Hosting A Baby Shower?

Hosting a surprise baby shower is a fun exercise in empathy. You need to put yourself in the shoes of the expectant mother – her feelings, her personality, her character, and her schedule. You also need to make it a fun experience for her; if there are tears, they should be tears of joy.

Pre-Baby Shower Preparations

Carefully plan the baby shower. Since this is usually given on the third trimester, you should have plenty of time for party planning. Prepare a checklist of the things you need to do, and procure including an initial list of baby shower gifts you need your attendees to bring.

Decide on the party theme, number and gender of invitees, and the date and venue. Decide if you want the party to be a surprise or not; you want a pleasant surprise for the honoree, not unpleasant shock. Prepare the guest list, which should include everyone close to the expectant mother.

If the expectant mother is registered for gifts, inform the guests should they inquire. Just like the wedding, send the invitations at least three weeks before the party. Prepare the menu to reflect the theme; you can prepare the food, order takeout, or engage a caterer. Make sure that the food is prepared and delivered as agreed.

If possible, prepare the venue a day before the party. Harried preparations have a way of ruining what could have been a great baby shower. If possible, rehearse the flow of activities to ensure smooth transition.

You also need to coordinate the attendees’ baby shower gifts. You need to ensure that there will be no unnecessary duplication of gifts. A diaper cake is a great gift – attractive and usable – but discovering that almost all the guests brought diaper cakes and nothing else is impractical.

During the Baby Shower

Make sure that the party activities are followed as closely as possible. However, remain flexible as baby showers are meant to be relaxed fun, not a military drill. Just ensure that the food is served satisfactorily, the guests and honorees are comfortable, and everybody is having fun.

Keep track of the baby shower gifts being opened. Sometimes, guests will bring extra gifts aside from the coordinated baby shower gifts. This is perfectly acceptable and the expectant mother will appreciate these extra blessings. Keeping track of these baby gifts will help you and the mother write appropriate thank-you notes.

After the Baby Shower

When the baby shower is finished, expect a lot of discarded gift wrappings, take-home gift baskets and diaper cakes and an assortment of baby equipment from bathtubs to cribs. These baby shower gifts must be organized and brought home, assuming that the venue is outside the expectant mother’s house.

Help in making the venue as tidy as possible. You want your honoree to feel relaxed from start to end of the baby shower, not act as the cleaning maid.

Assist the expectant mother in making thank-you notes to the guests for their participation and their gifts. Your tracking list should guide you in thanking the guests for the specific items they brought. Avoid social faux pas due to negligence.

When you host a baby shower, just remember that you are celebrating motherhood and a new life. Make the baby shower a celebration filled with good cheer and a joyful gathering of family and good friends.

read more:Baby Shower Invitations Ideas

Baby Shower – Hosting A Baby Shower – Open-house Style

Planning a baby shower can be hectic. Invitations, refreshments, games, decorations, and location are just a few of the details that can be overwhelming. The location can be the biggest obstacle. Can it accommodate the number of all guests invited at one time? If not, would an open house be a better option? Baby shower open houses are a great idea for allowing a larger-than-space-available invite list. They are also great if you know the guests are not likely to commit to staying the full time because of their busy lives. Who doesn’t love a hostess who is accommodating to all lifestyles? Those who are too busy to stay may come and leave on their own time frame. Those who love to stay and chat may be around the entire time. Everyone invited will be happy to come bring their best wishes for the new mother.

This type of shower will also eliminate the need for the ever dreaded games. Instead, guests may write a few baby tips or advice in a journal or scrapbook that gives each person a removable page to write on. Nobody will have to stand around waiting for their turn with the special baby advice book. Their completed pages will be put in a cute bowl or basket and the hostess can assemble them when the shower is over. Guests may sign the matting on a cute frame for the baby room. Provide them with ink in the color scheme of the room and it will be a nice reminder of the shower. Or maybe a quilt can be set up to tie. Baby quilts do not take much room and guests can feel like they enjoyed adding their personal touch to something for their friend. No matter what activity chosen, the planning is much simpler because of the open house style of shower.

Decorations and refreshments can be streamlined. The location can be large or small depending on your preference. It doesn’t matter if all the guests show up at the same time because there is no need to sit for long periods of time at an open house. Refreshments can also be finger foods that may be eaten while standing or sitting, just in case there isn’t enough sitting room for a few minutes. Let the mom-to-be mingle at her pleasure. The gifts can be displayed away from the refreshments to encourage conversations in a separate area of the room. The guests will appreciate the opportunity to enjoy one another’s company as smaller conversation areas are created.

Lastly, have each guest address an envelope for themselves. The new mom will appreciate having the correct address already on an envelope prepared for her thank you note. The guests realize the overwhelming task of motherhood and will smile at your efforts to decrease some of the stress to come.

Planning an open house style baby shower will help ease your preparations also. As you go forward with the planning, consider saving yourself some time by purchasing your baby shower gift online http://www.invitesbaby.com

read more: Wedding Invitations 5 New Trends for 2012