It’s up to you to plan a baby shower of a budget. With a little imagination, you can throw a beautiful party without mortgaging the house.
Planning a shower doesn’t require a massive amount of talent, and it doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. Even if you only have 1 creative cell in your body, you can use it to create a lovely display honoring the mommy to be and her precious baby.
MOM, CAN YOU HELP?
My daughter called and said, “Mom, can you help me brainstorm for a baby shower on a budget?” I was delighted, even though I knew what she really was saying was, “Mom, I know yall are traveling, just mail whatever you come up with for the shower!”
I probably said something like “really?”, but secretly I jumped at the opportunity to be involved. Now that I think of it, it was probably not a secret, my girls know me well, and would know what that call would result in.
A FEW THINGS TO CONSIDER
Planning a baby shower on a budget is easy, and the first thing you need to do is to consider a few things.
- Where will the shower be?
- When will the shower be?
- How many guests will be invited?
- What is the theme?
- What food will be served?
Answering these 5 questions will give you a start for planning a baby shower on a budget.
WHERE?
Family members or friends usually host baby showers, so you don’t need to worry about venue expenses. Our shower was held in the home of a relative so we didn’t have that expense.
WHEN? HOW MANY?
Set your date and send invitations. In today’s settings, social media is one way of inviting people to events but try to remember that some people don’t have social media and may not get the invitation.
Our shower was going to be a small one, more like a sprinkle than a full-blown shower. We were expecting no more than 30 guests.
THEME?
The baby shower theme was Elephants, so I made printable decorations featuring elephants. I found several royalty-free elephant images online, in addition to other baby shower images that can be used royalty-free. I also purchased some images on Etsy for $2. All the printables I created for the party were made online using Canva, but you can use any graphics software that you like.
The first image I created was an 8×10 sign welcoming guest to the shower, and I framed it in a Dollar Tree frame.
My daughter wanted 3 games for the shower. I created signs for the shower games and framed them with Dollar Tree frames as well.
FOOD?
We knew we were expecting a baby boy so naturally “boy baby shower foods” were my Pinterest key words. There are a few things I strongly believe in: God, family/friends, and Pinterest! Pinterest is full of great ideas for almost any topic you search for and I found lots of ideas there.
NUTTER BUTTER BABIES
My first finger food to create was Nutter Butter Babies. These little snacks are made with Nutter Butter cookies dipped into blue melting wafers and decorated with brown tube icing and candy eyes.
- $6.56 – 2 packs nutter butter cookies
- $6.99 – 3-pack Wilton Blue Candy Melts (enough for the Nutter Butter Babies and dipped pretzels) Walmart
- $2.69 Candy eyes Target
This made 64 Nutter Butter Babies. I put them in tiny snack bags that I already had, but you can purchase them from Walmart for 75 for $1.
DIPPED PRETZELS
The second finger food project was dipped pretzel rods.
- $3.06 – 2 packages of pretzel rods (66 rods)
- Wilton Blue Candy Melts (leftover from the Nutter Butter Babies)
- $2.63 Pretzel Cello bags (75)
- .25 GARAGE sale tin (decorated with leftover cupcake pick circles) and scrap ribbon
RICE CRISPY TREAT BITES
Next on the snack food list was Rice Crispy Treat Bites. They were cute into small bite-size pieces and melted wafers were drizzled over them.
- $2.98 Rice crispy cereal Walmart
- $2.24 Jet-Puffed Marshmallows 24 oz bag
- $2.98 Butter ( 1 stick makes two batches)
50 CUPCAKES
The girls were making the cupcakes so I made cupcake picks and used bamboo skewers that I already had. I cut them down to the right size and sandwiched them between two circles with baby elephants on them.
- $3.36 – 3 boxes of chocolate cake mix (makes 60 – 64)
- $1.89 EGGS
- $2.19 OIL
- $3.00 – 2 cans icing
They served water with powdered flavoring.
- $6 – 2 cases of water
- $4 – 2 bags of ice
- $5.76 Flavor packets (2 boxes )
TABLE DECORATIONS
We needed a centerpiece arrangement, so I made a bouquet made from baby socks. I also made 3 smaller arrangements to sit around on other tables.
I took 3 jars, spray painted them and made little arrangements in them with leftover flowers from the centerpiece arrangements.
All four arrangements cost me a total of $13.
PARTY FAVORS FOR GUESTS
Every party needs party favors to send home with their guests. Our baby shower was no different. Michael’s craft store had tealights for 5.99 for a bag of 100.
I covered the sides of the tealights with glitter tapes in shades of blue. The tape came in a 3-pack for 5.99 a pack but I had a coupon for 40% off. I needed two packs of tape, so I got my daughter to go with me to use her coupon for the other one. (a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do).
- $7.18 Tape total
- $4.79 bag of 100 tealights with 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby
- $2.00 roll of tulle
- $1 curling ribbon (Dollar Tree)
I used tulle and curling ribbon to wrap the tealights. You can see a quick tutorial here.
THE SETUP
We were traveling, so I did a mock setup in my camper so my daughter could see how it would look set up. Don’t judge, I know it looks a little weird that the shower table resembles a day bed.
Of course, my camper didn’t have an 8 ft table that I could use, but it does have a day bed. So I improvised and used the day bed as a table and set everything up just so they could get an idea of what it would look like. These are those pictures!
These were photo booth props that were made from free baby-themed images. I enlarged them, printed them off and attached them to precut dowel rods I found at Walmart for $2.49 for a package of 12.
I added up what the shower cost, and it was just under $100. That included food, drink, cupcakes, decorations, a photo booth props, and party favors.
Not too bad for a baby shower on a budget…in a box…shipped 927 miles!
To see other parties I attend click here
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