Handmade BabyShower Invitation Ideas

This entry was written on Sep 18, 2009 by our Baby Shower Guru Anna Sanclement

If you want an original baby shower invitation you can easily make some very cute ones on your own. These ideas require little work and are fun to make too.

Diaper Invitation: Get some blue or pink construction paper (yellow or green if the baby's gender is unknown). Cut it into triangles of about 4 or 5 inches wide and tall - or big enough to easily fit the shower information on. With some color markers write down all the information needed: date, place, time, etc... fold the triangles like a diaper and secure with a small safety pin. Place in an envelope and address it to the guest.

Baby Blocks Invitation: Cut three squares of different colored construction paper. Draw a letter of the alphabet of a number on each square and then glue them by overlapping them slightly. Turn them around and write the party information on the back of the glued squares. Place in envelope and address to the guest.

Happy Baby Face Invitation: Cut out round pieces of construction paper for the baby's face. Then cut a triangular piece of either blue, pink or yellow construction paper for a 'hat' and glue to the top of the circle. Next, draw a big smile on the circle for the baby's mouth and glue two plastic eyes (available at most craft stores) on it. Then, cut two small light pink circles for the baby's cheeks and glue those on the face too. You can also draw a couple of freckles on the face if you'd like or any other detail you may want. Write the party information on the back of the 'baby face', then place in envelope and address to the guest.

Baby Shower Hostess Duties

Someone special in your life is expecting a baby. In your excitement, you decided to throw her a baby shower. How thoughtful! If you've never thrown a baby shower before, you may not know what is expected of a good hostess. Following is a list of duties commonly performed by the baby shower hostess. Keep in mind that, unless the shower is a surprise, the Mom-to-be should be consulted on all matters.

Before the Shower

· Decide on a date and time for the shower.

· Compile the guest list (remembering to get input from the expectant mother).

· Send invitations and receive RSVPs.

· Choose a theme, if there will be one.

· Decide which games will be played.

· Make food and drink selections.

During the Shower

· Greet guests as they arrive.

· Introduce guests to each other.

· Coordinate activities, such as running the games, telling guests when to eat, etc.

· Help the mother-to-be with gifts.

· Assign someone to make a list of names and gifts given for the mom-to-be to send thank you cards to.

· Assign someone to bring each gift to the expectant mother to open (or have each guest present the mom-to-be with her gift).

· Hand out favors to the guests before they leave.

After the Shower

· Make arrangements to get the gifts to the mom-to-be's home.

· Clean up the venue where the shower was hosted.

· Give the list of guests and gifts given to the expectant mother for sending thank you cards.

Chocolate Fountain BabyShower Centerpiece

This entry was written on Aug 31, 2009 by our Baby Shower Guru Anna Sanclement

This is a centerpiece idea that guests will rave about during the shower and for weeks afterwards. It's delicious and fun at the same time.

You can either rent or buy a chocolate fountain. Renting it is advised if you only plan to use it for the baby shower occasion, they are not expensive to rent and are well worth it.

Display the chocolate fountain in the middle of the main table or on the kitchen counter, if it is easily accessible to the guests. Put a nice tablecloth underneath it with some paper doilies on top of that (there will be chocolate dribbles as guests dip food into the fountain!). Then have a pretty tray topped with the dipping food. You can have items such as fruit pieces and plain cookies; anything you think will taste good with chocolate.

The fountain will have instructions on how to set it up and make it work. Basically you just fill it with a chocolate mixture and turn the machine on so that it melts. Then, it will run a continuous flow of chocolate through it, just like 'a fountain'. Guests can use long toothpicks or forks and place their food pieces under the chocolate flow until covered and enjoy!

It's a delicious way to stand around and get to know other guests while enjoying some good and gooey chocolate!

Baby Shower in a Box

Throwing a baby shower for your expecting friend or family member is a great way to show how important she and her baby are to you. But what if your friend is miles away and neither of you can visit the other often? Does she have several friends or family members in your area?

The solution to this problem is to give your friend a baby shower in a box. You can apply any baby shower theme to the box idea and have several friends pitch in for gifts to send in the package. Ideally, though, you'll want small items that can easily be packaged without costing a fortune in shipping fees. A few things you can send along include pacifiers, baby rattles, clothes, music cds, and gift certificates. Don't forget to include your own baby tips, cards, letters, and pictures of everyone who contributed to make it extra special!

Personalized Chocolate Bar Party Favors

This entry was written on Aug 25, 2009 by our Baby Shower Guru Anna Sanclement

A great low-cost idea that guests will love is getting chocolate bars with personalized wrappers.

Start by getting a large bag of assorted small chocolate bars and remove the paper wrapping, leaving the silver foil intact. Then, divide a sheet of paper into sized sections by measuring one of the removed chocolate wrappers. You can do this on your computer by using a program such as Microsoft Word. Decorate each sectioned wrapper with clip art and write a message with the mom's to be name and date of the shower, for example. You can also buy pre-decorated paper, print out your message and cut to size for larger chocolate bars.

Another way to do this if you don't have access to a computer and/or printer is to buy colored paper (classical blue and pink, or any other color to match your shower theme) and cut it into small wrapper size pieces (or bigger chocolate bars work also) and then handwrite your message on them with colored markers.

Once the paper is decorated and/or printed, cut the pre-measured wrapper sections and use glue to secure them around the chocolate bars. You can scatter them around the areas where the guests will sit, or divide them into small baggies for the guests to take with them as they leave.

If you are not crafty and all this cutting and measuring is too much, there's an even easier alternative. Get some paper that's decorated around the edges and blank in the middle (you can find these in stores that sell stationary such as Home Depot or Kinko's). Then on your computer open a letter-sized document and right on the middle of the page write out your message (name of the future mom and date of the shower). Then, place the decorated paper in the printer's paper tray and print one sheet. Make sure the message is printed on the middle of the page or adjust it accordingly so that it does. When you are satisfied on the position of the message print out the amount of 'wrappers' you need.

Place your printed sheets around the chocolate bars (this works best with the larger sized bars) and trim accordingly so that a little of the silver foil sticks out on each side. Of course, make sure the message appears on the top part of the chocolate bar and then glue it in place using a glue stick. You can give one bar to each guest at the shower as she leaves.

What to Include on Your Baby Shower Invitation

Baby shower invitations can be traditional, cute, or funny. They also need to be informative! Nothing is worse than sending out invitations only to find that you left out a piece of very important information (such as the hostess's contact information). Here's what you need to include on your baby shower invites.

• Mom-to-be's name


• The sex of the baby


• Location of the baby shower


• Date and time of the shower


• Theme of the shower, if there one


• Names and contact information the hosts/hostesses for the guests to RSVP


• Registry information if the Mother-to-be has registered

Organizing a Babyshower on a Budget

This entry was written on Aug 14, 2009 by our Baby Shower Guru Anna Sanclement

Let's face it, these days everyone is a little tight when it comes to money and expenses. But having said that, your pregnant friend's baby is coming regardless and she will need a few baby item gifts and could probably use a nice get together with her friends and family.

A good idea to help make a shower more affordable, but still fun and worthwhile, is to ask the guests to chip in instead of having one ow two people bear the brunt of it all.

Figure the amount that everything will cost and then contact all the people you want to invite. Explain to them what you plan to do and why; most people will understand and have no problem in helping out with the costs. Another tip is to only invite close friends and family, who will more willingly help with money than mere acquaintances that may feel forced to help.

Try not to go too crazy with the decorations and keep the costs down, so that more money can go towards the food and, most importantly, the gifts for mommy and the baby.

The guests and the celebration will be enough to make this event a memorable one for everyone!

Bedtime Baby Shower Theme

A bedtime baby shower will provide a Mom-to-be with everything she needs to tuck her little one in at night. Set the mood by playing lullabies as background music. For decorations, use stacks of blankets tied with ribbons, stuffed animals, baby pillows, and storybooks. Construct clouds, stars, and a moon to put on the walls (or better yet, hang them from the ceiling). Hang a mobile over the gift table.

Baby gift possibilities for this theme are endless! Pajamas, lullabies, story books, pillows, blankets, and bathtime products that soothe are all good choices. Party favors for guests in attendance can include sleeping masks, soothing music, or scents like lavender made for relaxation.

Ask guests to give the Mom-to-be tips on getting her baby to sleep or how to deal with lack of sleep. As a special gift to the baby from all in attendance, pass a piece of paper around and ask each guest to contribute a storyline written especially for the baby. Have the story printed into a book. This can be done on many self-publishing sites like Lulu.com.

Create Great Memories

This entry was written on Jul 28, 2009 by our Baby Shower Guru Anna Sanclement

A wonderful way to create some good memories and to extend the time of wonder that comes with pregnancy is to write some letters that the mom-to-be can open in the future years as her baby grows.

The way to do this is by making it a game for the future mom's babyshower.

Hand some pretty paper stationary, along with a sealable envelope, to each guest at the shower. Depending on the number of guests, give each one a number that corresponds to a year in the baby's life; for example for 15 guests each one will get a number from 1 to 15. Give the mom-to-be a number also. (You can have them pick the numbers from a hat).

Next, have everyone write a letter to the baby corresponding to the age they picked. They can write anything from advice, funny stories about the mom and her friends or current events that apply to the present time.

The mom and baby will have a great time reminiscing at each birthday as they open a new letter for that year from one of the guests and friends from the year the baby was born.

Get Personal

One of the best tips about baby shower gifts is to make sure that you purchase something that the new baby and mother combo will find useful, enjoyable, or both. If you're looking for something really special why not get personal? Buy the new little one something that is personalized with his or her name. This is the type of gift that is likely to be kept for years to come. Stuck on ideas? Try these suggestions:

• Personalized name plate
• Personalized wall decoration
• Personalized chair or foot stool
• Wall art personalized with the child's initials

Books Make Great Baby Gifts

Do you recall the reading time you enjoyed when you were a child? I bet you can still remember the lines to some of your favorite books. A collection of all the ones that were dearest to your heart is a wonderfully thoughtful baby shower gift. Studies prove that reading to children plays an essential role in their development. Help the mother-to-be build a library for her new little one. It's a great idea to select books that concentrate on patterns having to do with rhyme schemes, letters, or numbers or ones with large, vibrant pictures.

BabyShower Punch

For a great drink for the baby shower make some punch! It looks pretty in a big glass bowl and it tastes great. You can make it with or without alcohol as well as provide a bowl of each!

To make a very good and fun punch use this easy recipe:

Mix:

• Equal parts of cold orange, cranberry and grape juices. (For a sparkling punch add an equal part of Sprite or lemon Fanta to the juice mix)


• Add pieces of strawberries, halved grapes and orange slices.


• Then right when the guests arrive add some fruit sorbet and mix well. For teh 'spiked' version add some rum to the mix.

There you have it, a tasty and colorful punch everyone will love!

A Sweet Babyshower Party Favor

An easy shower party favor that everyone will love is candy. You can make a great candy party favor that will go great with the Babyshower by simply using cheap small baby bottles.

Simply get a bunch of the cheap type baby bottles you can find at most drug stores, the ones with cute color designs will work great. Then fill each one of them to the top with candies and attach a pink or blue balloon with color ribbon to match. If you can fill the balloons with helium that would be a plus as the bottles will look so cute with the floating balloons.

You can scatter the bottles all around the room and have each guest take one as they leave the party.

Babyshower for a Second or Third Baby

Traditionally, babyshowers are only given to first time moms. It's a good way to get the new mommy all the stuff she needs at a time when she's probably very anxious and nervous about the huge change she's about to undergo.

However, the arrival of a second or third child is just as happy and welcoming as the first and there's no reason why it shouldn't be celebrated. If the mom already has most of the items she needs for baby, you can still have a little party for the arrival of the new baby and not get her any baby items she doesn't need. You can mention in the invitation that gifts are optional or make a point to get things for the mom instead. Even if this is not her first pregnancy, she is still big and uncomfortable and anything to make her relax and feel better will be most welcome, I assure you!

Items such as comfy pajamas, soft or un-perfumed (in case her sense of smell is out of wack!) lotions, soft socks, chocolate, books, anything to make it easier, will work wonders. Guests can also bring a little gift for the current children to help them at a time when everything is centered on the new arrival, which may make them feel left out in some cases. The kids can also be part of the babyshower and help in organizing it, or if they are very young they can do their part to 'help' set things up so they feel included.

So, even for veteran moms, a shower for a second and third (and fourth!) child can be a good idea and can also serve as an excuse to get together with friends and have some fun. The occasion can also be a good opportunity to let the mom relax and enjoy herself with her friends while they also attend to mom's other kids and take care of things for mommy for one day.