Tips on how to plan a memorable baby shower

There are many different ideas and things you can do to plan the perfect event. One of the most important things you will need is help decorating, coordinating and planning. Here is a step by step guideline as to what you can do to make things easier for you and to create the perfect baby shower.

Planning Ahead – Your guest list is the most important thing!

Planning your guest list is important. Knowing how many guests determines many things including the overall cost of your baby shower or any event for that matter. I find that many people never calculate the amount of guests into their overall budget. Just remember it determines the following:

The amount of food you purchase or make
The size of the cake and serving size
How amount of favors
The amount of invitations
The table settings (both for the amount of chairs and tables you will need). Some people rent them so this is big deal when calculating your costs
The amount of items you will need for the games

I am sure I am missing some things but overall this is why you need to plan ahead. This is not like a wedding however, the amount of invites sometimes feels as though it will be just as big as a wedding. The cost is determined on the type of baby shower you will have. Some people want elaborate baby showers and some more simple. While others want co-ed baby showers and others just want same sex baby showers. Either way you can make this event beautiful and affordable.

Since most of my blogs are dedicated to the average mom, my discussions on more elaborate showers will be left for a different blog.

I firmly believe in always getting the biggest bang for your buck. There are many places where you can get cheap linen if needed but there are also places that come with the linen in the package price.

Venues – Picking your venue is essential to making sure you are on your target budget.

You can rent out a hall such as American Legion or your local church may even have a facility you can use. Many people use their home to save money but that doesn’t mean you cannot make your home fancy and festive. Your venue does not have to be in a big elaborate hall. Sometimes something more intimate allows you to have unforgettable memories.

Themes – one of the most important elements.

You do not want to have an event without a theme. That is like having a birthday cake with no icing. Bland and boring. Your theme should be one you love. Once you choose one such as baby animals, baby items, umbrella themed showers, footprints, garden theme, etc., everything else will fall into place. You can purchase many themed items on websites such as Oriental Trading, Hobby Lobby, Party City and any craft/hobby or party store. Be creative and search online. Look at ideas in the party stores. Some of these little mom and pop party stores offer items that are unique and handmade. They may be expensive because the store is creating it but look it over and see if it is something you can create. It may be easier than you think once you really analyze it. If you ask how they made it, sometimes you will find that they may be helpful and provide you with directions on how to create it. There are many helpful people that can give you tons of ideas but in order to get that information, you cannot be afraid to ask for help.

Décor – A little goes a long way (budget friendly ideas)

The new wave of specialty crafts are these big flowers that you can make out of flowers. There are tons of tutorials and better yet, Michaels now sells the templates for it. They really sell it as one piece so you can put together and use and I would just use them as a template and purchase different color papers to do this. The YouTube videos should be helpful in showing you how to put it all together. You can also use tulle of any size and place it all around the tables, in back of the chairs as chair sashes and even use them for games. Tulle is fairly inexpensive depending on where you go. Utilize your coupons. Another idea would be to do a candy station. Joann’s, Michaels and AC Moore have baking supplies you may find useful to dip all your products in chocolate to make a spectacular candy display. I find the cheapest and best store to shop at is actually party city. Since they are not known to be a hobby/baking store, the prices are significantly less and they have more of a variety of fun items to choose from. Balloons always make a presence and you can choose any color. Believe it or not Party City also has some great favor boxes that are different then you would see in the craft supply and party shops. I purchased white decorative favor boxes for my cousin’s bridal shower. You can view the photos here.

Mason Jars and Vases are never an item you can go wrong with. You can decorate your mason jars of vases with rhinestone ribbon trimming, tulle, ribbon, appliques, lace, etc. I have been to the party supply shops and find people are wasting 4 to 5 dollars on marbles to put in the vases for an added touch but these same marbles you can find in the dollar tree store for 99 cents. A dollar can go a long way if you let it. If you really want to add a touch of pizzazz, purchase the LED lights in Michaels that you can twist and submerge into water. The original price is $19.99 for 12 but I always find a 50% off coupon and use that on my purchase. The more people you take with you, the less money you will have to spend. COUPONS are AMAZING. You do not have to overwhelm a table or decorations. Make is festive not overwhelming.

Make sure you plan early. Planning ahead of time avoids you from stressing out. Order early. Always remember that doing your research maybe time consuming but it is worth investing your time. I love Pinterest and find that it has been so helpful to all that I do especially when it comes to planning events and coming up with décor. YouTube is another great helpful tool because you can learn so much from different channels.

You do not have to go crazy trying to come up with different ideas. There are so many creative individuals who display there items online and even teach you how to do different things. Invest your time in doing your research.

Games - Make your event fun and exciting.

When I was coming up with ideas for my cousin's bridal shower, I found many of them on Pinterest but I added my on twist to it. A computer and printing paper goes a long way and you can create and customize anything. Aside from creating games where you need to print things, you can just look on line for fun stuff like field day games. Sounds silly right but if you thin about all the games that they are putting a twist to nowadays, they are no different than the ones we use to play as kids.

Look at our events page to view some of the things I created and the images of the games I came up with using Pinterest.

All of these ideas can be utilized for any event not just a baby shower. We hope we have helped you and welcome your feedback. If we have missed something you need information on, please contact us. If you have your own ideas, we would love to hear from you and possibly add it your ideas to some of our blogs and feature your name as a contributing editor.