The Basics of Baby Showers Regarding the Host or Hostess

At one time, it was customary for a good friend or trusted work colleague — man or woman — to host a future mother’s baby shower. However, most modern moms don’t tend to stand on tradition these days and prefer to ask someone to plan their baby shower who knows them best. The only thing that matters is that the host or hostess keeps the guest of honor’s happiness and fun at the center of their planning.

As a dear and trusted friend or close family member of a NYC mother-to-be, you are probably looking forward to helping her celebrate her joyous upcoming arrival with her and everyone she loves. If you are new to this type of event planning, you don’t need to worry. By following a few simple steps, your guest honor, along with everyone else planning to attend, will love and appreciate your hard work and dedication to making the baby shower special.

Choose the Perfect Event Date and Location

Most often, the event planners for baby showers set up the event for some point in the last two months of pregnancy. Therefore, you need to start planning the festivities when the mom-to-be has reached the five-month mark. Ask her the best date, or dates to help accommodate guests from out of town, for her before consulting with everyone she would like to invite. Let everyone know either the date, or possible dates, of the event and ask for them to respond as soon as possible. Once you have your date and approximate number of guests, start considering the best place to hold your event. If your party is too large to hold in anyone’s apartment or home, start exploring midtown NYC catering and event venues.  Then benefits of holding your event in a spacious restaurant, bar or cafe are many, including having access to furnishings, catering and an upbeat atmosphere where everyone has room to move around easily to mingle, play games and mange their baby gifts.

Once you start working with the event coordinator who specializes in private parties at the venue, you can discuss various ways to make the event even more special with their help.

Get the Word Out to Friends, Family and Colleagues With Thoughtfully Sent Invitations

As soon as you have a full list of guests, you can start sending out electronic invitations to most guests. You can easily use your email’s designated invitation feature to track those who plan to attend and those who cannot. You can even look into online ecard companies and mobile applications that specialize in helping you design, send and track invitations. For older guests who you know do not use technology regularly, send handwritten invitations and request their RSVPs via U.S. mail.

Keep Everyone Properly Fueled and Hydrated to Fully Enjoy the Event With Food and Refreshments

Besides keeping your guest of honor and her little one’s well-being in mind, you need to make sure everyone can pick up some snacks during the baby shower. You can even plan a full dinner menu, depending on the duration and type of party you want to plan. Even though the mom-to-be cannot indulge in her favorite wine or cocktail, she can certainly enjoy her favorite chocolate dessert or another sweet delight. Other options for refreshments include ordering finger sandwiches, veggie platters, fruit trays and buffet lines.

Keep Everyone Engaged With Games and Activities

The number one activity for your event is the gift-giving portion of the day. The guests will love the chance to watch the future mom’s face light when she sees her favorite items from the baby shower registry or something special that guests came up with on their own.
Other things you can do to keep things lively include playing the guest of honor’s favorite non-intrusive music at a low level, come up with game ideas and activities, and take plenty of photographs.

A few games you might consider for the baby shower include:

• Guess the Baby Items In the Bag. Place several different items in several different bags, and ask guests to guess the contents.
• Guess the Baby Food Flavor. Choosing your timing of this game carefully to avoid spoiling brunch, lunch, dinner or snacking since split pea puree isn’t everyone’s ideal cuisine. Blindfold guests while tasting since the colors of the baby foods can sometimes give away the item.

Most of All, Keep It Light and Fun

Most of the time, everyone at the baby shower simply wants to share their joy over the new arrival, so keep things upbeat, and all should go well.