How to plan a baby shower

There are all sorts of themes you can choose for your baby shower. You could go with a classic blue or pink theme if you know what you’re having, or you could go with a seasonal one. A winter shower could be filled with snowy white decorations, and a summer one could be an outdoor picnic, for example.

You can also choose a theme based on your child’s nursery, such as animals, Disney characters, jungle or anything else you can dream up. Love rainbows? Have a rainbow-themed shower.

Some party planners even like phrases as themes, such as “Mother to Bee” for a spring or summer bee-themed party, or “Baby in Bloom” for a floral one. If you’re short on baby shower ideas, social media sites can be helpful. If you don’t want to have a theme, that is OK too.

Once you’ve picked a theme, it’s time to get your invites in order. They should have a clear tie-in to your theme, if you are going with one.

You have the choice of paper invitations or electronic ones, and the type of invitation you choose depends on your budget and the number of guests you plan on having. Make sure to include the date, time and place on your baby shower invitations, plus an RSVP email or phone number.

Sites like Minted and Paperless Post can help make designing baby shower invitations easier as they have hundreds of templates to choose from, and can be used both virtually and be printed.

The decorations can also play off the theme’s patterns and colors. Many people opt to have floral arrangements at a baby shower that tie into the theme. You can use decorations such as photo backdrops, streamers, banners, balloons, balloon arches, garlands and more.

If you’re the type to DIY, there are plenty of tutorials online on social media sites like Pinterest to help you make your own decorations. You can also check out Etsy for small business shops that can provide very specific, niche items or personalized and custom items.

A baby shower cake can also match your theme. Tell the baker how many people you expect as they will be able to calculate just how much cake you need. You can also bring them inspiration pictures to help them nail your vision and play off of your theme.

Every good baby shower should also have a diaper cake! A diaper cake is a tiered “cake” made from rolled diapers secured together to look like cake. You can decorate it to play into your baby shower theme.

For example, if you’re having an autumn-themed shower, you could do a cascade of fall foliage. For a “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” -themed shower, you could decorate it with paper stars and moons.

You can use any size diaper that the baby guest of honor might need, but most people start with newborn or size 1 diapers.

There’s a great debate behind whether or not to play baby shower games, but they can be good old-fashioned fun. Here are a few classics:

Say baby: Anytime someone says the word “baby,” they have to collect a diaper pin. Whoever has the least amount of diaper pins at the end of the shower wins a prize.

Dirty diapers: A classic baby shower game is to “dirty” some diapers with a variety of substances—the more unusual, the better. Guests have to guess what foods or beverages are in the dirty diaper. Whoever gets the most right wins.

Guess the measurements: Guests have to figure out how round your belly is. Whoever gets closest to the correct answer wins.

Diaper up: Divide guests into teams. Whoever can fashion the best “diaper” out of toilet paper wins. Encourage your guests to get creative and add flair like bows and flowers made from toilet paper.

Crafty onesies: Have guests paint onesies for your little one with fabric paint that is washing machine friendly.

Diaper raffle: This is a unique way to collect diapers for your baby. Tell guests to bring diapers or wipes to the shower in a variety of sizes in order to enter a raffle for a special prize. (Remember, they won’t be in newborn for too long, so you will want size 1 and up as well.)

For each pack of diapers or wipes, they get a “raffle ticket.” The more diapers, the more tickets. The winner can be revealed during the shower.

If you have certain family customs—whether it be regional, cultural, or just within your family, try incorporating them into your shower to make your shower truly feel like it’s for you. You can do this through food, decorations, favors and even in the theme.

If you are Southern, a fun idea would be to have a biscuit bar for guests. If you are Dominican, you might know about the tradition of having an evening fiesta in lieu of an afternoon baby shower, where both men and women are invited.

And if you are Chinese, you might forgo a baby shower in general as they are seen as bad luck. They celebrate the arrival of the baby instead.

This is your shower, so whatever you want goes. It should be an exciting milestone, not a stressful one.