Calendar Baby Shower

by Rachel
(United States)

I am planning a baby shower for my sister in-law, and we decided on a calendar theme. We gave each guest a different month, so they will bring gifts that the baby can use throughout his first year. Do you have any suggestions on decorations, games or food that would go with this?

Our Answer:

Hi Rachel,

A calendar themed baby shower sounds like lots of fun! An underlying theme since the gifts are being purchased by month could be raising a child, filled with advice and helpful safety tips or making the most of the precious time you have as your child grows.

Decorations: It would be fun to decorate for the seasons. You can separate them or have them mixed together. Fresh cut flowers for the food table. Hang stars from the ceiling. A sun or moon on the wall. Christmas lights for ambience. Greenery. If you have some flowly material like organza or chiffon it can really add elegance to the room. Gather fun things from each season to display. It doesn't have to be extravagant, but some small touches can really add alot. I like the pearlized balloons because they look elegant. If you have some main colors chosen, you can decorate around that.

If you have access to her mom or husband or someone that can get you some childhood pictures that might also be fun to display. Have a picture of her as a baby, a child, a teenager, maybe a wedding picture and most recent picture. Then have a cute saying about the seasons of life.

Here is some tableware that is cute...I don't know if she is having a girl or boy but it reminds me of the seasons.

Activity Ideas:

Advice cards- pass out cards as the guests arrive. Have them write parenting advice in question and answer format with the question on one side and the answer on the other side. After you receive the cards back, shuffle them and hand them back out the guests. Have the first guest read the first question and the next guess will read the answer from their card. The responses will be really funny since they do not go together at all. Then that person will read the question from their card and the next person will read the answer from theirs. This a great ice breaker and also gives the new mom great advice that she can keep and use later as she is rasing her child.

The price is right with baby items:
Play the price is right and have guests try to guess the actual price of baby items. It might also be fun to look up prices of the same items in years past. It could be a good chuckle to find that way back when bread was 5 cents or a candy bar was a penny.

I also like to include something personal with the baby showers I do. If you can get a letter written from her mom to her about her growing up or find a poem about a child growing and how precious time is...it could add alot to the party.

For food, it just depends on whether you are planning to serve a full meal or not. We have lots of great recipes in our baby shower recipe section and then there are some additional ideas in our reader recipe section. With summer coming up, there will be lots of fruits available in which you can use for the shower. Chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate fondue with sliced fruits, a watermelon baby carriage with a fruit salad are some things you can do with the seasons fruits.

I hope that helps. Good luck planning the baby shower!