Planning a baby shower

My niece is pregnant with her first baby. We have always been close so I let her know that I would help her with any thing she needed help with in getting ready for the baby. There are many things to do in getting ready for a baby. We needed to prepare a room for the baby as well as purchase items that are needed when adding a baby into the home. I told my niece that I wanted to have a shower for her and her husband. I encouraged her to register at a number of local department stores for things that were needed for the baby.

Planning a baby shower takes some time. The major time factor was coordinating things with my niece. In planning a baby shower I wanted to make sure that I was including everyone that she wanted to invite. I was taking extra care in this because when my sister had a baby shower for a friend she had invited people that the mother to be did not want at the shower. This made for an uncomfortable time for everyone.

The other part of planning a baby shower that is difficult is deciding when the shower is to take place. My niece wanted to wait until after the baby arrived so that the people attending the shower could see the baby. This was fine, except that some of the items on her gift register were for things that are needed as soon as the baby arrives home. My niece mentioned that one of her co-workers was also planning a baby shower for her. I got the name of the co-worker so that we could coordinate the two baby showers to best fit with my niece’s wishes.

When I spoke with the co-worker planning a baby shower I found out that she was planning on having the shower the last day my niece was scheduled to work before the beginning of her maternity leave. I explained that I was planning to have a shower after the birth of the baby. We decided that we would tell the guests this so they could pick out their gifts accordingly. I would be including relatives and she would include co-workers, so people would not be invited to two showers.

When planning a baby shower you can get cards from the department stores where the mother has registered to place in the shower invitations. Having these cards to insert cuts down on the amount of information you need to write on the invitations.

Planning a baby shower should include as much input from the new parents as possible. Try to include the new dad also so he is not feeling left out of the process. The baby shower should concentrate on celebrating the new life of a child.