If you’ve not seen on my Instagram / Tik Tok recently, I had the most amazingly colourful rainbow themed baby shower back in July! I had so much love on the pictures / reel I posted that I thought I’d share a few things I found for it for anyone else trying to plan theirs or looking for any baby shower inspiration. I also have to apologise for posting this so late afterwards, baby decided to arrive early and has kept me distracted since!
Date
As mentioned above, Violet decided to make her arrival a month early. People tell you to have your baby shower around 4-5 weeks before due date and I’m here to tell you to do it a bit earlier! I had mine 2 months before my due date. I booked it then because I was worried I would be exhausted nearer to baby’s due date but I’m so glad I did given her early arrival. I would plan to have your baby any time from 36 weeks and would say that having your baby shower around the 32 week mark is ideal. You won’t be as tired as further into your pregnancy and you will also have more time to purchase any items that don’t get bought for you prior to baby’s arrival.
Venue / food
I couldn’t have picked anywhere other than Rose Et Leigh in Maghull for this. Not only is it local to us with the most amazing, fresh made afternoon tea and cakes, the vibe in their venue is right up my street with all of the colours. I have posted on here before about visiting here however since then they have opened the upstairs of their shop and it is incredible. Downstairs is Alice in Wonderland themed and the upstairs is now all Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed with so many nods to the book and film.
After going to the opening night of their upstairs space, I couldn’t have not booked it for the baby shower! This was why I ended up going for a rainbow theme and it fitted perfectly. It’s only a small venue so would only hold around 20 people so it was perfect for my 16 guests and every one of them commented on how much they loved it. For afternoon tea it was £15pp which was reasonable, there was so much food included and I had a few dietary requirements (vegans / veggies / dairy free) and they catered to these for me too.
Cake
This was another thing I had so many comments on! I have had quite a few occasion cakes from Rose Et Leigh before so I asked them to also make my baby shower cake. I found the rainbow topper with the pastel coloured balls on Amazon for around £21 so ordered these myself and decided to go for a pink cake for baby girl and this was the outcome. They also added the glittery Oh Baby sign which was a perfect addition and I loved the overall result of it all. The cost of all the afternoon teas and the occasion cake all together came to £270 which I was more than happy to pay!
Balloons / Welcome Sign
With the venue having so much going on in it, I didn’t want to go too over the top with balloons. Initially I had wanted to get a backdrop etc however decided it may look a bit much and draw attention from the lovely artwork / details in the room. Instead I just went for a cluster of balloons for each table and a welcome sign with balloon arch – again this was all multicoloured to fit in with the rainbow theme and I think came to around £60 for all of it, which again was really reasonable. I’m all about supporting local businesses so went to the Litherland Cards and Balloon Shop for my balloons, again I have mentioned using these before and would happily use them again for anything in future!
Games
I wanted to just keep it simple for games so ended up opting for two obvious ones; guess the filling/smell in the nappy and guess the baby food flavour. I also found these baby shower games cards online so we had Labour or Lust and Bump or Beer Belly for about £3.99 for each pack and everyone seemed to really enjoy them! I also picked up a few prizes at an influencer event where I was working with The Body Shop earlier in the summer which again, the winners loved.
Extras
For favours I had little rainbow bags of pick and mix, I bought all of the pick and mix from Asda for around £25 the day before and went for pink / red / rainbow colours inside to match my theme. I wanted some cute personalised stickers with the date on etc so added these rainbow baby shower ones I found on eBay, they were only £2.50 for 24 stickers. I also got these cute little baby bottles from Home Bargains for around £1.50 a pack (I had 3 packs so each guest had one) and filled them with pink millions which were around 39p a pack in Home Bargains. So quite cheap for each one but looked really nice on the tables!
I also found these super cute Ginger Ray donut walls in HomeSense for £7! I wasn’t initially planning on putting any donuts out but when I seen these for the price I had to pick them up. I also then had to get some donuts for them, again I picked these up for £4.50 per box of 6 in Asda the day before.
All in all I think my total for the day ended up being just over £400, which I didn’t think was too bad and we also got so much more than that worth of gifts from the guests. I did put together an Amazon Wishlist for our baby registry, which is something I’ve again mentioned before. For me putting together a wishlist was the best way to make sure we got things we wanted / needed and doing it via Amazon was so convenient. Adding items to the list was so easy, really similar to a wishlist and we were then able to send the link to friends / family really easily. You can also get 15% off items on your wishlist yourself, which is really handy if you don’t get everything on it!
I know baby showers aren’t for everyone, but for me it was a lovely way to spend time with the people important to us who were excited to meet the baby! I also just want to add in that due to my family estrangement and my partner’s family not acting very nicely regarding it, neither of baby’s grandmothers were there and I was heartbroken over it the day before/morning of. If people don’t show up, just know you will still have the best day with the people who really matter and do want to make a fuss of you/baby. I’m really glad I managed to get it in before Violet made her arrival and also glad I decided on the rainbow theme because I love looking back at the super colourful pictures!
Are you planning a baby shower at the minute? Let me know your theme in the comments! Would love to hear about any unique / different ones!
The Mum Geek 