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So you’re looking to host an amazing baby shower to celebrate your brilliant news? But you’re on a budget and want to host it at home? No problem! We’ve created this guide to help you host the perfect baby shower at home. It’s full of all the best tips and ideas to make sure your party is a success.
If you’re looking for more advice, take a look at our ultimate party planning checklist. It’ll give you all the information you need to know to plan your baby shower, and it includes a free printable party planning checklist to keep you on track.
Set the Budget for your Baby Shower
No matter what type of party you’re hosting, or where you’re hosting it, you need to know the exact amount of money you want to spend before planning anything else.
Set a figure and keep a track of it. Either on paper or by using an excel document. Tracking your spending on the computer is the best way to keep an eye on the cost of your baby shower. You’re less likely to lose it and can use excel formulas to easily calculate the amount you’ve spent on each item and how much money you’ve got left.
If you’re on a tight budget, there’s no need to worry. Check out our quick party planning budget tips to help you plan an amazing baby shower without spending a fortune!
Decide on the Guest List
The number of guests you’re inviting depends on your budget (which you should have already decided!) and the amount of space you have available.
Although there are plenty of ways to maximise your space so you can host a great baby shower in a small home, it’s still important to be realistic.
Most baby showers have between 10-30 guests. But if you’re hosting in a small home, it’s best to try and stick to under 15 guests for your baby shower to be on the safe side. You might have to be a bit ruthless when deciding who’s made the cut.
If you start inviting lots of the extended family, the size of your guest list will creep up more than you think! Baby showers are usually best when just close friends and family are invited, so don’t get carried away inviting too many people, especially if you’re planning to host it in a small home.
If you want more advice deciding how many guests to invite to your baby shower, take a look at our guide to help you decide the best number of guests for your party.
Hosting a Baby Shower in a Small Home
Hopefully you’ve now decided roughly how many guests you’re inviting to your baby shower. Now it’s time to think about maximising your space to make sure there’s enough room for all your guests. Here are the best tips for hosting a baby shower in a small home…
Get Rid of Any Clutter
The first thing you need to do to maximise your party space is get rid of all the clutter. Furniture or ornaments that don’t serve a purpose at your baby shower need to go elsewhere. Moving clutter either upstairs or in a garage is a great way to help host a party in a small space.
Think About Re-arranging the Furniture
Stackable chairs are a great space saver. You can have them upstairs to keep your main party space free, and bring them out if more of your guests want to sit down.
If your living room is square-shaped, rather than rectangular, it’s best to have all of your furniture on the edge of the room and your food and drinks tables in the middle to maximise the space. Your guests are likely to congregate around tables, so dot them around to spread people out. You can have a few different small tables to ensure your guests can move between them without creating a queue.
But if your space is narrower instead, it can be a good idea to have one long table in the centre with all your food and drink. Then you can place chairs around the edge. This will create a flow around the area that prevents congestion when your guests are moving about.
If you don’t have enough room for many chairs, you can always throw down some pillows and blankets. It’s a good space saver because more people can usually fit on a blanket than a bench and it’ll take up less room.
Have Plenty of Bins
Make sure there are enough bins at various places in your house. Number one, it’ll make the cleaning up process a lot quicker. Plus it’ll stop more people getting up and moving around creating congestion if there is a bin near them. Having a lot of people moving about is what makes your area seem smaller. When people are sat down and settled, you’re likely to feel the effects of a small space a lot less.
Stagger the Arrival Time
Another thing you can do that’ll help you host a baby shower in a small space, is to stagger the arrival time. Having a large window for your guests to arrive, stops a massive influx of people at one time. This will make it seem like the area is larger, because trying to cram everyone in at once will highlight a small space even more.
Best Baby Shower Games
Every baby shower needs some great games to keep the guests entertained. Here are 5 of our favourite baby shower games that you can play if you’re hosting at home.
Baby Food Taste Test
What you’ll need:
- Small pots
- 5 flavours of baby food
- Pen and paper
- Spoons
How to play:
- Simply add some baby food to each pot and arrange them in a line on a table and label them 1-5. Remember to record what flavour is in each pot.
- Each guest must taste the baby food and write down what they think each flavour is.
- The guest with the most correct answers wins!
Wrap the Mummy!
What you’ll need:
- Plenty of loo roll!
How to play:
- Split your guests into teams of three.
- Each team must decide who is the “mummy” and who is doing the wrapping.
- Set a timer for 1 minute and each team must wrap their “mummy” in loo roll covering them as much as possible.
- You then decide which team has done the best job!
Guess the Famous Mum
What you’ll need:
- A sheet of paper for each team with 10 pictures of famous mums on them.
- Pens for each team
How to play:
- Print out a sheet of paper with 10 pictures of famous mums on them.
- Split your guests into teams.
- Give each team the sheet of paper and give them 5 minutes to write down the name of each famous mum on them.
- The team that guesses the most correctly wins!
Dummy Bobbing
What you’ll need:
- Large tub
- 10 dummies
How to play:
- Fill the tub full of water and put it in a room where you don’t mind water spilling.
- Add all the dummies and let the guests take it in turn trying to bob for dummies without using their hands.
- Wash and sterilise the dummies and replace the water after each guest takes their turns.
Ice Ice Baby
What you’ll need:
- Ice cube tray
- Mini plastic baby dolls
How to play:
- Before the party, freeze each plastic doll in an ice cube tray.
- Give an ice cube to each guest.
- The first guest to melt the ice to get the plastic doll out wins!
Baby Shower Food Ideas
There are plenty of food options for your baby shower at home.
The cheapest option is to sort out the catering yourself. It doesn’t have to be too difficult either, you can ask for help from your friends and family to take the pressure off.
If you don’t want to ask your guests to help, plenty of supermarkets offer a service where you can order buffet food in advance and collect it on the day of your party.
Check out our ultimate party food guide to help decide the best option for your birthday party at home.
Here are some party food ideas to get you started!
Best Party Snacks
- Pigs in blankets
- Sliders
- Bruschetta
- Baguette pizza
- Deviled eggs
Great Party Main Dishes
- Curry
- Enchiladas
- Pasta bake
- Caserole
- Salads
Easy Party Desserts
- Cheesecake
- Tarts
- Cupcakes
- Mousse
- Brownies
Baby Shower Drink Ideas
You’ll also need some party drinks to serve to your guests at your baby shower. Why not try a refreshing raspberry lemonade or homemade cola?
Raspberry Lemonade Recipe (serves 10)
Ingredients:
- Lemonade 5 litres
- 50g raspberries
- Sugar syrup 250ml
- Juice from 5 Lemons
Simply mix the raspberries, lemonade, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice, strain and serve. You could also try garnishing it with raspberries and a lemon slice.
Homemade Cola (serves 10)
Ingredients:
- Juice from 2 1/2 limes
- Juice from 2 1/2 oranges
- Juice from 5 lemons
- 10 drops cardamom essential oil
- 10 drops nutmeg essential oil
- 10 drops cinnamon essential oil
- 20 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 20 teaspoons maple syrup
This non-alcoholic party drink is sure to impress your guests. Add your ingredients to a glass, add ice and top with soda. Be sure to use quality, edible essential oils.
If you want more drink recipes to serve at your at home baby shower, check out our list of the 10 best party drinks!
Baby Shower Invitations
You can go for a casual text if you’re not inviting many people, or even a group email can work well. Handwritten invitations offer a personal touch, but are often time consuming.
If you want an easy and quick way of sending your invitations, make a Facebook event. It’ll allow you to add everyone in one go, and keeps a track of everyone’s response so you know exactly who’s coming.
Decorations
You can go to your local party supply store to find a range of great decorations that won’t cost a fortune. There are loads of ideas online too, so hop on Amazon or Ebay to find some inspiration for your birthday party at home. If you’ve picked a theme for your party, you’ll have no trouble finding some great decorations to complete the look!
Shindigz is a great online party supply store that you can use to find great decoration ideas with over 34,000 party supplies for every occasion and next day delivery!
Stumps Party is another awesome party supply store offering custom event supplies and regular deals and discounts.
So that’s it! Now you should have plenty of ideas to plan an amazing baby shower at home! Don’t forget to take a look at our party planning timeline to make sure you’ve got everything covered.
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