Telling It Like It Is» cheap baby shower

4 Ideas for You to Throw an Affordable Baby Shower

Lin — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:00:28 +0000

Baby showers are a wonderful opportunity to show support to the mom to be and to bring the family together for a time of bonding and sharing. What if you really want to celebrate but you’re on a tight budget? There are things that you can do to make a baby shower more affordable and at the same time not look “cheap”. Here are 4 ideas to save while celebrating.

1- Balloons create a fun environment.

Balloons are a favorite when decorating simply because they are so pretty and very cheap. Find focal points of the party that you want to embellish and fill them with balloons. Some of the best places to put the balloons are at the entrance way of the party, behind the cake, behind the foods tables and near where the mommy to be will be opening the gifts.

Another thing that you can do is have them hanging individually from the ceiling. This creates an awesome effect. To do this, simply fill some of the balloons with helium and place double sided tape on the top of the balloon so it will stick to the ceiling. Tie a beautiful shiny ribbon to each of the balloons for an even more charming effect.

2- Be creative and use plastic bath tubs.

Plastic baby bath tubs are not expensive and make great decorative items. A plastic tub can be a holding place to put the gifts that the guests bring. Decorate the tub with confetti and tie a helium balloon to it. If you’re hosting an outdoors party, you can fill the tub with ice and use it as a place to keep the sodas cold too. If the tub isn’t too big, it can also be used as a punch bowl. Afterwards you can fill it with punch and place floating decoratives such as rubber duckies or plastic lily pads. This rubber duck baby shower post has plenty of ideas that incorporate bath tubs. Plastic tubs can also hold game prizes or even baby shower favors.

3- Use certain gifts as a part of the decoration.

When planning your party, you want to be innovative. there are many creative baby shower ideas that you can integrate to your theme. For example: tie a clothesline across a wall that you want to decorate. You can hang baby clothes with wooden clothespins. Ideas for items that can be displayed are bibs, booties, onesies, socks, jumpers, hats and even cloth toys. You can even incorporate these gifts into the favor ideas. For example, wrap a chocolate truffle in pink paper and place inside a pink baby bootie if the baby is a girl.

If you don’t want to display the clothes that will be gifts, you can also cut out letters from cardboard to spell out certain sayings. Another idea is to write out the letter with a permanent marker on disposable diapers. The traditional sayings are: it’s a boy, it’s a girl, welcome baby, or even spell out the baby’s name.

4- Send emails instead of physical invitations.

With the great rise of the digital world almost everyone has an email and access to the internet. This makes it much easier to save money when sending out invitations. You can create a very cute email with images that match the theme of the baby shower that you’re throwing. Make the font of the image colorful and pretty but easy to read. Once you have the email done you can send out a test email to yourself to make sure it looks all right. Once it looks like you want it to, you can send it to everyone at once. Call all the guests to follow up and make sure that they got the email and remind them of the event.

If you really want to have a printed out invitation you can use your own printer and find free invitation templates. For example, if you’re throwing a monkey themed baby shower these monkey baby shower invitations will be a great match for you.

This is a guest post by Eren Mckay, who is a work at home mom to 3 boys. She loves to share baby shower ideas and help others with party planning. She is also the founder of Embracing Home which is a website created to inspire, encourage, motivate and provide resources for families.

Similar Posts:

Readers who viewed this page, also viewed:

Second Child Baby Shower Etiquette – Is a Second Baby Shower Ok?

Lin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:00:09 +0000

Is having a second baby shower for a second or third baby ok, according to proper baby shower etiquette? Is it appropriate and ok to have a couples baby shower, where boyfriends or husbands are invited to a coed baby shower? What is a “baby sprinkle” baby shower? Who should throw a baby shower, when should a baby shower be given and who should be invited to the shower?

The question and answer to who gets a baby shower is dependent on who you talk to. Some prefer to stick to the old-fashioned, traditional custom of baby shower etiquette of baby showers only being “allowed” for first-time mothers, and just the idea of throwing or attending a baby shower for a second or third baby is believed to be offensive, greedy and unacceptable.

Traditional rules of who should be thrown a baby shower have changed to a more modern view of also throwing a baby shower for a second child, and in some situations, a third or fourth child. Baby showers are not about greed but are a celebration of the birth of a new baby, and all babies should be welcomed into the world with a celebration party.

Fortunately, society has lightened up quite a bit on the “traditional” customs from past generations of planning a wedding, and it’s about time that so-called traditional rules about baby showers no longer require fitting into a specific category, like baby showers only being proper or appropriate for a first time mother.

Modern Baby Shower

What is a Baby Sprinkle Baby Shower? A “baby sprinkle” baby shower for second, third (or more) babies are becoming more common in our modern society. A baby sprinkle shower is a unique and creative scaled-down baby shower idea for subsequent children after the firstborn child, where a baby is “sprinkled” with gifts instead of “showering” gifts on a baby at a typical, full-blown baby shower.

Since the expectant parents have most likely had a baby shower for the firstborn baby, a second or third baby is not likely to be in need of baby furniture like a crib, highchair, car seat, stroller, etc. For a baby “sprinkle” shower, guests bring gifts like diapers, baby wipes, teething rings, undershirts, bath accessories and other necessities that are always on the list of baby needs anytime there is a new addition to the family.

A baby shower is always a lot of fun, regardless if the shower is for a first, second or third (or more) soon-to-be born boy or girl. The archaic tradition to only throw a baby shower for first-time mothers, or where only women are invited, have been replaced to include the father or father-to-be in a couples baby shower if desired.

Couples Baby Shower

From my experience, a coed couples baby shower is often a lot more fun than a baby shower with just a bunch of a women friends, relatives and co-workers. Baby shower games for coed baby showers are often more unique and creative than the tired, worn out games from previous generations our mothers and grandmothers played.

Several years ago and unbeknownst to me beforehand, a few of my friends surprised me with three different baby showers, for three different children. One of the baby showers was held a few weeks before my due date, and the other two showers were thrown a couple of weeks after my second son and first daughter were born, a couple of years apart.

The first baby shower thrown for me was a boy baby shower for my firstborn son, and it was a couples shower that included hysterically fun baby shower games that kept everyone in attendance laughing and having a good time.

In one baby shower game we played, my husband and I were blindfolded and had to race to see who was faster at undressing, diapering and redressing a baby doll, but I haven’t seen that game played at a baby shower in many years.

Planning a Baby Shower

Who should throw a baby shower? When should a baby shower be held? Formal etiquette queen “Miss Manners” may disagree, but anyone can throw a baby shower for an expectant mother-to-be or new mother. Formal, traditional baby shower etiquette says that whoever throws a baby shower must not be a relative to the expectant mother, in order to avoid the appearance of the family simply asking for presents.

In these more modern times, it is perfectly fine for a relative, close friend or co-worker to throw a baby shower. A baby shower is usually held a few weeks before the baby is born, but some mothers prefer a baby shower after the birth, so guests can bring gifts specific to the baby’s sex. It’s always best to confer with the parents-to-be about the What, When, Where and How a baby shower will be held and who should be invited, in order to avoid scheduling problems or conflicts.

My niece is planning a baby shower for my daughter later this month, even though close friends offered to host a girl baby shower for my daughter, since we know it is going to be a girl. Baby shower planning can be very stressful, time-consuming, and expensive if you’re not careful.

My involvement in the planning of the baby shower is very limited, although I’ve offered suggestions and ideas for a cheap baby shower by trimming down the extravagant baby shower list of things not really needed for a “perfect baby shower”. Making your own baby shower invitations allows you the opportunity to create and choose baby shower invitation wording that is unique, creative, personalized and inexpensive, especially when you add baby shower clip art to the invitations.

I wish I knew more about making baby diaper cakes. If I knew how to make a diaper cakeÂ with cloth diapers or disposable diapers for my daughter’s baby shower, my niece wouldn’t be so worried about what to use for a baby shower centerpiece anymore.

If you’ve ever seen pictures of baby shower cakes and diaper cakes online, you know how cute and adorable diaper cakes are for a baby shower. Maybe if I search for “diaper cake directions”, I’ll have better luck finding instructions on how to make a diaper cake in time for my daughter’s baby shower.

Similar Posts:

Readers who viewed this page, also viewed: