From Pregnancy To Child

Baby shower decorations create a mood for the celebration and help to enhance the overall baby shower theme. By using bits and pieces of party favors and other elements, the party organizer can tie a theme together and bring a personal touch to the décor. Here are a few tips for using baby shower decorations to enhance your shower theme.

Pastel pink, blue and yellow still have their place as a color scheme for baby shower decorations, but the trend is slipping away from the traditional baby shower themes. More party planners are opting for non-traditional colors, choosing primary colors of bright red, yellow and blue or even fun colors of orange or purple and white. Ask the new mother's closest friends about the guest of honor's color preferences.

The perfect baby shower decorations are simple, and practical is even better. Try decorating your baby shower themes with items that do double-duty as decorations and party favors or gifts. Unopened jars of baby food can be used as balloon anchors, then given to the expectant mom after the shower. You can create a mood with lightly scented candles as baby shower decorations, and give them as shower favors before guests go home.

Another idea is to decorate the guest-of-honor chair with a baby gift clothesline. Hang a clothesline up, attaching one end to the chair, and decorate the line with baby blankets, clothes, booties, bibs, hooded towels, and other baby necessities attached by colorful clothes pins. Suggest that guests bring an item for the baby clothesline, too.

The gift display can be part of the baby shower decorations. Streamers and other decorations hung from an open umbrella above the gift table look very nice. Set up a baby's bassinet in a corner of the room. From the ceiling above, hang tulle, a reasonably priced fabric available at any fabric store. Let the fabric drape and flow around the bassinet. As the gifts fill it, place the overflow on the ground around the bassinet for a show-stopping centerpiece. If you don't have a bassinet, use a larger gift the mommy-to-be will receive instead. This baby shower decoration results in a lovely photo for the baby memory book.

An edible centerpiece can play important part of the baby shower decorations. Carve a watermelon into the shape of a baby carriage and use it as the table centerpiece. Placing the watermelon lengthwise, cut one quarter out then scoop out the inside. Carve a zigzag edge around the canopy top. Slice up other types of fruit and re-fill the watermelon. Decorate with ribbon around the edge to make the centerpiece look frilly. Any presentation of food can be part of the shower theme as well as the baby shower decorations.

Planning a baby shower can be extremely stressful if you're doing all the work by yourself. Keep your baby shower decorations simple, use what you have on hand and don't be afraid to ask for extra help from other guests. If you can, set up the area with the baby shower decoration the night before. The more you can complete ahead of time, the better chance you will have of enjoying the event along with everyone else.