How To Throw A Budget Friendly Baby Shower
Organizing a baby shower requires planning and prepping that usually also involves a degree of budgeting. As having a baby is a large expense for most parents, it makes perfect sense to keep the costs down when you’re throwing a baby shower. When you’re throwing a budget friendly baby shower you’ll need to think about practical and resourceful ways in which you can save money and time.
It really is possible to host a fun baby shower party for the mom-to-be and her closest friends and family, without overspending. Here are a few creative and imaginative cost-cutting ideas to inspire you.
The Baby Shower Venue
Instead of hosting a baby shower at a posh restaurant, club venue or community centre that requires a booking fee, save money by holding the event in your home or garden.
If the weather permits, you can host a baby shower in a free, public outdoor space like a local park. It’s a good idea to have an emergency venue lined up as a reserve location, just in case the seasonal weather takes an unexpected turn.
Baby Shower Stationery
One of the most important things that you need to consider, when planning a baby shower for yourself or a friend, is the all-important invitation. The baby shower invite announces the date and venue of the party to your guests. It can be personalised and customised with a unique design that is either formal or informal, or coordinated with a theme.
If you’re artsy, you can save money by designing and printing your own baby shower invitations to send in the post.
If your artistic talents are somewhat limited, you can ask a creative friend to help you with the baby shower invitation design, or choose a budget-friendly professional service.
Whilst you’re designing the perfect budget-friendly baby shower invitations, don’t forget to order up some baby thank you cards that match your baby shower theme. It’s polite to send a thoughtful baby thank you card to each of your guests, to express your gratitude for their company and beautiful baby gifts.
Baby Shower Party Decorations
To minimize costs, it’s a good idea to keep baby shower party decorations simple. You don’t need to go overboard on fancy décor that costs a bomb to make an impact in the party room. Decorate the space with pretty paper garlands and oversized pom poms that you can easily make yourself. Do some research online to find the easiest DIY methods.
Printables like paper banners that spell out a word are another cheap way in which you can decorate the baby shower venue. You can also print out colorful toppers to professionally finish off your handmade cupcakes.
Blow up some balloons to add a pop of color to your party venue interior. For optimal visual impact, choose balloons in two or three complementary colors that match the baby shower theme featured on the invitations and baby thank you cards.
Baby Shower Party Food
There’s no need to compromise on tasty treats when you’re planning a budget buffet for a baby shower. When you’re on an economy drive it’s perfectly acceptable to ask your guests to lend a hand by bringing a food contribution. It’s helpful to create a list of guests so that you can write down what they are bringing to the party, so that you don’t end up with too much of one type of party food and none of another.
To further reduce costs, avoid buying pre-packaged party platters and opt to make your own buffet items. Finger foods like crudités and dips, fresh fruit and bread sticks are easy to prepare and cost very little. Mini sandwiches and tiny sausages are ever-popular party foods that you’ll also want to include on the buffet table. If you’re stuck for ideas use online resources for party food inspiration.
Bake a batch of homemade cupcakes and decorate with coloured icing, if you want to let your guests know the gender of the baby. You can also set up a DIY cake decorating station and get all of your guests involved in the fun.
Baby Shower Party Games & Prizes
To keep guests entertained at the baby shower you’ll need to have a selection of fun games at your disposal. A classic favourite like charades requires no physical props and therefore costs absolutely nothing to play.
There are many popular baby related party games that are ideal for playing with family and friends at a baby shower. Look online to find fun guessing game suggestions that include printable stationery like checklists and prediction cards. All you will need to play the games is a box of pens and some enthusiastic guests.
It’s a nice touch to have a selection of prizes to hand out to the winner of each baby shower game. To help keep overall costs to a minimum you can award prizes that you have made yourself. If you’re a keen cook, you can bake special mini cakes and cookies that are decorated with a winner’s symbol and award one to each winning guest. Other relatively inexpensive baby shower prizes you can consider include: toiletries, flowers and chocolates.
Presenting your winners with the colourful balloon bouquets and handmade paper pom poms you have decorated the baby shower venue with means that you have less mess to clear up at the end of the event. Tie on a special winner’s tag to transform your décor into a worthy 1st prize.
