How to Put Together a Baby Shower

As I decided throw a family member a baby shower I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought how hard could it be, it shouldn't be that expensive, and it sounded like a lot of fun.

Shortly after I made my announcement without thinking really about it, it occurred to me I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I remembered that I am not a "social" person. I was a bit shy but luckily my husband is here to save me. So the baby shower became co-ed so he could be there too.

I started researching the internet for ideas on how to throw a shower to help me develop my own ideas on how I would accomplish the task at hand. The first thing I started thinking about was where I wanted to throw the shower. The most traditional place, as well as the cheapest, to throw it was my own home, I decided, plus I wouldn't have to worry about rental fees and other arrangements by throwing it elsewhere.

The next thing I thought about was how much money I was willing to invest in the shower. At first I budgeted a couple hundred dollars and soon learned that it would take more than that. Showers are really expensive to throw it turns out. Between the prize gifts, decorations, favors, food, drinks, and other miscellaneous things, a lot of money would be spent.

After trying to figure out my budget, I decided to figure out what theme to use and what games to play. I decided to throw a rubber duck theme for my shower. Some of the things to consider when choosing your theme is where you are going to pick up all the supplies, ranging from invitations to little candies and décor. It is probably best to pick something simple. I thought rubber ducks would be simple but I ended up designing my own invitations because no one sold any invitations with my theme I had chosen, which is fine because you may or may not save a little money when making your own.

The next thing to think about when throwing a baby shower is when to send the invitations and what day you want to have it on, you really want to throw the shower when the mother to be is between 6 and 8 months. Usually weekends are a good choice especially in the afternoon right after lunch. You want to be sure the people you feel are most important to be there can make the date, like the mother to be and parents as well. The other thing you need to know is when to send out the invitations. Usually around four weeks is good timing so guests can arrange for time off work and have enough time to pick up gifts, etc.

Another thing to plan when throwing a shower is what kinds of foods you want to serve, and also how you are going to get a cake. I chose to serve a tray of sandwiches in the shapes of rubber ducks, with fruit and veggie trays. I also planned on making rubber duck shaped sugar cookies with fruit on them. As for the cake I decided to make my own cake as it would be cheaper for me to make my own rather than buying one. You really want the cake done and on site the day before the shower. As well as getting most of the decorations up as well.

After all the planning and putting things together the shower is turning out to be a blast for everyone. The planning has been fun every though I ended up having a tighter budget than I had originally thought I would.