Friday, February 1, 2008

Baby Shower Ideas To Make Your Party A Success

A baby shower can be the most happy of occasions full of a sense of happy expectancy for the new baby's arrival. The baby shower is a fairly new celebration, becoming popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Since then, these celebrations have developed a set of accepted traditions. Here are some guidelines to help organize the perfect baby shower.

Customary guidelines for showers have certainly changed since the 1940's. For years, a close friend or distant relative hosted the shower. Having a friend, cousin or aunt host the event typically meant that the immediate family escaped looking like they were out to collect gifts. Fortunately, this guideline doesn't apply anymore, as moms, sisters, and mother-in-laws are popular choices to host a shower.

Often a group of people will collaborate to put together the baby shower by helping with the arrangements and distributing costs out amongst more people.

Of all the preparations for a baby shower, the guest list is probably the most important. If you decide that the shower theme is to be a surprise, then you may have to do some extra footwork to gather up all the necessary names for the invitations. This might include talking to different friends and family members to discover who should be on the list. If the party isn't a surprise, then there is no reason why you and the new mother couldn't work on the guest list together.
Are you planning to throw a co-ed baby shower instead of the customary all-female gathering?

If the expectant father and other male guests are invited, will they be happy with the plan? Including male guests alters the entire tone of the party, and there are some important things to consider, such as baby shower games. If you intend to play games you'll likely want to ensure that the games you select are appropriate for mixed company. Some men are comfortable with sharing all of the aspects of the pregnancy, but for others, the baby shower could be a very uncomfortable experience.

The new parents-to-be should be able to let you know if this is a good idea or not. Should you opt for a co-ed gathering, it's often a good idea to make the party a celebration and gathering of friends without a lot of emphasis on the pregnancy itself.

More ideas for a successful baby shower include determining whether you want a theme to the shower, how you will incorporate the theme with invitations and shower gifts, and how you will extend those invitations. Should the invitations be written by hand, emailed, or will you use the telephone and personally talk to each guest? All of these are good methods for inviting guests, but written invitations are preferred so that guests have a reminder they can refer back to if needed. There are a number of potential options for your written invitations. You could have a professional calligrapher write them for you, hire a graphic designer to come up with a one-of-a-kind design you can then have printed, or you could make the invitations yourself using your computer.

The beautiful thing about a baby shower is the more contributors you have, the better the event will be. Your guests want to feel like they were able to do something to help make the day special for the new mother. By requesting each person bring a certain item for the party, whether food, a beverage or an item required for one of the games, you will help to make everyone feel included and share the sense that everyone had a hand in the success of the day.

Visit us for more information on baby shower trends, decorations for a baby shower and baby shower planning list

1 comment:

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