When hanging out at my friend’s house the other night, her sister turned up in quest for some ideas for a baby shower. Her best friend is pregnant and she’s volunteered to host the event.
Despite being the first time she’s organising a baby shower – and the first time she attends one too – she wants to make it an amusing evening that her friend will certainly remember many years from now. After all, baby showers are not only about celebrating the arrival of the baby, but also a great opportunity to demonstrate one’s appreciation, support and love to the new mum.
Following some research and creativity we came up with the following cool and different ideas with which I hope to inspire current and prospective baby-shower organisers.
Turn it into a themed night!
Why make things ordinary and serious when giving them a twist can increase enjoyment levels exponentially? Suggest a theme for your baby shower and encourage all invitees to dress up accordingly. It needn’t be anything too complicated. A good idea is to choose a child-related theme, such as a Disney film or ‘back to school´, as it is fun and relates to the party.
The room needs dressing up too
Putting up decorations is a must and will definitely strengthen the festive atmosphere. If on a tight schedule or budget, you can use common ornaments like balloons and garlands. However, if you have the chance, be more original and look for decorative items that match your theme. The effort will definitely pay off.
Another awesome way to adorn the room is by using baby items: nappies, dummies, feeding bottles, etc. The best thing about it -besides being super cute – is that the cost is minimal as you most probably have some mum-friends who will happily lend you all this stuff.
Play like a kid
After the central act of the evening, that is, giving all the presents to the new mum, it’s time for group activities. Not only will they make people feel part of the event, but they will also liven up the evening.
There exist hundreds of games for baby showers; however, the most amusing ones I found are: doll nappy-changing competitions, dressing up a doll blindfolded, estimating the size of the mum´s belly on a piece of string, or guessing the flavour of baby food – the weirder the flavour, the greater the entertainment.
Don’t lose any sleep over food
Since baby showers are likely to last for a whole evening, it is a must to provide guests with some food. Nevertheless, you needn’t prove your Gordon Ramsey skills nor cook anything that requires sitting down at the table to be eaten.
Some sandwiches, crisps and other easy-to-grab snacks will be more than enough to please your invitees. What you mustn’t forget is to end the meal with some sweet treats and a nice ‘good luck cake’ for the new mum.
Organising baby showers can be good fun, especially when thinking outside the box and coming up with easy and awesome ideas.
Have you ever been to or organised an original baby shower? What was it like?
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- License: Creative Commons image source
Clàudia Baldellou is an event planning blogger who writes for Wedding and Party Store. She specialises in home-held celebrations and enjoys giving a twist to common events.