Your Guide to Planning a Memorable Baby Shower

So you need to plan a baby shower. Your lucky role as the sister, best friend, or mother of the mom-to-be gives you this vaunted privilege, but it’s a heckuva lot of pressure. There are details upon details to pay attention to, and everyone has their own ideas of how showers should run.

If it’s a casual affair, more power (and freedom) to you, but you still need to plan around the coronavirus pandemic. To help you navigate this event, here’s your guide to planning a baby shower for your loved one.

Set a Workable Time and Venue

First, nail down a time and place. It’s common etiquette to cement a date that’s at least a month later than when guests receive an invitation. This gives people a chance to reserve the day on their calendar, secure childcare, and think through whether attending is safe.

As for the venue, the mom-to-be and her guests may not be comfortable being around too many people inside. Rather than a last resort, view an outdoor shower as an opportunity. It allows you to initiate fun activities and get some fresh air while in the company of loved ones.

Send Out Invitations

Once you lay the groundwork, designing and sending out invitations is the next step in the guide to planning a memorable baby shower. Whether virtual or paper, these should be super functional while also setting an aesthetic tone for the day.

This is where you connect attendees to the all-important registry, for one. The more prominently you draw their attention to it (within reason), the less likely you are to have people go rogue and buy something unnecessary. Also, this is where the RSVP info goes, giving guests an easy way to let you know whether they can make it.

Buy Decorations

Next, collaborate with the new mom on decorations. If they want classic baby blue and soft pink or something as far off as metal-music-themed black and red, prioritize their vision.

With that said, build in some surprises along the way. Get gigantic custom balloons the day of the event, pass out confetti poppers for when the guest of honor arrives, and otherwise try to lend your creative prowess to the decoration process. The food you offer can also serve as a decoration, but check if guests would rather bring their own this time.

Don’t Forget the Baby Shower Games

Decorations are nice and all, but the substance of a baby shower is how you interact with guests throughout. The best methods for interaction, besides conversation, are shower games. You can play:

• Guess the Baby Picture
• Don’t Drop the Egg Race
• Diaper Change Speed Challenge
• Mom-to-Be Trivia

Apart from these classics, you’ll need a COVID-safe game that runs throughout the party. To reinvent a favorite, play “What Am I” by pinning a piece of paper with a random word on your mask and asking others (from a distance) yes or no questions about your unknown identity.

As you prepare a party for your friend or family member, don’t forget to do some personal prep as well. Make sure you snap up a special baby shower gift to kick off their journey into parenthood well.