Your best friend and her husband have just announced that they’re expecting and you couldn’t be more thrilled. Whether your group of friends already has a gaggle of children running around or this will be the first, you know that you need to throw the perfect baby shower for your bestie.
Planning a baby shower can be very stressful, especially if you leave everything until the last minute. The key to a successful and smooth baby shower is to start planning everything as early as possible. You may think it’s crazy to start this process more than two months before your friend is due to give birth, but just imagine, you need to take into account everyone else’s busy schedules as well as any hiccups along the way!
10 Weeks Before the Baby Shower
Pick a date and location for the baby shower
There is some debate over the best time to have the baby shower, but we personally think that sometime towards the end of the second trimester or beginning of the third is the best time.
There are several practical reasons for this: the mummy-to-be won’t be at the stage where they are exhausted all the time, the family still has time to buy things that they don’t receive during the baby shower and it’s early enough that you don’t have to worry about the baby joining you!
For location, many people choose to have the baby shower at someone’s home or in their condo’s party room just because this will be the most comfortable option for the mummy-to-be (easy access to a washroom is key!).
Make the guestlist
Everyone has busy schedules, so it is important to get to all the members of your squad as early as possible. Let them know the date you’re planning to hold the shower, even if you haven’t finished finalizing all the details so they can block it off in their calendar.
Seven weeks before the baby shower – Party planning time!
Choose a theme, send invitations, plan the menu
These three things go hand in hand and form the crux of the party planning. Once you have chosen a theme, the rest of the party pretty much plans itself.
Instead of spending a tedious amount of time planning a menu around your theme, contact a catering company who can take care of your meal, snacks and decorations for you. In the Philippines, there are a lot of amazing catering companies that you can talk to so that they can help you plan the perfect baby shower!
Don’t forget to send out the invitations around this time as well! Be sure to include information on where the mummy-to-be has registered for gifts, otherwise, expect to have all your guests asking you for that info in the weeks to come.
Two weeks in advance
Hopefully, you won’t have any stragglers from your invitation list but since there are always a few, two weeks in advance is a good time to follow up with any guests who have yet to RSVP.
The only final tasks you have to are to do a final confirmation with the caterer and plan some awesome baby shower games for the actual party! Once you’ve decided on the games that you and your friends will play, don’t forget to pick up any supplies you’ll need for the games and some small prizes as well!
The big day!
Relax and enjoy the party. The best part about hiring a caterer is that the only thing you have to do the day of the party is enjoy yourself, get excited about all the cute gifts and try to win a few games (you did plan them, after all!). Everything else will be taken care of by your caterer!
Photo from: Facebook.com
And don’t forget to take tons of pictures. The mummy-to-be will be too busy having a blast to snap them herself but you gotta do it for the ‘gram!
Republished with permission from: theAsianParent Singapore
READ: 5 Budget-friendly ways to throw a baby shower like a celebrity!
