A baby shower is a wonderful occasion, a time when family and friends come together to celebrate the soon-to-arrive or the already born baby. When hosting a baby shower, the truth is that it is easy to become carried away. After all, there are so many exciting choices for decorations, cakes, and gifts, finding where to draw the line it tough. If you are planning to host a baby shower but need to keep to a firm budget, we have some tips to help.
Start by reminding yourself that to create a magical shower, you do not have to spend a fortune. Therefore, determine the number of people that will attend so you can set a realistic budget. In this case, you want to adjust the party to the budget, not the budget to the party. In other words, if your budget was for 20 people but now you find 35 are coming, you can still host an amazing shower although you will need to buy a little more carefully. With good planning and knowing where to shop, you can accommodate the extra people with no problem.
When you buy, look at stores you might never consider. For instance, the Dollar Store or Dollar General has gained a reputation for selling “junk” but in truth, they have many name brands and quality items that are discounted to as much as 80%. Therefore, when it comes to invitations, candles, baby shower favors, and other small items, check it out. Now, what you want to avoid is spending the money unwisely. In other words, buy things people will appreciate, not just “things” for the sake of buying.
Another option is making homemade items. In this case, you could visit your local retail, or stationary store, spending $30 on store bought invitations. However, if you have a good laser printer and quality paper consider downloading clip art specific to babies and make your own invitations. By going this route, you could easily cut that cost in half. If you have a color printer all the better but if not, purchase a $3 stamp and colored stamp pad from a hobby store to add color. Something like a diaper, baby footprints, or a rattle would be perfect to stamp on the invitations.
The same is true for baby shower favors. You could always purchase small items, again often at low prices, or you could make your own. For instance, you could purchase bulk sweet and sour candy in the shape of a baby bottle and some thin elastic to make candy necklaces. If you prefer, buy miniature, two-inch terra cotta planters. Fill each with a small square of tissue paper, wrapped candy kisses, and around the rim, hot glue a colorful bow. To complete the favor, you could use decorative paint to write the date of the occasion.
Remember, buying things in bulk is always a great way to cut back costs. Let’s say you wanted to buy different candies for party bags or to place on the center of the gift table. Instead of buying one type of candy for the table and one for the guests, buy one large bag of the same candy, splitting it out between the two. For games, you can cut costs here too. Sure, you could buy expensive games at the store but another option is to perform a search online for downloadable games. You would be amazed at how many there are, fun games that people will enjoy. The best thing – all you need is paper and a printer!