10 Unique and Frugal Baby Shower Ideas

How do you plan a baby shower? What are your unique ideas to save money?

Some tips I have:

Pick Your Invitation: Choosing your invitation can help you narrow down a theme and colors. TinyPrints.com has some cute invitations here: http://www.tinyprints.com/baby-shower-invitations.htm starting at $1.04 per invite. I love the colors and variety that Tiny Prints has to offer, it makes choosing easy!

Theme: If you are open to a general theme based on colors, you can decorate with teddy bears or make a diaper cake with items from the dollar store. Think about hanging decor from roofs/trees, make them stand out.

Place: Think outside if weather permits, maybe a park. If you or a friend has an elaborate garden, do a garden tea party. If it's hot, do a pool party with baby pools in the back yard. Place chairs around the pool and have guests sit and enjoy company while letting their feet soak.

Decor: Check your local dollar store to find the decor to match your theme and colors. Also check your local warehouse club such as Smart and Final to find items at a bulk discount. If you are doing a party at your house, bring out the special china to make it a "fancy" feast.

Cake: Ask guests to bring cupcakes/cake that they baked for a contest. You or your guests can vote who is the best, offer a small prize to the winner.

Favors: At the dollar store, find craft items you can do yourself, maybe paint picture frames. Pick up a bag of candy and some baby socks, fill the socks with candy to hand out. You could turn this into a game also by guessing the number of candy inside.

Food: Consider doing a potluck and ask friends and family to bring a certain dish to go along with your theme, maybe everyone could bring a dish from a certain ethnicity.

For the mom: Have a book out where guests can sign in and give their well wishes to mom and baby. Have a pamper session for mom (if you guys are close that is) where guests pamper her by rubbing shoulders and doing her nails. This could be a party where everyone does each others toes, think school age slumber party.

For baby: Have a painting party, pick up some ceramic tiles at the hardware store and some acrylic paint to decorate tiles for babies room. If mom is low on energy, have a nursery decorating party with paint and maybe some furniture assembly.

Games: Scavenger hunts will put guests on the move and you can come up with creative things for them to find, make it a challenge. You can turn any activity into a game, have it benefit mom by having guests bring a pack of diapers, offer a prize to one who can guess how many diapers are present all together.

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