Aside from the actual arrival of a new baby, the biggest event for expecting parents is the baby shower.
When you’re a few months away from welcoming a new little human into the world, the very last thing on your mind is planning an event! For this reason, the planning of a baby shower usually falls to close relatives and friends, who are all very excited to have been given the honour.
We’ve seen some interesting things during our time, so thought we’d share a couple of baby shower do’s and don’ts that might surprise you!
DON’T:
Throw a surprise baby shower. There is so much that could go wrong in this scenario, that it’s better to avoid it altogether.
DO:
Check with the expecting parents to confirm their preferences in terms of guestlist, location, theme and budget.
DON’T:
Have a bar. Apart from the fact that the guest of honour herself is not able to drink, there is a high probability that there will be a few more pregnant or breastfeeding mothers present. There will also likely be a few kids at the shower too, so it’s probably best to stick to juice and tea, or, at the most, a couple of bottles of bubbly for those who want to celebrate.
DO:
Encourage guests to purchase gifts from the registry, if there is one. The parents-to-be have enough on their plate and don’t need to have the added worry of returning items that they didn’t need (or want).
DON'T:
Make it about you. While it’s a wonderful and selfless thing to throw a baby shower for someone that you love, remember that the day is about them and don’t make the mistake of planning the event of your dreams. Your perfect baby shower may not be their perfect baby shower.
DO:
Prepare a thank you note template for the expecting parents to complete and send out to the guests. They will be so grateful for the time this will save them!
DON’T:
Make the parents-to-be open all of the gifts at the shower in front of the guests. This could create a stressful environment for the parents and the guests for so many reasons. Some gifts may be smaller and less costly than others, and gifts may have been purchased that are not to the taste of the parents. Rather let the parents-to-be open the gifts privately to avoid any embarrassment or pressure.
DO:
Ask permission before sharing photographs from the day online. Make sure that the subjects of your photos are comfortable with their images being shared publicly.
Shop our baby shower collection for registry and gifting ideas <INSERT LINK>
Lots of love,
The SMK Team
