Whoa Baby! How To Plan A Baby Shower
As we approach Mother’s Day, we think about all of our Moms and the Mama’s-To-Be. If you know someone that is getting close to their due date or even months out, then you’re in luck. Today’s blog post is all about how to plan and organize the best baby shower.
First step is to figure out the guest list. You’ll see throughout this process why Google Sheets is going to be your best friend. Depending on who is making the guest list, have all of the names and contact info (emails and addresses if you’re sending out paper invitations) on the Google Sheet so you can easily keep track of RSVP’s.
Next stop is invitations! The first step in picking out invitations is deciding if you’re going to have paper or online invitations. We love suggesting paperless invitations from Paperless Post to eliminate waste and paper clutter.
What’s the budget? Once you know that magic number, create a spreadsheet breaking down your budget and how much you’re going to spend on the different pieces. Consider the venue, food, decor (including flowers), invites, and games. If your mom-to-be cares most about the food over flowers, prioritize more of your budget towards food.
Once you know the budget, reach out to your list of potential vendors. A baby shower can be as DIY or non-DIY as you want it to be. Depending on how many vendors you are choosing, make sure you create a spreadsheet of who the vendors are as well as their contact information.
Delegate, delegate, delegate! If you’re Type A like us at TLD, we understand the difficulty relinquishing any control. However, if you’re looking for the perfect opportunity to work on that and seek some help, it’s delegating roles to others for a baby shower. I would suggest sending out an email to anyone that is involved in the planning process and either assign roles to others or see what people will volunteer to do. Once the roles are set, create a Google Sheet so everyone can see what they’re responsible for. Don’t forget to include when someone’s tasks is due so everyone is on the same page (literally and figuratively).
Decide on a theme! Once you pick out what the theme is, you can go wild and coordinate different food options or decor with that theme. Some fun ones that we’ve seen lately include by color, animals, floral and tribal!
Games! If your baby mama is brave enough to welcome games to their baby shower, make sure that you have the materials ready to play the game as well as the timing figured out as to when you’d like to start AND end playing.
Timeline: Depending on if you’re having this catered at an event space or restaurant, you will have to stick with a strict schedule. Make sure that you have a breakdown of the event starting, when you and the other planners are arriving, all the way up to when everyone is expected to leave. One option is to start an activity 15-20 minutes after guests arrive, then have your main course and open gifts during dessert afterwards. If you’re looking for a visual, check out this awesome timeline provided by parents.com.
Planning a baby shower doesn’t have to be daunting. The more planning ahead of time that you do, the better you’ll feel leading up to the event. You and your new mom will thank us!