You’ll likely find some of these to be common-sense; though a few may surprise you. It’s these strange ones that are the most important to you, because heeding the advice – to do or not to do them – can be the difference between making your baby shower memorable for the right reasons, or for the wrong ones. These are all from the great website www.mamabebe.com.
As you plan and roll-out more baby showers (because you’ll be so good at this one people will want to consult your services!), your list of dos and dont’s will increase. Keep a journal handy to jot these insights and experienced down as you go.
Things to Do: Plan
It goes without saying (but let’s say it anyway, since we’re all here together!). PLEASE PLAN AHEAD!
You may be one of those very talented people who tend to do things without a lot of planning; you just have a flair for pulling things off, and often, for pulling them out just in the nick of time. If this sounds like you, then you should really heed these sage word: PLEASE PLAN AHEAD!
The thing about a baby shower is that there are a lot of variables that come together to determine whether it succeeds or doesn’t succeed. As you know from reading the first section in this book, everything from choosing the time of year for the shower, to the amount of time to “RSVP” the invitations, are elements that can influence the shower. Or to put things more frankly: if something is wrong in any of these elements, then they will almost certainly negatively influence the overall baby shower experience.
So how do you deal with this? Simply by planning ahead. Have a plan – write it out! – and see what you have to do, and in what timeframe. If you need help, then talk to the mother-to-be and recruit some deputies. If you need assistance making a decision – such as who to invite – then get the help that you need. By planning, you’re able to see what you need to do, and therefore, you can go ahead and do it.
On the flipside, when you don’t plan, you are almost certainly going to overlook a detail or two. At the time, they may seem minor (“do I really need to follow-up with people who haven’t RSVP’d the invitation?”).
Yet once the shower actually happens, it’s kind of like racing a car in the Indy 500: if there are flaws, they will be exposed. So don’t let your little details come back to bite you, or any of the other guests (including the mother-to-be).
If you aren’t a good planner, then here’s your opportunity to become one. It’s not that hard at all; it just requires a little effort (that goes a long way!).
Things to Do: Decorate
One of the most memorable things about the baby shower will be the decorations. They might seem like yet another minor detail in a sea of details, but they will be something that people notice, appreciate, and indeed, remember.
You don’t have to go overboard on the decorations, and you don’t have to spend a lot of money. In fact, the biggest investment here will probably be your time. Simply choose the decorations that reflect the theme that you’ve chosen. You may want to consult the mother-to-be on the decorations.
For example, if the mother-to-be is deathly afraid of spiders, a Charlotte’s Web theme with giant spider decorations probably isn’t the wisest decision to make.
Things to Do: Cater Accordingly
Perhaps more than ever before, people are very serious about what they eat; and what they don’t. In the past, it was somewhat safe to make catering decisions based on religious or cultural understanding.
For instance, many Catholics don’t eat red meat on Friday. As such, if the guest list included people who you knew followed this practice, you would simply include non red-meat alternatives, such as seafood. Or if your guests were Jewish, you wouldn’t serve pork.
While these cultural catering rules still certainly apply, more people these days are choosing to eat based on lifestyle choices, not just religious or spiritual ones. Many people, for example, don’t eat foods that contain trans-fats. Or many people don’t eat foods that are high in carbohydrates, or proteins (it’s hard to tell which one is good these days, and which one is bad!). There are also many more practicing vegetarians in the western world right now; and that, too, can be a little confusing. Some people who describe themselves as vegetarians will eat fish. Some will drink milk. Some won’t eat cheese or honey.
For fun, log onto the website of any international airline, like American Airways or Delta, for example. And within their site, just check out the in-flight hospitality section to see the different kinds of meals that are available. You’ll be amazed at how many different categories of food there are. You’ll find everything from low-calorie to lacto-vegetarian, to low-carbohydrate to low-sodium, and even more.
Now, don’t worry: you don’t have to serve dozens of kinds of food! The idea here is simply to be aware that in the world today, people are much more informed about what they’ll eat; and what they won’t.
So when you make your catering decisions, try and think outside of the box a little. This means, see if any choices that you’re making could limit your guests’ enjoyment of a particular food. For example, if you’re ordering little finger sandwiches, it may be wise to have cold cuts on a separate plate that people can pick and choose from at their discretion. Those who don’t want cold cuts (for any reason, including taste preference) can simply not pick them up.
Also consider the types of foods that you offer. If your guest list is going to be predominantly filled with senior citizens, foods like celery – which are murder on dentures! – isn’t a good idea.
Before we go onto the next do, please take a moment to consider whether you’ll have alcohol at the baby shower. Now, this book is not a legal guide and nothing within it, naturally, should be seen as legal advice. However, according to media reports, there have been some cases where people at parties consumed too much alcohol and, as a result, injured themselves and other people. This is tragic enough, but to add even more unhappiness, the party hosts were also seen as partly liable.
Now, these isolated cases which have garnered so much media attention were for holiday and new year’s eve-type parties, where alcohol is considered a party staple. It’s hard to imagine a baby shower where anyone would drink past the point of sensible. Yet it can happen, and it’s something that you simply need to be mindful of. So if you are going to serve alcohol of any kind – be it punch or wine or wine coolers, etc. – then make sure that you do what you need to do to cut people off who may not know when to stop.
Or, like many people, you can just choose to have an alcohol-free baby shower and not give it a second thought! The choice is yours (and presumably the parents-to-be), but it’s something worth discussion beforehand.
Things to Do: Set a Time Limit
Baby showers are wonderful events filled with relaxing laughter and shared positive emotions. Yet all good things come to and end. Or rather, all good things should come to an end while they’re still good things.
This means, simply, that you should have a clear end-time for the baby shower. This allows guests to efficiently plan their day, and it also gives everyone a chance to leave at the same time and not appear impolite for “having to run and miss all of the fun”.
You don’t have to monitor the baby shower so that is stays precisely on schedule; this isn’t a job, remember, and there are no shareholders!
While you’ll certainly want to usher the baby shower through its various phases (such as moving from games to food with enough time for people to eat), the important thing here is that the baby shower should end on time.
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