Alright! So you're pregnant! Or maybe thinking about getting pregnant with the person that you've been married to for five years because you wouldn't dare think about getting pregnant as a teenager, right? Anyway, it's your first beautiful baby and it's time to celebrate! A baby shower, the most common method for celebration, is supposed to be fun, but that's not to say it can't be stressful for those involved. So below are ten tips to planning a baby shower so that the party, as well as your life afterwards with baby and all the cool stuff you received, is as pain free as possible.
1. Sure, you can have a baby shower before or after the baby is born. However, I suggest that you have the baby shower before the baby arrives, so you have an idea of what you need to buy before the baby arrives. For example, a lot of my family members pitched in to buy the essentials: A crib, carseat, pack'n'play, bath, and a lot of other things. Seeing as I didn't know about a lot of these gifts, it would have been strange to say "Oh! I bought that car seat a few months ago! Thanks anyway, Grandma!"
2. With that said, write down all of the gifts that you receive, as well as how many of each you receive (diapers, wipes, different sizes of outfits) so that you know what exactly you need to buy. If you only received one or two newborn outfits, you might want to buy a few more. And if you only got a 20 pack of newborn diapers, you best go get more!
3. This is a big one. Invite everyone that you know. Literally. I invited over 100 people to my baby shower and a VAST majority of them showed up! Not only was it great to see people I hadn't seen in a really long time, James also got a TON of stuff. As horrible as it sounds, the more stuff you get at your baby shower, the less you have to buy. If I remember correctly, Jesse and I had received 7 boxes of diapers, 30 packages of wipes, and a BILLION outfits. Sure, he's outgrown most of the outfits, and we've had to buy diapers and wipes since the shower, but we were pretty much set for the first two months of James's life.
4. Send out invites and have people RSVP at least a month and a half before the day of the shower. A month and a half will allow people to have enough heads up to plan on attending, or to figure out if they have a previous engagement elsewhere. With these RSVP's you can plan on how much food needs to be prepared (if you're feeding everyone) and how much space you need, so that you know if you're house will work, or if you need to rent a space in your community for the event.
5. Don't feel pressured to have a million games at the event. Games are stressful, especially if your baby shower has 50 or more people, and most of the time, people are content mingling with others. If your event is relatively small, a few games may be alright. But if your event is pretty big, try to have games that don't require every single person to pay attention at once. For my baby shower, I bought two big baby bottles, a few bags of M&Ms, and a couple of bags of candy bars. I counted all of the M&Ms and put them in one bottle, writing down the number on a piece of paper and keeping it to myself. Then I counted all of the candy bars and did the same thing, writing down the number as well. At the baby shower, people were free to cast their guess as to how many candies were in each bottle, and towards the end of the party my family members looked through the guesses to find who was closest to the amount, and the two winners were able to keep whichever bottle that they had guessed correctly! This was inexpensive, stress free, but was still fun for the party goers.
6. Plan the event at least two months before your due date. This will give you plenty of time to go shopping for what you still need, even if you may go into labor a couple of weeks early. I had my baby shower March 10th (try to choose a day during the weekend) and James was born in early May. We were also able to exchange items before James got here. For example, as I neared my due date and had more and more sonogram appointments, I knew that James wasn't going to be premature. My grandma had accidentally bought me premie clothes, so I took them back and exchanged them for a different size! Also, if you have an idea of what kind of diapers you want to use (Jesse and I love Pampers) you can exchange the brands that you don't want, for the brands that you do want.
7. Wash all the clothes and assemble everything before the baby arrives. Now is for the hard part. Sometimes, babies have really sensitive skin, and clothes sometimes have chemicals on them in order to keep them in good shape on the racks. Dreft, a baby laundry detergent, is a great detergent to use in order to avoid your newborn breaking out or developing rashes. Along with washing everything, start assembling everything a few weeks before the baby arrives. The crib, the rocking chair, the car seat, large toys. A swing and bouncy are essentials to a newborn's happiness, and are also essential to you being able to put the baby down when you're busy. Assembling these in advance will let you relax your first few days home with the baby.
8. At your party, try to mingle as much as possible and say hello to everyone who comes. They took time out of their day, and money out of their pockets to be there, the very least you could do is say hello. I get it, it's hard to catch everyone, but make your best effort. I had seventy people at my baby shower and though the hello's were short, I still thought it important to say hello, thanks for coming, and goodbye, to each and every person.
9. A lot of people feel like a baby shower is JUST for women. Why is that? Jesse attended the event, obviously, and invited a few of his friends. I also found it really important that my stepdad and grandpa were there, seeing as they're both important figures in my life. So don't limit yourself to just women at the baby shower, let your boyfriend/significant other invite who he wants, as well as any men that you may want to invite. If your boyfriend has people there he can talk to, he's not going to feel nearly as awkward than if it were just him in a room of 70 women with him being the only man.
10. This last one isn't really a tip, but more like an idea. Before my baby shower, I hadn't told anyone what Jesse and I were planning to name the baby. We hadn't told a soul. So the day before the shower, I went to dollar general and bought a large piece of tag board (it will only cost a dollar or two) and then I went home and painted "James Hollis" on funky letters, and even drew a little monster on it, seeing as that was the theme of the shower. I then wrapped it up and wrote my mother and Jesse's mom's names on it. When all of our presents were unwrapped, Jesse and I announced that we had one more gift. We called up the moms to stand in front of everyone. My mom was suspicious and started tearing up before they even started opening it. My sister's, who sat next to Jesse and I while we'd opened our presents, started crying as well when my mom and Amy (Jesse's mother) announced "It's the baby's name" and turned it around for everyone to see. The room was filled with oooh's and awww's and my mom, sister's, and just about every other female in the room, including myself, began to cry. It was an emotional moment for us, and seeing as my hormones were out of whack, I cried, in front of an entire room of people, like I had never done before. It was emotional and I think all of us felt that with the baby name revealed, it was just that much more real that he'd be joining us soon.
Will Post Pictures As Soon as I can of my Own Baby Shower!
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