Organising the perfect baby shower – when, where, how, what and most importantly – why

Whether you’re organising a baby shower for yourself or someone else, this guide will help you get everything organised and give you some inspiration.

When – you need to decide whether to have the baby shower before or after the baby is born.

We think before is better as it means there is more focus on the mother – who will actually appreciate it – and she’ll be able to concentrate on enjoying herself, rather than having one eye on the baby or one ear out for when it starts to gripe.

Where – having a baby shower in someone’s home can be more cosy and relaxing, but don’t forget that then someone has to prepare and clean up afterwards.

Using a restaurant or café might be more expensive, but then the catering and tidying is taken care of. In either case, if the guests can chip in, it will make things much more manageable.

How – themes are very popular in baby shower.

You can get all kinds of decorations such as personalised helium balloons, banners and even outfits – imagine dressing up in a full Victorian dress! It’s customary to bring gifts to a baby shower as well, which may range from anything from engraved trinket boxes to classic personalised piggy banks to practical items such as personalised pillowcases and towels or embroidered clothing.

What – Eat, drink and make merry!

As well as giving gifts, baby showers usually involve baby themed food (such as tiny sandwiches, cupcakes or miniature pizzas), interesting non-alcoholic drinks (such as fruit juice cocktails with umbrellas and foil sprays) and baby themed games (such as Baby Shower Charades, pin the safety pin on the nappy and baby questions and answers).

Why – don’t forget the most important thing about baby showers – the people.

This celebration is all about getting together to appreciate our loved ones and show them how important they are to us. Be patient about things you don’t agree on, stay relaxed and above all – have fun!

 

If you’re having or going to a baby shower, check out our fantastic range of baby gifts – there’s everything from bibs to door plaques to silver and crystal keepsakes.

Preparing a nursery - essentials

If you're expecting, you're probably starting to plan your nursery. But it can be baffling to try to figure out what you need and what's superfluous.

The most important thing to think about is obviously safety. If you have an old house and the room hasn;t been redcoretaed in a while, then you may need to strip the walls and repaint with a non-toxic paint. You can also take the opportunity to check our any low sockets or damage to the walls that needs to be filled in.

The next thing to think about is theme. Do you want something very simple and plain, or a very traditional classic style, or something modern. Or perhaps you want to go all our with an undersea or forest theme? Having a sense of what you'll enjoy will help you choose items that will go together.

Essential furniture includes a crib, a comfortable chair for nursing and rocking the little one to sleep, somewhere to keep toys and somewhere to keep all those cute little clothes. You may also want to include a changing station, with everything you need easily to hand.

Something you might not have thought of are blackour curtains. Babies don't fallow normal day / night sleep patterns, and being able to block out the sun at will can help both babies and sleepy parents get an important nap, whenever it can be snatched!

We have gorgeous name plaques for the front of nurseries and also personalised clocks to match a tange of themes.

Check out Personalised Baby Gifts UK for loads of beautiful and unique nursery decoration ideas.