hi moms! it was not that long ago that i posted a question about having a long distance baby shower for my sister. we have not had it yet, but the ideas were good ones, thank you. this is my problem now, she is coming for a visit on march 26 and will be here until april 4th. she wants to have the party while she is home, but it might not be as good a turn out. i just don't know how to approach the situation, this will be the last time i see her for a while and i want it to be a good thing. due to the last minute notice i was thinking maybe just keeping it low key. like have it on a friday night and have some chicken and mosstoccoli, she loves those foods and they don't have it all over where she lives now. please help me. she is a very simple person so i probably won't need all the decorations and the party favors and the center pieces. i guess thats good for me.
any input would be good. thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think your idea of keeping it simple is excellent. It's best to think about what your sister wants and give her those things. Dress the table up with a beautiful flower bouquet of her favorite flowers. Go to Dollar Tree, get some pretty napkins and enjoy memories and good conversation. Have fun-don't stress!
I would talk to her about the situation and tell her you want to do something, but you aren't sure about attendance since it's kind of last minute. Were you planning to invite a ton of people and you need a place to have it? If it's not too many, I would think it would be more relaxing at your house for both you and your sister.
People usually send a gift even if they can't attend the shower, so she still should get some gifts even if the turnout is low.
As far as the food goes, I don't know if any of the guests will be Catholic, but on Fridays during Lent, we don't eat meat. So unless you have meatless mostoccoli, your Catholic guests won't have anything to eat. So some meatless option would be welcomed by those people.
M.
Hi C.,
I threw a low-key baby shower for my sister in law a few years ago when she was in town for Chrismastime (so you can imagine it was a busy time!) We ended up with 7 of us, mostly family, and it was a brunch-type lunch at my house. I love to cook so I made food but ordering in her favorite foods is a great idea! I put a light yellow tablecloth on the table (that I already had), a bouquet of flowers in the middle, and tied a single balloon to each chair. It was pretty but simple, and she got to open some gifts and celebrate her impending arrival with us, which was the real point of it. So don't stress about it- it's the thought that counts, and whatever you do I'm sure will be great! You don't need to spend a lot of money on decorations. In the invite, you could request that guests bring an inexpensive book or stuffed animal (unwrapped) on the side and that can become your centerpiece(s) for the tables, or you can present the new mom with a "library" for her new baby! Best wishes with your planning.
Hey C.!! Thanks for thinking of me. The timing is really tight so I can understand your need for help. I would actually call invites because that is faster than mail. Then you can also get a count really quickly. For me, it seems like Friday's are busier than a week evening depending on the time. Since it is for dinner you could do it earlier in the evening and it wouldn't go too late for those that work. You would also not run into problems with anyone with Lent like another mama mentioned. I like the idea of the food especially since she can't get it where she is. It will make her feel special. You could still do some of the activities that you were going to do at the long distance shower if you wanted. Scrapbook pages would still be really neat for her to put in a baby book, etc. Otherwise I would just have fun with each other. One nice thing would be to do like a spa evening where you all can soak your feet and pamper yourselves, etc. Remember how nice it would have been to soak your feet when you were pregnant. If she gets any large gifts, I would still return them for gift cards that she can use at home for the same items instead of trying to haul everything home. In a way it is still a long distance shower because she still has to get everything home. I will add anything else I can think of soon, but for now, I need to get my DD into bed. Thanks for thinking of me and let me know how it all turns out.
H.
