion that somehow the work involved becomes a fun labor of love!
For more specific ideas and visual inspiration, visit my Baby Shower theme board on my Spaceships and Laser Beams blog.”
What theme would you love to see for a baby shower?
Stephanie Keeping is a wife to Mike, mom to a boy named Sam, a blogger, and an Etsy-preneur. She celebrates boyish charm at Spaceships and Laser Beams, where she talks about all things boy and birthday party. You can connect with her on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Twitter and on Etsy.