Organizing a Baby Shower: Why You Need a Party Planner
Are you organizing a baby shower? Prevent stress and headache with our party planning tips, and a printable Baby Shower Planner.
Organizing a baby shower can end up on your never-do-this-again list.
My sister-in-law’s baby shower was set to happen that evening at our parents-in-law’s place.
The cake was baked and decorated and I was ready to help with the rest of the shower set up.
But I didn’t have a vehicle. Mother-in-law came to pick me up with their “happy van” where the cake could ride behind us instead of tucked in a trunk out of sight.
Mistake number one.
Happily cruising down Grand Avenue, the light ahead turns orange, and Mother begins to brake. The car ahead brakes harder, because the cars ahead of him are braking very hard.
MIL stomped the brakes to prevent a rear-ender. And…
the cake began a crash course to the front of the van.
The cake I just spent hours and hours perfecting. Four cakes. Each cake a letter of the word BABY. Each one a different pastel color, with individual sweet baby decorations.
The van came to a stop. Mother and I looked at each other, afraid to peer at the wreckage. So the light changed, and we drove on.
Salvaging a Seriously Sad Situation
Now our planning turned towards “saving the cake.” Brainstorming ideas to salvage the remains and make something workable. If not the lovely four cake BABY, what could we do?
“Y” was beyond resuscitation. One “B” was surprisingly intact. The “A” was, well, sort of okay. If I did a little (lot) of cosmetic surgery, we could use the “A”. We decided to bake a “C” and have a cake that was “ABC” instead of “BABY.” Very hard on the OCD tendencies when it came to my creations, but a good lesson in making lemonade out of lemons. We found some decorative glass baby blocks with letters on them, then sprinkled some real wooden blocks about, pulling the new décor together.
The shower was a success. The baby is 34 years old now.
Tips for Organizing a Baby Shower
Even though there may (will) be glitches, it’s good to organize as well as you can.
Let’s go back to day one of the Baby Shower planning steps. We talked about picking a date and a theme for the shower.
We mentioned consulting the mommy-to-be about the date that works best for her.
According to thespruce.com, the shower should ideally happen early in the third trimester of the pregnancy.
“A baby shower should not be held before the twenty week mark. Showers held too late, after 38 weeks, run the risk of the baby joining you for the baby shower. Use these two marks as your best guide.”
Different Timing for Baby Showers
There may be different reasons for holding the baby shower earlier or later in the pregnancy. For example:
- Expecting Twins or Other Multiples: When the mom-to-be is expecting twins or other multiples, it could be best to have the baby shower very late in the second trimester or earlier in the third trimester. Multiples tend to come earlier in a pregnancy than single babies, and having the shower earlier may prevent mom from missing her baby shower because the babies have been born. The mother may have to go on bed rest later in the pregnancy. This also gives her a bit of time to prepare, going through what she needs to get her nursery ready for the multiples.
- Religious or Cultural Beliefs: Some cultures and religions have taboos against having a baby shower before the birth of a baby. This may also simply be a family tradition. The baby shower may be held after the birth and be called a naming or other welcoming ceremony. The thought here is that the baby can be at the party and everyone can meet him/her.
- Location: Plan the baby shower for a time and location that allows the most family members to attend. This allows the baby shower to take place when the pregnant mother is most able to travel comfortably. One idea is to plan it around an already scheduled family reunion.
- Seasonal, Holiday, or Other Gatherings: If a family lives far apart, plan a baby shower around a holiday or other family gathering. While it will take extra planning to do both around the same date, the celebration will be extra special if more family can attend.
Bring Mommy-to-be in on the organizing
if the shower is not a surprise. If it will be a surprise shower, ask the relatives of the honoree to suggest a guest list.
Collect guest’s addresses. In our Church family, all the women are invited to a shower, but only one invitation is placed on the Church bulletin board (and/or sent through Social Media). Then individual invitations are mailed to anyone invited from a distance. This really cuts down on the number of paper invitations needed.
Your friends and or family may have different traditions.
However, organizing a baby shower can be made easier with one of our Baby Shower Planner Printables.
All of our planners include three pages to help you plan:
- The Hostesses Organizing page
- The Mommy-to-Be page
- The Countdown Checklist page
The Printable Planner Pages are available as digital downloads in all our Baby Suites:
- Geo Gold
- Beatrix Potter
- Adventure Forest
- Sunny Bee
- Meadow Gold
- Llittle Llama
- Stripes and Roses
- Secret Garden
Baby Showers are one of a Mommy-to-be’s biggest life events…
make it as special for her as you can.
