The ultimate baby shower checklist: Essential items for your little one
You’re awaiting the arrival of your baby, and there are lots of things to prepare. With all the shopping, doctor’s appointments, and nesting, you may feel overwhelmed by the idea of throwing a baby shower. However, a baby shower is a perfect way to celebrate bringing new life into the world, and it can make preparing for your new baby easier with your registry. Whether you’re planning a baby shower for yourself or you have a friend or family member throwing one for you, there are some things you’ll need to consider. Here’s what you’ll need to think about when planning your baby shower.
Plan your theme
Planning a baby shower is fun, but your theme can’t just be “baby.” If you want the Pinterest-worthy baby shower of your dreams, you’ll need to decide on a theme for your party. Lucky for you, there are plenty of options to choose from for a baby shower theme. Some notable themes include nautical baby showers, little jungle baby showers, and a dinosaur theme, or you can go with a seasonal theme depending on the time of year. Find your interest and inspiration and easily turn it into a theme for your baby shower.
Once you’ve decided on your theme, planning activities and decor for your baby shower will be more manageable.
Choose your location
After picking your theme, the next step is to decide where to host your baby shower. If you love to host parties and have the space for it, consider hosting your baby shower right from your home or backyard if the weather is good.
If throwing your party at home sounds like more trouble than it’s worth, you can also choose to host your shower at a restaurant. Depending on the size of your guest list, you may need to reserve a room for your party. The beauty of hosting your baby shower at a restaurant is that you can leave the responsibility of serving and cleaning up the mess to the employees.
If you are going for something more extravagant for your baby shower, you can also rent an event space at a hotel. This option can be great because these event spaces usually have a person assigned to you to help you plan and organize your event. The best part? You leave all the setting and cleaning up to their employees.
Create your registry
A registry is an essential part of planning your baby shower. With a baby comes the need for many things, and expenses can quickly rack up. So why not ease your financial burden and ask your guests to lighten the load? A registry helps to take out the guesswork from your shower attendees and can prevent you from getting gifts you’ll never use or need.
On your registry, include infant clothing in a wide range of sizes, bottle warmers, eco-friendly diapers, swaddle blankets, a car seat, 0-2 sized shoes, and whatever else you can think of that you may need once the baby arrives.
Invite your guests
Another aspect to consider when planning your baby shower is your guest list. If your guest list is large, consider where you’ll host your event to accommodate your guests. If you’re looking to host something more small and intimate, you’ll probably want to keep your guest list minimal.
When planning your guest list, consider whether you’ll want to invite children to the event. Typically, babies and toddlers are welcome at baby showers, but you may want to leave the older kiddos at home so they’re not bored. Some baby showers are just for moms, while others give the males in your life a warm welcome. Regardless of who you invite, your guest list will help you plan and coordinate events and activities you’ll do at your baby shower.
Decide on your menu
For any party, your menu is an essential part of planning your event. For some guests, the food is the sole reason to attend these events, so you’ll want to ensure you provide some tasty items. Depending on the theme of your party, you may need to plan your meal around your shower and activities. Consider people with dietary restrictions, the time of day, and where you’ll be hosting your baby shower when planning your menu.
Many baby showers take place earlier in the day or the early afternoon, so your menu can include tea-time snacks like finger sandwiches and bite-sized pastries. Of course, the mom is VIP at the party, so ultimately you want to ensure your menu appeases them first and foremost. If you’re planning a casual event at home, you can also choose to make the event family-friendly and just barbecue.
Set your agenda
The next most important thing after food is planning what you’ll do at your baby shower. Most baby showers plan an agenda of activities and games to take place at the party. There are tons of activities you can do at your baby shower that will make it all the more memorable.
You could go with some of the classics like the dirty diaper game, where a piece of chocolate is placed into diapers, and guests try to guess the type of chocolate in each diaper. Another fun game is you have each of your guests send a picture of themselves as a baby, and everyone tries to guess who is who.
You’ve probably heard of bobbing for apples, but instead, put a fun baby spin on the game by bobbing for pacifiers. You can also do a baby shower bingo, have guests vote for their favorite baby name, watch the parents open gifts, and more. Fun games can help get all your guests involved in the party and help break the ice between guests who may not know each other very well.
Enjoy yourself
At the end of the day, no matter how your baby shower turns out, the most important thing is that you enjoy yourself. Baby showers are supposed to celebrate a person’s next journey and bringing a little bundle of joy into the world. It doesn’t matter how extravagant your party is. What matters is that you and your guests have a good time and enjoy a relaxing day of fun.
Megan Isola holds a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality and a minor in Business Marketing from Cal State University Chico. She enjoys going to concerts, trying new restaurants, and hanging out with friends.
