Throwing a Beautiful Baby Shower on a Budget

Throwing a baby shower is a great way to both share your excitement with loved ones and prepare for a new edition to your family. But that doesn't mean planning it should break the bank. From the shower decor to the announcements and invites, there are budget-friendly baby shower tips that can save you money. Check out some of these savvy shower planning pointers:

Think Digital

Invites can add up. From the cost of the paper to the postage on each envelope, before you know it, you’re spending a pretty penny to get all of the shower invitations delivered. Instead of taking the traditional route with paper invites, consider going digital. Think about it: most of your friends and family members are uber connected today anyway—a quick and cute digital invite that’s emailed simply makes sense. Check out Minted, the digital and paper invite resource with hundreds of designs to choose from, many of which are created by independent artists. However, be considerate of guests who aren’t as tech-savvy as you and your peers and have a backup plan for invites—such as a small batch of paper cards, with the announcement listed, on hand.

Forgo a Photographer

Professional photographers can be expensive—really expensive. Rather than hire a photographer for the party, enlist in help from family and friends at the shower by encouraging them to snap photos of all of the day’s celebrations with their smartphones. Many smartphones today are equipped with high-quality cameras that make for stunning photos, like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and its 12MP camera. Also, to make sure that everyone gets to see the photos, create a unique hashtag for the shower for easy social media sharing; but be sure to check out your hashtag of choice to see if it’s already been used before. For photo inspiration, check out this story from Brit + Co.

BYOB

Yes, bring your own bottle! Encourage your guests to bring their own bottle of champagne AND a baby bottle to the party. This way, all you'll have to supply is the orange juice for mimosas and you’ll have a hefty stockpile of baby bottles for when your bundle arrives. Also, forgo glass champagne glasses and choose plastic instead to save.

Dressed-Down Decor

Don’t head out to the nearest big box party-themed story to pick up generic blue or pink decor—instead, consider something else. Keep the decor simple and consider hosting the shower outside, such as on a patio, deck or lawn. A few picnic tables adorned with fresh, affordable flowers can do the trick and stringing up a fabric banner in fun playful colors makes for just enough decoration. Country Living recommends using modestly-priced flowers for decoration including carnations, ranunculus or pink lisianthus for girls and casual bouquets of blue sweetpea, bluebonnets or hydrangea for boys.

Culinary Catering

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s hard to find time to even get dinner on the table, let alone cook for a long list of shower guests. Instead doing all of the hard work on your own, or asking your family to do it, try contacting a local culinary school. Culinary schools are an underused resource when it comes to catering parties and events, but many offer great pricing and great food to boot. Simply let them know how many guests will be in attendance and what type of cuisine you desire and you’re all set.

Disclosure:  This is a guest post.