Society Facts and Tips

Want to plan a baby shower, but without all the stress? Using a few tips from this article, and a bit of help from friends & family will make all the difference.

A baby shower is a gift to the ‘mother to be’, and a wonderful way to express your feelings toward her. This event can help the new parents prepare for the changes about to occur.

There are three basic tips I would share to help you plan the perfect shower. Select a theme, create a task list, and beg, borrow, and bride help from friends and family.

Let’s start with baby shower decorations. Party supply and stationary manufactures have done a great job in coming up with a wide variety of traditional, fun, and sentimental decorating patterns to help make your decorating job easy. Themes can help both the host, and the guests, in several ways. To start with, it helps the host come up with a decorating theme to make the event festive, and to make the expecting mother feel special.

Matching a theme to the guest of honor is easy when you look at the variety of decorating patterns available. Think about the guest of honor - is she expecting twins? Is the child a boy or a girl? Do they not know the gender of the baby yet? Is the mom traditional? Are you trying to have a quite, or boisterous event. Pick a theme that matches your situation.

Next, you need to create your checklist for the shower. Around six weeks in advance, you should be selecting a location, confirming the date (make sure the date works for the guest of honor!), and developing a guest list. A budget will be extremely helpful in determining the type of event you want to host. Wonderful showers can be held on a limited budget if you plan carefully. Think about the cost(s) for your decorations, invitations, food, games, activities, and party favors. A sample set of task and budget worksheets and a variety of other planning tools are available in the baby shower planning section of many party supply websites.

I recommend you next give thought to what you will serve, who will attend, and how you plan to entertain the guests. This is the best time to get family and friends to help you - everyone loves to help out at a shower. The host can easily delegate tasks such as working with the bakery or caterer. Make sure everyone knows about any diet issues, money limits, and the time requirements.

30 - 35 days ahead of your event, buy your invitations. Most invitations are available with matching decorations and tableware in a theme. You can buy stock, or custom printed baby shower invitations that match your theme, and get your decorations at the same time.

Four weeks out, make sure all your decorations, favors, centerpieces are ordered. This will give you time for them to be delivered. This is also a good time to check your pantry for your serving supplies. Put out the word to friends and family members who will be attending if you need to borrow any critical items (such as serving platters, punch bowls, tables, etc.)

Three weeks from the event, follow-up on all the activities you’ve asked for help from others. Make sure everything is done well in advance so that if anyone has questions, or has had something come up that causes them not to be able to complete their task, you can graciously take care of it.

Around two weeks before the event is a good time to order your cake, and purchase any non-perishable food items. This is also a good time to finalize any activities or games, and review your check list for any items that still need to be purchased.

7 Days out is a good time for advanced preparation of any food that can be put into the freezer. Make sure you know the who has RSVP’ed yes or no. Check in with all your helpers to make sure everything in on track.

Two days before is a great time to start the “wind-up” for the event. Thaw any frozen foods to be served. Rearrange the furniture, and clean the house. (If you are inviting people you don’t know and hosting the event at your home, don’t be afraid to put away any breakable items, and/or lock-up any valuables!)

The day before is the perfect time to get the decorations set-up (except for the balloons). Arranging all the paper goods, centerpieces, banners, and other decorations in advance allows you to focus on having fun the day of the event. Prepare any food that can be stored overnight, pick-up the cake, and chill any beverages or prepared foods that need to be served cold.

On the day of the shower itself, purchase your fresh flowers, fill your balloons with helium, prepare any remaining food items, and take pictures of everything BEFORE the guests arrive so you and the guest of honor can remember everything in it’s perfect form. Take full advantage of your helpers by getting them to run errands that need to be run (such as getting balloons filled, or picking up catering items.)

The only thing left is to have FUN!

Tags: social order