This past fall I hosted my first baby shower. While I love planning parties, baby showers were brand new territory for me! Are they the same as bridal showers minus the fun cocktails? Do guests really want to play those baby games? And someone please describe all these baby presents to me!
Fortunately my good friend Emily was up for allowing this rookie to throw her a party. She also had an adorable nursery theme already picked out so I piggy backed on her ‘bless this nest’ nursery to use as her shower theme.
Tip #1: having a theme makes decorating SO much easier!
Decorations can definitely rack up the costs of a shower. When the cuteness factor of an item goes up, apparently so can the price! Being frugal at heart, I was fine with doing a little bit more research in the name of saving money.
I don’t love the look of those plastic one use table clothes for fancier affairs. So instead I found pretty wrapping paper to roll out onto the table. A fun bonus is that colors & patterns are literally limitless AND much cheaper than purchasing a cotton table cloth that you may or may not use again.
Tip #2: Paper plates and plastic cups & utensils makes hosting SO much easier AND decorative! Lots of color options to choose from!
Tip #3: Check out your local dollar store!
Unless you’re planning parties ALL the time, many of the themed party decorations you purchase might not be used again. For this reason, I always find a couple cheaper decorations to mix in with my go to staples that I use for lots of parties: vases & frames. I also throw in fresh flowers. While the flowers likely won’t last more than a week, they’re such a pretty touch and the guest of honor can take them with her after the event.
Tip #4: Spray paint is an easy way to transform items to fit your theme and color.
While I’m no expert in party planning or decorations, we had so much fun preparing this shower. And to my surprise it was so much easier than I thought! Here’s the scoop on what I purchased and how I decorated:
For the Table
- White vases and clear small vases. If you don’t already own any, I do think they’re a good investment.
- Small white frames
- Wrapping paper
- Flowers (in Seattle, flowers are incredibly affordable at our downtown Pike Place market)
- Colorful napkins
- White square paper plates
- Jelly beans
- Clear small plastic cups. I used the extras for bowls of yogurt and fruit.
- Blue bird cages
- Nests
- Bird eggs
- Silverware
Party Gifts
We made these fun little candy filled eggs as party favors for all the guests.
- Wrapping paper
- Clear gift bags
- Plastic Easter eggs
- Candy for inside egg
- Ribbon
- Shredded paper
- Wicker basket from goodwill that I spray painted
Keeping the decorations to the tables (dining room table and coffee tables) was just the right amount of pizzazz!
I hope this gives you a little inspiration for your next shower!
Everything looks so pretty
Love this idea for a baby shower theme! So cute and perfect for this time of year! Using wrapping paper on the tables is such a creative way to dress them up–much better than the disposable plastic tablecloths!