Three weeks ago my mom and sister threw me a baby shower to celebrate our baby boy arriving in about a month and a half. It was such a lovely day and I even had two of my long distance friends fly in for the shower, which meant so much.
Although I was so happy with how the day turned out, being the center of attention stresses me out, so I wanted a low key shower. I also wanted it to be simple and not extremely time consuming for my guests, because I recognize baby showers aren’t what everyone wants to do on their weekend 😉 We ended up choosing to host it on a Sunday and kept it simple with brunch food, a few games, and gifts. And if I am calculating my pregnancy correctly (idk why but pregnancy math confuses me), I was 30 weeks for the shower. When choosing dates, I wanted to be around that 30-week mark to minimize the chance of being super uncomfortable as I get closer to my due date.
My mother-in-law made the most beautiful welcome sign for our baby shower, and I’m so grateful! It was just the right size—once we filled the house with decor (and later, people), it fit perfectly near the front door.
Finding a dress for my shower was a lot more stressful than it should have been. I am not the type of girl who wanted to wear a skin-tight dress showing off my bump as I much prefer something flowy and comfortable. And even though the shower was at the end of February during the Colorado winter, I was gravitating more towards spring/summer sundresses 🤷♀️ After a few rounds of online shopping and subsequent returns, I settled on this dress from Alter’d State.
We setup prediction cards (purchased from Etsy) in the living room for my shower guests to fill out. It was fun reading everyone’s name, date, and weight predictions after the shower. Plus, there was a section where people added some words of wisdom.
My mom, dad, and Allie came over the day before the shower to try and get ahead of some of the decorating. While it was great to setup the decor and prepare the kitchen, we should have waited to fill up the balloons. The arch ended up deflating substantially overnight so on Sunday morning before the shower, Paul and I got creative and replaced some of the balloons, plus added a few reinforcements he picked up from the grocery store. My mom purchased this balloon arch set from Amazon, which also came with the stackable BABY boxes. Note: she bought two tanks of helium separately, but the arch was perfect for the shower. Just be prepared to fill up A LOT of balloons.
We had three games, which included guess how many animal crackers are in the baby bottle, a baby shower themed family feud, and what would Olivia rather. I was worried that the what would Olivia rather game would be too easy and we’d have multiple winners so I went a bit overboard and arranged three backup prizes (white boxes in the picture above). Luckily, each game ended with only one winner, so there were no awkward ties. And then I gave my two friends who flew into for the shower and my sister the leftover prizes.
Last minute, we decided to display my disposable camera for guests to snap pictures, but only a few polaroids were taken by me and some of my friends before the shower got too busy. If I were to do it over, I’d put the camera in the kitchen or living room rather than the entry table. Once people showed up to the shower, they didn’t really hang out where the camera was until it was time to leave.
We ended up finding a local small business to make these adorable animal-themed sugar cookies. I chose to give them out as party favors and ensured there were plenty for friends to bring home to their husbands and kids.
This wasn’t the entire food spread, but we arranged donuts, muffins, egg casseroles, parfaits, and my sister’s homemade banana bread on the center island for the ladies to graze on. We kept it simple with disposable paper products, which made clean up easy. I couldn’t find a picture, but we also had a ‘mom-mosa’ bar with champagne and a variety of juices. We purchased these signs from Etsy and were able to customize them to match the different sections of the shower (food, gifts, predictions, favors, etc).
I’m beyond grateful for my mom, sister, and mother-in-law, who put so much love and effort into making this day so special. Their support, along with the friends and family who showed up to celebrate with me, meant the world. Feeling so loved and surrounded by such an amazing community made this baby shower unforgettable. I can’t wait for this little one to meet all the wonderful people who already care so much!
Want more Miss Olivia Says? Check out my latest posts HERE and HERE and HERE
xoxo Olivia
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