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I love to throw baby showers for my friends. It’s a way to channel my excitement about a new baby coming into the world and honor my soon-to-be mama friends. However, I’m no Martha Stewart. Decor and detail are not my strong suit. I’m not a good organizer. I hate party games. I don’t have a large house to host parties and I’m not a stellar chef. But, I can throw a super simple shower in my small house with a few tried and true recipes and a lot of love for my friends. Down the road, nobody’s going to remember what appetizers were the pinterest fad that year. But your friend will remember being honored and loved and a few hours spent with people that care about her and are celebrating her entrance into motherhood.
I also love throwing showers because I don’t have much of a budget for gifts right now. I simply can’t afford the baby gifts I would love to gift my friends with but I can put time and effort into planning, organizing, cooking, cleaning, etc.
I recently had the honor of throwing a dear friend a baby shower. It was a Saturday morning shower so I served brunchy foods like quiche, fruit, and cheese straws. If you don’t know what cheese straws are, that’s ok. You’re just probably not from the deep south. They are amazing melt-in-your mouth buttery/cheesy crackerish delights. And I made a chocolate cake and the grandmother-to-be made a scrumptious chocolate chip pecan pie. Mmmm. For beverages we had coffee, iced tea, juice, and water.
The mama-to-be is a fellow bibliophile so I made a cake stand out of pretty hardback children’s books. My mom’s gift was the amazing set of natural wooden toys we used as a centerpiece.
Here’s my super simple shower throwing tips:
Make tried and true recipes. Now isn’t the time to scour Pinterest for the most impressive, trendiest appetizer ever. Do you make really good Spinach Dip? Have a dessert recipe that’s a family favorite? Now’s the time to whip out that favorite recipe. You won’t be stressed out about whether it will turn out or not and making it will be second nature.
Making guests feel at home is more important than making them impressed.
Accept help if it’s offered. I was actually feeling a little under the weather the weekend of this shower and my husband was out of town (ya know, running a 35 mile race in the mountains. what?!). Whenever anyone offered to bring food or flowers, etc. I said ,’yes!’ And I was so glad I did.
Just keep it simple and don’t spend too much time on Pinterest looking at perfect shower set ups. I know Pinterest is inspiring to some. For me, it’s usually just a time-waster and makes me feel overwhelmed. Keep it simple and remember the goal: celebrating new life, enjoying fellowship, eating snacks, and ooing and aahing over precious baby things.
What are your tried and true shower-throwing tips?
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What a sweet shower! I’m sure your friend must have loved it. I’m definitely with you: I’ll take the simple and handmade over the elaborate and store-bought any day. Good food and good friends are really all you need to make any party lovely.
Oh: And absolutely enlist help. My instinct is to pretend that I’m in control at all times, but you’ll save your sanity by working together, and get more achieved in the process. Plus, everyone wants to be able to feel useful! Do yourself and them a solid by letting them be useful.
Thanks, Margaret! And yes to good food and good friends. That’s what it’s all about.
I think your advice to keep things simple and focus on making people feel at home is right on the money. I’ve been to showers that were Martha-ish and they are beautiful, but not as memorable. Honestly, a lot of the things for kids and babies today seem really fancy and overblown. I’ve seen first birthday parties that rival formal events I threw in college. It’s intimidating.
It is intimidating! I’ve been to some amazing baby and toddler birthdays, but my kid’s aren’t getting anything super fancy. Partly because I’m not skilled enough to pull it off and partly because they would end up overwhelmed. We’ll have to see what Miss Lucy’s personality turns out to be, but Benjamin (although very outgoing) always requests just family, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. Thank goodness.
I can vouch for it being a lovable shower indeed! (And now I just need to find a nice surface in Pippin’s room for displaying those lovely toys till he can play with them!)
You framed your bird picture!
And the shower looks lovely!
Yeah! After 2ish years of having it up there with thumbtacks? You know I’m classy. And thank you
I love the ‘keep it simple’ approach. When I threw my 1 year old’s birthday party I became so overwhelmed with trying to find the perfect ‘theme’. I finally just decided to do what I do best, make yummy food and celebrate with our friends and it turned out just right. I also can’t describe how much tastier a homemade cake is than a fancy and expensive store bought one (bleh!).
I love doing a homemade cake! I get a lot of pleasure out of baking my kid’s birthday cake even though it doesn’t look like anything amazing. For me, it’s a reminder that I get to be their mama–I get to make their cake and celebrate them!