Tina & Terrys Baby Shower ~ Tips on Hosting a Frugal Baby Shower

The baby shower for our youngest daughter and her husband went great.  The problem is, as hostess, I had no time for photos. I can't believe that I did not get one single photo.   I am going to take a few of miscellaneous things from the shower for this post just to show the frugal way we pulled it off.

First: Store bought baby showers are too expensive.  I made my own.

Second, Store bought decoration are a waste of money because they are just thrown away or stored and forgotten, once the shower is over.  We decorated with items that could be used for the baby.  For instance, the baby room is decorated with the theme of Teddie bears so we used Teddie bears as centerpieces.  We did tie balloons to them to give them that baby shower appeal.  We also bought lots of baby socks and booties.  They were thrown around the table to add that baby feel. 

Third:  In the baby shower announcement I made the following  "friendly suggestions":

Instead of a card ~ Add a childrens story book

Instead of a boy on the package ~ add a rattler, baby brush or other small item

Instead of a ribbon ~ Add a bib

Instead of wrapping paper ~ Wrap give in the comic section, receiving blanket or baby hooded towel

Fourth: I added the following:  As a start on the college Fund ~ There will be a Piggy Bank to add loose change in.  ( MY husband made the piggy Bank)

Firth:  This was a Co~Ed Baby shower. We are big on family.  All the door prizes and gifts were family oriented.  A cute gift bag containing a DVD, Bowl of microwave popcorn and a box of hot chocolate.

Sixth: The RSVP suggested a quick text to confirm attendance.

Seventh:  Food was homemade from scratch.  I hate 4 Cupcake trees.  I made Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing, Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting, Peanut butter cupcakes with Peanut butter frosting.  Everyone just loved the cupcakes and thought it was a better choice than a cake.

Eighth:  I used the baskets that I had on hand and used blue ribbon to make them follow the theme.  I had a basket with mints, silverware rolled in napkin with blue ribbon tied around them.

Ninth:  I made a fruit tray and vegetable tray with my homemade dips.  We did purchase the potato chips.

Tenth: I had some crystal baskets that I had purchased years ago for one of the girls wedding shower. I used them and put them back in the box. So I just took them and filled them up with M&M's and set in the center of each table. We had bought the M&M's on clearance.

Eleventh:  I typed up the addresses for the Baby Shower invitations and printed off two copies.  I gave Tina one copy so she would not have to write them on the envelope.  She can just take the stickers and sick them on the Thank You Notes.

By using things like the baskets, cloth napkins, and such.  There was little waste.  We did purchase the cups, plates, napkins and silverware.

The games turned out to be a big hit.

1.   I cut copy paper in half and gave each person a piece.  They were to pair up in twos.  One person held the paper on their partners head.  The other had to draw a baby on the paper.  This was really fun.  They then exchanged jobs.  Each person then put their name on the back of the paper.  Tina and Terry chose the one that looked most like a baby.  It was so funny.  Some of them looked like floating clouds.  Some I am not sure what they drew. LOL

2.  I used puzzle maker online and took boys names (the baby is a boy) and made a word search puzzle.  They had 5 minutes to find the names.  The one with the most names won the prize.   One lady never did find a name. LOL The winner found 24 names.

3. I took 4 jars of baby food.  Took the labels off and numbered the label on the back with the matching number on the bottom of the jar.  Each person was given a soon to test one jar of food.  They then wrote down the number that was on the bottom of the jar and their guess.  I bought baby food that was mixed so it would not be easy. It was so funny to see the faces of the people as they tasted what they the food.

4. I printed up an attribute paper.  It had several lists of attributes and they were to guess what the parents hoped the baby would have in the form of attributes.  Such as eyes, temper, ears, smile.  They had to put a check by in the box that said either "mom" or " Dad".  It was really fun.

5.  I put a number on each package and just before Tina and Terry started opening packages, I had each attendee to draw a tic tack tow board on the back of one of their games.  I then told them to put one number in each block of the board.  The number was to be between 1- 17.  As Tina opened the packages, she yelled out the number that was on the package.  The first person to get tic tack toe won a prize.

6.  My Grandmother makes the best punch in the world!  So I called her and ask her if she would make the punch.  I was going to pay for the stuff she needed.  She was thrilled that I ask her and said that that would be her baby shower gift.  She purchased her own ingredients.  When it was time to eat, she went over and started serving punch.  I went and ask her if she wanted me to do that so she could sit down.  She said "No I am having a good time doing them".   When she left, the thanked me for giving her the opportunity participate. 

It turned out to be a great family shower.  The men participated in the games and had just as much fun as the woman.  We had babies and children.  It was a great way to involve the whole family in celebrating the upcoming birth of a new member of the family.