When someone near and dear to you finds out they are expecting it is an exciting time. It makes sense that you want to throw them a baby shower. Given the fact that this is a big life event you want it to be perfect. It can all start to get a bit overwhelming. However, by taking your planning one step at a time you will be able to put together a beautiful and memorable event.
The first thing that you need to think about is who you are going to invite to the shower. You will want to first discuss this with the honoree, unless it is a surprise shower. Generally you are going to want to invite their close friends and family members. You will want to give some thought to whether this baby shower is going to involve men and women or if you are going to go for the traditional all female shower atmosphere. You will also want to decide whether you are going to allow the guests to bring a guest or not. Either is acceptable, and it really depends on both the mom to be's thoughts and yours as the host.
Once you have a guest list squared away that will give you an ideal of what type of location you are going to want to look at. Of course this will be somewhat dictated by both your budget and the size of your party. However, that should not really limit your choices as there are a variety of different locations that you can look at. You can look at a personal home like yours or the home of the expectant mother. You may also want to look at utilizing a local restaurant as a location, or perhaps you want to look at something a bit different like a tea house or a pottery painting boutique. Keep in mind the feel that you are going for when choosing your location, and of course never forget about the mom to be.
Obviously a baby shower is centered around the impending arrival of the new baby, but that does not mean that you cannot explore theme. The obvious choices are blue or pink for boys and girls respectively. However, you may want to look for something a bit different. Perhaps you want to center your shower around a little lamb or a teddy bear. Or maybe you want to theme it around an area of need for the mother to be. For example you could have a clothing shower or even a baby bootie shower.
You should tie your invitations into your overall theme to let your guests know what to expect with your shower. Be sure that you include all of the important details like the location, date, time, and RSVP date. You will also want to indicate where the mom to be is registered so that your guests know where to start shopping for her.
No party is complete without food and drink, and that is something that you must think about with your planning. Decide if you are looking to have a sit down meal or if you would rather stick with finger foods. Either option is fine. Additionally, you are going to want to have a variety of drinks available for your guests. Given the fact that you are doing a baby shower you might want to create a couple of non-alcoholic cocktails or provide a variety of bottled and flavored waters to your guests.
