Ideas for a Baby Shower

If she is not concerned with gifts then you should ask that people not bring them. If she is really concerned with transporting them, she should pay to ship them. I do think it is rude/tacky/improper to invite people to a shower and ask them to pay extra to have the gift shipped.

If she wants an intimate shower, I'd suggest a small brunch. My cousin did this and it was very nice.

I personally think its rude to ask anyone to ask for specific types of gifts (gift cards vs a register) ship gifts, donate for shipping etc. While showers were originally designed to help the new parents start out with the necessities for the baby. How could one baby possibly need things from THREE showers?? It seems greedy and a bad case of the gimmes. If cost of shipping the gifts back home are a concern, how about having one shower and consolidating the expense of the showers and using that money to ship things back home?? Gifts are gifts, and people that expect more than just that are wrong in my book.

Best Wishes on being a new Aunt and good luck with the shower(s)!!
Lisa J.

I had a shower for a friend that lives in California. Just somehow put in the invitation that she will be traveling out of town. Most people figured out to just give her gift cards. It is tacky to ask people to ship gifts. If they want to give her a big gift, they will ship it on their own. Icnclude her address on the invitation.

I have done an out of state shower before and in the invites, I included a starbucks card (~$5). I told people to bring the starbucks coffee to my house (with light snacks provided) and if they wanted to get her a gift, please put it in the form of a gift card. What people did was found a picture of the gift, and attached it to the gift card. I actually had people put coupons with the gift card so she could save. Once everyone gathered they all had their coffee and we could just sit around and talk/celebrate the new life on the way. I didn't hear anyone complain about this idea and she got a ton of gift cards for a lot of great things!

Try a gift card shower. That way, your sister can just put the gift cards in her purse and purchase (or have delivered) what she wants. If you'd like to make it even more special; have each attendee put the gift card in a book to be read to the baby. Each book should have an inscription from the giver. If you want to avoid duplicates, ask each person to find a specific book. This will increase the baby book library, but keep the gifts small enough to carry.

To make this a personal shower, think about this. Have an advice/wishes and hopes book. Get a 3 ring binder and have "seasoned" moms offer advice for getting the baby to sleep, favorite stories etc. Have all attendees offer wishes and hopes for "Baby Smith" (if you know the name already use it) on their own sheet of paper. This way, mom will have a momento of the personal wishes each attendee has/had for the baby.

I had a shower for my out-of-town sister some years ago, and it was a Gift Card Shower. We did a Registry and asked the guests to choose a gift they wanted to present write the item in the Gift Card. This way she was able to purchase specific things from specific people without having to ship thinsg home.

I would find it tacky to ask people to ship the presents. That's asking them to spend money on a gift, plus spend money to ship the gift. Personally, if I was asked to do that I would either purchase a cheaper gift than I had planned on and then ship that OR I would just get a gift card for her with the amount that I planned on spending. You could do a "Gift Card Shower" where people just bring Gift Cards as the gift, explaining that your sister doesn't have much room to transport gifts home. You may have a few people that will still bring a small gift, but that at least reduces the amount your sister needs to bring back. The other advantage to this, is that your sister can use the cards to get what she needs, either combining several small cards to the same place to get a bigger object, or picking up a bunch of little things. They can also be held onto for after the baby has arrived and used for items that may not have been thought about before - or the much needed diapers and wipes.

It sounds like she may have plenty of gifts. Have you thought about doing just a type of blessing for her, invite some intimate friends and family and just celebrate her as an upcoming mother instead of giving her gifts. Some friends just did this for me and it meant 10 times more then a shower would. You can google blessingway or mother blessing to get some ideas on what to do.

Instead of doing a baby shower do a mommy to be shower, invite everyone out to a spa for a mani, pedi ect.. which everyone donates for the mom to be's cost, then go to lunch again with donations toward mom to bes cost the see a movie or theater show that way she gets a day to feel special and unwind and her other two showers can be focused on baby and yours will be focused on your sister. Hope I helped.

E.

The mama advice journal is a terrific idea. I put one together for my best friend as she was the last one in our crowd to have kids and we all picked a different topic to write about. Some were touching, some were funny, but it was darling when it was all compiled and I bet she still has it.

My mom had the guests at my baby shower all write a personal note to the baby about me. They wrote funny stories about my childhood or mentioned special things about their relationship with me. All the notes went in a binder that I just unearthed and re-read as my son recently graduated from high school. They were lovely notes to read at the time and still so meaningful eighteen years later.

The gift request is a little touchy for me. I personally love to buy really special, personal gifts and don't like to go the gift card route. Most of the time, I don't even go the registry route. Does she still need something significant for her nursery that everyone can go in on? Given the distance factor, as a guest I would probably consider something like that. If she's set with all her basics, what about a really special piece of art? Just a thought as I don't know your crowd or your sister. From your post, it sounds like she's pretty well set since she seems kind of unconcerned with the gifts. I'd definitely go group gift (or collect gifts and do group shipping) before asking people to ship things individually.

Have a lovely shower and feel free to reply if you'd like some art suggestions. I know of some great stuff! L.

I would suggest a scrapbook page, giftcard theme. Each guest would be required to bring 2 scrapbook pages (some people don't scrapbook, so just have a few on hand just incase)
One page would be used for the guest to make for the mom. Something with good wishes, or fond memories. The second would be for the mom to use to create her own scrapbook of the shower. Take plenty of pictures to provide her with. Request that all gifts be in the form of a gift card, that way she can shop for what she needs, and not worry about shipping...and trust me...the guests will find it alot easier to shop for a giftcard than a gift! Makes it easier on them!
A cute activity you can do is to buy a few packs of plain white onesies, and get fabric paints and markers, the guests could decorate them all together and socialize.

A lot of great suggestions....
Some thoughts, you can do a theme, such as crib linens/towels & washcloths/blankets/clothes - if the shower is kept small, these should fit in a suitcase to go back. She'd just need to bring or borrow an empty suitcase with her to go back.

If you don't want to specify what type of gift, she can always return all the big stuff and repurchase at her local store? A bit of a pain, but an option. (Although, I know how busy I am and it would be a little disheartening to know I wasted my time even bothering....)

Gift cards can sometimes be hard because some people actually have coupons that they would've used on the larger items. But then again, they can just do a gift card for what they planned on spending.

Really, shipping isn't always horrendous and maybe some immediate family may help absorb the cost by contributing...but I wouldn't ask everyone to do so. You could certainly put a note with the invitation that the couple welcomes gifts shipped to their home, if the giver chooses to do so. I think most people attending realize that the gifts will have to get there, anyways!

I have to second the book idea over a card - help build up her library for her baby!! There's a poem (search online) which is good to include to let guests know to sign their name to a book instead of a card.

Oh, another idea would be to have a scrapbook party/shower where each person customizes a page in a scrapbook that mom will get to take home. You can have themes set aside for each page (Mommy & me, Daddy & me, grandparents, first bath, one month, two month, etc., or a letter of the alphabet for each page with a word or animal to go along with it Adorable, Baby, Cutie...Alligator, Bee, Caterpillar...) - get the paper and embellishments and set aside for each theme then people can choose or draw a name out and design that page, leaving a spot for a picture to be put in later.

Intimate showers are a lot of fun - you can keep it traditional, plan a pampering type thing, or think way outside the box. I do like the ideas in creating a mommy's advice book. I've seen this done as the guestbook for the shower or as pages where people can write it out at their seat and are later collected.

Best wishes! Congrats to your sister!

Where is she registering? Let the store take care of this.

Three showers in one weekend! That's alot and certainly if she lives so far away then it would be a concern about transporting everything.

I would do something private and small...maybe something at someone's home. An outdoor garden party type thing, or if it's too hot something cozy inside. Depending on the number of people you can do a nice chicken salad type food with a trifle for dessert.

As far as the gifts, you could ask people to ship them, or ask people to keep them small intimate gifts for mom (like all natural lotions, teas etc... there are many great sites for stuff like this) and then YOU could offer to ship them to her home. Box them up and ship via United States Post Office. As long as they are small then there shouldn't be a big cost involved.

www.earthmamaangelbaby.com has some great gift ideas.

I would have this focus more on mom then on baby. Baby gets so much ... and often times the needs of mom are forgotten. The above site has some great products .... soothing bottom spray, herbal tea to help recovery after birth ... just to name a couple.

Personally, I think one of the best parts of the shower is watching the new mom open the gifts and seeing all the cute baby stuff. I might be a little offended if I put the effort into buying a gift and didn't get to see it opened...but then you do have extenuating circumstances with that many showers and a long drive home. Those baby gear boxes are huge!

There was one idea at my shower that I loved, it doesn't really have anything to do with the concerns you posted though. Instead of each person bringing cards they wrote their personal message in their favorite children's book. There is a little poem to explain it that can be sent with invitations, if your interested just message me.
Good Luck!

The best gifts that I received at my baby shower was our book collection. We asked everyone to bring their favorite book instead of a card. We have a beautiful collection!

You could have a book and gift card shower. That way she would not have any large items to transport. Our favorite books are Barefoot Books and my son an I just become stallholders. Check out my website at www.mywahmbiz.com.

We could do a baby shower registry if you are interested!

I think my suggestion for this would be to have everyone simply get her a giftcard to the stores/ websites that she is interested in getting items from!! Sounds to me that she has the wrong idea as to what a "Shower" is all about. As far as I knew, a shower what a gathering of friends and family to help the couple/mother celebrate this new arrival or congratulate them. By simply sending the items to her home defeats the purpose of even getting together. If she is sticking to her guns and wants everyone to send her the gifts so she can rip on how much was spent without the person being there, then your job is pretty easy!! You don't have to do anything!! No party !!

Stacy, here's an idea for you that could accomodate all your sister's specifics. I am a consultant for Jordan Essentials, natural based skin care for the entire family. We do in home 'spa' shows, and one of them is designed around a baby shower, that treat spoil and pamper your guests with spa treatments and massage. It is a relaxed intimate atmosphere, and the best part is all products ordered for the mom to be can be drop shipped to her home. Contact me at email: ____@____.com or Phone: ###-###-#### for more information on products or babyshower.

R.

If people don't want to ship gifts, they could always do gift cards. I know they are informal, but some people may not want to pay shipping costs. Another option would be for you to collect the gifts after the shower, and then have them shipped to your sister's house. I don't think most people would like to ship their presents. You could also ask your guests to each buy their favorite childhood book to stock bookshelves. Books don't take a lot of space or are expensive to ship. I hope some of these ideas help.

Hello,

I just had a baby shower recently for my soon to be born first baby. I think it could be taken very wrong if you ask that the gifts be shipped to your sister. A lot of times people really enjoy seeing the reaction of the soon to be mom when she opens the gifts. Also, people like to see all the cute things that are purchased. It may be something that really turns people off and I know it wouldn't be intentional but it should be considered before you go that route.

Hope this information is helpful,

K. P.

I have had two showers for nieces that live out of state. At one shower everyone donated a bit of money and we shipped the presents back to her home. The cost did not fall on any one person. The second time I wrote (and I don't remember the words now) a poem in the invitation that encouraged everyone to get her a gift certificate to the same store. We gave her this certificate as one gift from everyone. (she was not aware of how much anyone donated) This way she was able to buy what she needed that she did not get from any of her other showers. I also bought gift cards form the same store and after the games were done she got a gift card to that store as her prize for the games.

R.

I think its very rude to ask for them to ship the gifts if they buy it u should get it home. I just had my sister an baby shower she lives out of state on the invitations we politily asked that do to traveling arrangements please have small gifts or gift cards would be very much appreciated a few guest made sure the store was in her state they ordered the gift gave her the receipt and she will beable to pick it up from store with receipt upon her return home. For the shower we did not focus on gifts we played games, socialized, helped with names, and ate we had a ball. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SHOWER!!