10 Best New Baby Gifts For Parents

Best New Baby Gifts For Parents in 2023

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Miss Disorganized Plans a Baby Shower: What You Need to Know

The non-procrastinating way to plan a baby shower for your favorite Mother-to-Be.

But I'm turning over a new leaf, starting with my sister-in-law's baby shower. I'm going to be meticulous, resourceful, and considerate. I'm going to plan and organize and pull this off. And just to show the level of commitment I have for ensuring this little project is a successful one, I'm going to write an article for all those other people out there who are just like me.

Procrastinators of the world, pay attention. Baby showers take coordination, mediation, and a sense of humor. Don't think you can just put something together the week before the date of the shower. If you really want to make a good impression on the Mother-to-Be, in addition to all the other guests, you'll need to spend some time thinking about the following:

1.Shower themes: traditional or trendy? Themes are tricky, and the Mother-to-Be should definitely be the one to make this choice. If she's registered at Babies-R-Us or Target, or some other chain store, having a traditional shower might be the best option because you could put this information on the invitations, and all guests would need to do would be to look up her registration information on the web site and make gift selections based on a list. Some women also like to base their showers around a particular theme-Winnie the Pooh, or butterflies, or zoo animals-perhaps something that might already coordinate with the baby's room, so this is also an option for a shower. And then there are those who are more practically minded: in lieu of any particular theme, I decided I wanted a diaper shower during my first pregnancy. I didn't have to buy diapers the entire first year of my daughter's life, which was great! If you are the person giving the shower, chances are your Mother-to-Be will already know what kind of shower she'd like to have, so just ask. It will make your job a lot easier, trust me.

2. Get help or go solo? After you've decided what kind of theme you're going to have, you'll need to consider whether or not to solicit help for the shower. If you're a control freak-and you know if you are-or ultra creative, then maybe the best thing to do is go it alone. That way, if the invitations don't turn out just right, or if you forget to buy all the ingredients for the punch, you'll only have yourself to blame. On the other hand, if keeping up with money and having lots of time constraints have got you feeling worried and slightly overwhelmed, enlisting the help of some of your friends and relatives will allow you to divide up the tasks-invitations, food, games, and cost, for example-so you can ensure every aspect of the shower will be taken care of.

3. To game or not to game? I received a mixed bag of answers when I asked this question. Though most people seemed to regard game-playing as a supreme waste of time and a bit on the cheesy side of things, one or two friends also gave me what I thought would be great ideas for baby shower games. However, I suppose the best way to answer this question would be to consider the audience. If you're planning to have older ladies in attendance, it might be best to stick to the conservative side of the game question. In other words, don't do anything that might embarrass the Mother-to-Be: we all know how she got to be in the state she's in, so there's no need to make things uncomfortable for her by playing "racy" games that draw attention to the fact.

4. Decorations- how much is too much? I've known people who've gone teddy bear crazy, who've been confetti junkies, and who've used only pink or only blue everything for their shower decorations, so this question is particularly important to me. To be sure, a delicate balance must be achieved: too much decoration will make people uncomfortable, while too little might give the impression you've perhaps been a bit too cheap. I think I'm going to go with balloons on the mailbox, maybe an "It's a Girl" wreath on the door, a corsage for the Mother-to-Be, and maybe some personalized napkins, since the baby's name has already been picked out. Other little personal touches might be added here and there, but only if they aren't terribly time consuming or over-the-top in nature.

5. Baby shower etiquette: what else is there to do? Besides being a good hostess-making sure the food trays stay full, welcoming guests, and the like-when the Mother-to-Be starts to open her gifts, make sure you generate a list of who bought what for later reference. This will come in handy when she's writing those Thank-You notes, and she'll appreciate that you took the time to write everything down so she didn't have to remember it all. You might also want to consider making the Mother-to-Be a memento of the occasion. Doing a little scrap book, having guests write down their parenting advice, and taking pictures are all excellent ways to commemorate the occasion, and the Mother-to-Be will be grateful to have the memories later on, when time seems to somehow go much faster than ever before.

Okay, now that you have the general idea and know a bit more about what it takes to plan a baby shower, don't be afraid to pick that date, set that time, get those invitations started, and generate that food list. You can do this...and hopefully, so can I!