The great thing about baby showers is their versatility. Some moms want a big, over the top party, while others are happy with some snacks and a few decorations. Showers can have a theme, or they can just have a color scheme. Over the summer we hosted two different baby showers. One of them was themed as an enchanted woodland party. The other was only the baby’s name and the mom’s desired color scheme. The enchanted woodland shower was one where the baby’s sex was unknown, so it needed to be more engender neutral. Some of the things we did that I enjoyed the most were: baby predictions, freezer foods, embroidered sibling writing, and decorations for both. At one of the showers (we meant to do it at both, but forgot) we did a baby prediction. It included date of birth, time of birth, hair color, weight, and length, along with their address. I saved them and the person with the closest and most correct answers was sent a gift card in the mail.

Another idea I enjoyed carrying out was asking family members of the momma to bring a meal or two for her freezer. I purchased an XL cooler bag and put them all inside. We gave them to her at the end of the shower. This helped provide her and her family with meals for the first week and a half after baby was born. The other mom didn’t want freezer foods, so I gave her a gift card instead (and also brought a freshly made meal after baby was born).

One of my favorite touches was the embroidered sibling writing. I had the two sisters write their new baby brother’s name on paper. Then my amazingly talented daughter embroidered them on pajamas, swaddling blankets, and towels. I don’t know if the mom used any of these or not, but I know they would be a keepsake for me. I love the idea of saving that sweet little kid writing. We also used it as a decoration. We spray painted a canvas navy blue and then wrote with a gold pen the name of the baby in one of his sisters’ handwriting on the canvas. I thought it was a sweet touch.

The decorations were completely different at the two showers, but one thing was the same- balloon arches. I bought the balloons on Amazon. For the woodland theme, I got some woodland creatures at Michael’s. I purchased stick on baby creatures from Amazon for the wall. Many years ago we had several trees cut down, and I asked the man doing it if he would save me a few slices. He informed me that they had to be kept in water for a week or they would split (news to me). After that week they’ve been out to good use since. I often pull them out as decoration. We used mason jars with fairy lights as well.

We made individual meals for the first shower of the season due to a rise in Covid numbers in our area. The second shower we did a food table. The woodland shower features all picnic type foods. We had chicken salad, potato salad, pasta salad, fruit salad, and “mushroom” cake pops. The individually wrapped party featured chicken salad on a croissant, cucumber salad, chips, and a cookie. I also served cake pops at this shower as well. The shower gifts were bath bombs at one and a sugar scrub at the other. We purchased some games and printable off of Etsy. I was very displeased with one, but will link the other.

Overall, I think these showers went well. I hope the mothers enjoyed themselves, and got all the things they needed and more.