Vintage Baby Shower Invitations & 10 Tips for Planning A Unique Baby Shower
The words ‘once upon a time’ begin many fairy tales. However, “Once Upon a Time” is also the name for one of the lovely styles that TinyPrints.com offers in its Vintage Baby Shower invitations.
My favorite invitation would appeal to anyone writing a book:
The text on the sample invitation reads, “Once upon a time, there lived a mom-to-be named Madeline Bellington whose friends decided to throw her a baby shower!”
The time and place of the shower are listed, and the sample invitation ends with the request, ‘Please bring your favorite childhood book for the new baby’.
This Tiny Prints story invitation implies the theme and brings to mind a plan for the shower. You can picture this invitation being carefully tucked away, then eliciting fond memories years later.
The most elegant baby shower I’ve ever seen was one at which I was not actually a guest. I was in my early twenties and walked past a baby shower held in the Garden Room of an elegant hotel. The room was reserved for those attending the celebration, but the doors to the room were glass paneled and it was easy — without seeming nosey or actually pressing your face to the glass — to watch the fun and to bask in the happiness that escaped whenever the door opened.
The room was romantic and the theme imaginative. It was difficult for anyone who was interested in babies not to linger awhile to soak up the atmosphere.
Whoever planned that vintage-themed baby shower used accents in the gift wrap, flowers, and ribbons in rich shades of pink and blue. There was a large old-fashioned wicker baby carriage that held the gifts.
Children’s books made up the centerpiece for each table. On a buffet was a crystal punch bowl and large vases filled with luxurious flowers.
Even the shyest of young women would want to stay a few minutes more to see what was served for lunch, but when one of the waiters asked, “Can I help you?” there was no choice other than a mumbled reply, a shake of the head, and a hurried departure.
Lots of my friends were having babies then, and I gave several fun theme-based showers. But I never attempted a version of the shower I’d seen in the Garden Room. It seemed too ambitious and expensive, and besides, I didn’t have a garden, let alone a garden room!
I know now that creativity and imagination often trump money. Confidence was the only thing I lacked. And by putting my mind to it, I could have given one of my friends a memorable baby shower. If I did it now, I could do it without fuss or spending so much money. Here are my ten tips for planning a unique baby shower.
- I would begin with the Tiny Prints “Once Upon a Time” invitation and combine it with the theme I glimpsed years ago.
- On each TinyPrints invitation, I would ask the guest to bring a written memory of the mother-to-be; a glimpse of her life story up to the day of the shower.In the future, this memory would be priceless, but for the present it would be something for the mother to include in her baby book.
- The invitations requested guests give one of their favorite books for kids. The books would be collected before the shower, and displayed as the centerpiece on each table. Author gifts are often books, so my gift to the baby would be my kids book, Arthur Collins and the Three Wishes, a legendary tale of King Arthur, Merlin, witches, and magic.
- To carry out the storybook theme and to meld it with those ladies from the past who, in my memory, are still dressed in deepest shades of pink and blue, I’d tell the guests that they were welcome to use those colors when they dressed for the party.
- Because beauty can’t coexist with chaos, I would start with a shiny clean house.
- Because I love homemade desserts, I would bake rich dark chocolate brownies and pair with my favorite vanilla cake.
- I would take small scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice-cream, separate them into layers on wax paper, and place them in plastic containers to re-freeze till shortly before serving with the cake.
- At the last minute I’d put out nuts and mints. The punch would be simple, a mixture of chilled fruit drinks blended together.
- Instead of the immense, costly flower arrangements from the Garden Room baby shower, I would buy flowers from a farmer’s market or grocery store and put them in my prettiest vases, along with ribbons in the deepest shades of pink and blue to give a touch of elegance.
- Most importantly, beyond the colors, flowers, and the theme, I would hope that this shower would recapture that sense of overflowing happiness, of life worth living, that emanated from that room. Because that was what I felt, and what held me there. That was something worth remembering. If I could fill the room with well-being and excitement for the future, I would give the best and most lasting of gifts to the mother-to-be and her baby.
#
I wrote this blog post while participating in the Twitter Moms and Tiny Prints blogging program, making me eligible to get a Tiny Prints gift code worth $50, plus 25 Free Tiny Prints greeting cards– a total gift value of $149.75! For more information on how you can participate, click here: http://tinyprints.twittermoms.com/about
A further disclaimer: I wrote this blog to support and to show my appreciation for Tiny Prints. I like their products and the sense of style they evoke. Tiny Prints runs a text ad on CityCastles.com As part of the Twitter Moms program, I had to include the disclaimer, but I will not not accept either the gift or the free Tiny Prints greeting cards that Tiny Prints is awarding other bloggers.