Themes and Baby Shower Decorations Make Your Event Perfect
Planning a baby shower doesn't need to be stressful, if you keep a few basic ideas in mind. Proper planning, some advanced thought, and finding some friends and family to help will make the day special for the expectant mother, the host, and the guests.
Baby showers are an opportunity to "shower" the mother with love, affection, and joy, while helping her (and her mate) prepare for the challenges of parenting. Whether it be the mother's first baby, or her fifth, each new child brings new parenting challenges.
We have found that a trio of planning areas can help create a great baby shower. Start with a baby shower theme. Then, create a checklist for the jobs to be done. Lastly, get friends and family to lend a hand.
A great way to find a theme for your baby shower is to look at suppliers of baby shower decorations to see what is available commercially. These suppliers have patterns, also known as themes, that can assist you in the planning of your shower. These themes can provide a basis for decorating your event, and can add a professional flair to the style you exhibit for the guest of honor. They don't only benefit the host of the shower, but also the guests by creating a festive atmosphere for the celebration.
Matching a theme to the guest of honor is easy when you look at the variety of decorating patterns available. Think about the guest of honor - is she expecting twins? Is the child a boy or a girl? Do they not know the gender of the baby yet? Is the mom traditional? Are you trying to have a quite, or boisterous event. Pick a theme that matches your situation.
Once you have selected a baby shower theme, you can now create your check list for things that need to be done. Around 2 months ahead of time, you should scout out a location for the shower, and start to develop your guest list. Establish your budget, and think about all the items you will need to purchase including invitations, catering, party favors, games, decorations, and more. Many of these sites have planning tools for you to use in developing your list of tasks.
Start working on your menu, your invitee list, and your activities. This is an opportunity to start getting friends and family involved. Everyone loves to make the new mother feel special, so ask everyone if they want to help - you'll get lots of offers! Then, have a list of small projects for each person to choose from. These smaller projects can be things like coming up with a centerpiece, addressing the invitations, brining an appetizer, finding and ordering the cake, and other tasks. When you give someone a task, make sure you've given them enough specifics to keep everyone's stress down. Make sure they know when it needs to be done by, and if there are any budget constraints.
Somewhere around 5 to 6 weeks in advance, purchase your invitations. You might want to consider purchasing invitations that match your baby shower theme to give your guests a hint on gifts and such.
25 - 30 days before the big day, make sure all your baby shower party supplies are ordered so you have enough time for them to be delivered. Put your invitations in the mail, and start getting people lined up for help. Farm out the small projects to people who want to help.
Three weeks from the event, follow-up on all the activities you've asked for help from others. Make sure everything is done well in advance so that if anyone has questions, or has had something come up that causes them not to be able to complete their task, you can graciously take care of it.
Around 14 days ahead of time is a good time to make sure your cake has been ordered. Some bakeries may require as much as 45 days notice, so plan accordingly. You should also think about activities and games for your shower. Take another look at your check list to make sure you haven't missed anything.
7 Days out is a good time for advanced preparation of any food that can be put into the freezer. Make sure you know the who has RSVP'ed yes or no. Check in with all your helpers to make sure everything in on track.
48 hours in advance is crunch time. Make sure your furniture is arranged, and the venue is cleaned.
On the day before the shower, remember to thaw any previously cooked and frozen items if they need it. Decorate the room, tables, and such.
On the day of the shower itself, purchase your fresh flowers, fill your balloons with helium, prepare any remaining food items, and take pictures of everything BEFORE the guests arrive so you and the guest of honor can remember everything in it's perfect form. Take full advantage of your helpers by getting them to run errands that need to be run (such as getting balloons filled, or picking up catering items.)
Then you can enjoy the festivities.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
A true home entertaining expert:: Lisa Evans has fun assisting people with baby shower decorations while being a member of the party design specialist team at PartyPail.com. Copyright PartyPail, Inc. 2008.
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by: LisaEvans
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