5 Essential Baby Shower Gifts for under $50
September 11, 2009 by Candy
Filed under Baby Shower Ideas
As most mothers know, we most likely had some baby gifts that go unused once the baby actually arrives. It may seem like a good product and something that will be used often when we received it, but once baby arrives, it never came out of the box to be used. Typically the new mom looks for the most practical and easiest products to deal with. Naturally, the “gotta haves” like a crib, stroller, and car seat are required but they represent higher priced items.
I thought it would be helpful to list some baby shower gifts that are reasonably priced and sure to use items for the care of the new baby. Here’s 5 essential baby shower gifts that I put together that are all under $50.
Swaddling Blankets
Babies love to be swaddled and some newborns have a hard time sleeping unless they are tightly swaddled. Even if a mom doesn’t use swaddling blankets as actual swaddlers, they can be used for laying baby on the floor, covering baby outside, and covering up when breastfeeding. There are plenty of uses that a mom and baby can get from swaddling blankets.
Baby Medicine
Baby medicine is usually a baby product that most new moms forget about until it’s 2am and the baby is running a fever. Prepare mom for those nights by giving her items such as Infant Tylenol Balmex, Orajel, and Pedialyte to have on hand.
Sleepers and Onesies
New parents often find out that their baby wears more sleepers and onesies than any other outfit. Yes, there are so many cute outfits for little boys and girls, but many times those outfits go unworn as it is just not practical to put a baby in them. Instead look for cute sleepers (I preferred the ones that zipped instead of button types) and onesies that you know the baby will get good use out of.
Gift Card For Carry Out
When a new baby arrives, the last thing that a mom wants to do or has time to do is cook. This is when a gift card to her favorite carry out restaurant comes in handy. When mom is happy and less stressed, the baby can be happy and better taken care of. Everyone needs a break now and then and this makes a great idea.
Diapers
Every baby is going to need diapers and in the beginning a baby goes through a lot of diapers. If you do buy diapers for a baby shower, I recommend avoiding buying newborn size diapers and sticking with size 1 or even 2 instead. Some babies do not even fit into newborn size diapers when they are born or they quickly outgrow that size in a couple of days. If you want a creative way to give diapers, think about getting a diaper cake made for the baby shower gift. Yes, I’m obviously biased. 
We have several diaper cakes that are priced under $50.
I hope you found these baby gift ideas useful. Perhaps you have some you would like to share. Feel free to add your comments.
5 Websites For Baby Shower Thank You Cards
August 22, 2009 by Candy
Filed under Baby Shower Ideas
Sending baby shower thank you cards is a must for any mom-to-be. It follows proper etiquette as you want your guests to know how much you appreciate the baby gifts you received. With that in mind, I put together 5 websites you can visit to help choose your baby shower thank you cards.
This website offers several different designs that you can get in a variety of colors and fonts. You can choose from the basic boy motifs such as trains and a firetruck or go more of a neutral baby theme with bassinets and ducks. They also have very cute baby shower thank-you card for girls as well with butterflies, teddy bears, and flowers. The have almost 100 different designs to choose from.
This website offers thank you cards and notes in several different designs. You can choose from girl themed, boy themed, and they also have a pretty large selection of gender neutral themes. The sell cards from different designers and manufacturers which gives you plenty of different looks to choose from.
This is a very popular website when it comes to baby shower thank you cards as well as baby announcements. A cute idea would be to get thank you cards that will match future baby announcements. They have some really unique designs for the thank you cards for both genders as well as more neutral baby designs.
Another great website for unique baby shower thank you cards. A few of their cards actually come with add ons that you can stick on your cards when you get them. Some come with glitter or foam stick ons for the front of the card and others have stickers for the envelope.
This is a very creative website that allows you to have a caricature made up of you and then you can have a thank you card designed around it. You get to control what your caricature looks like as well as the colors, font, and background of your card. This is definitely a baby shower thank you card that will impress people.
It doesn’t matter where you get your baby shower thank you cards from, but what does matter is that you let people know how much you really do appreciate what they did for you and your baby. I hope you found these suggestions a good start. Perhaps you have some additional sites you want to share. Feel free to add a comment if you have found some other sites with great ideas.
4 Baby Shower Themes for Twins
August 15, 2009 by Candy
Filed under Baby Shower Ideas
Hosting a baby shower for twins? If so, there are many creative baby shower themes that would fit perfectly. I thought I would offer up 4 themes that could help you plan a twins’ baby shower.
Noah’s Ark
With this Noah Ark’s theme concentrate more on the two by two part of the theme. Decorate with little stuffed animals by putting them in pairs. These stuffed animals can then be given to the mom-to-be for the babies. Noah’s Ark is a pretty common baby shower theme so there should be plenty of favors and decorations that you can find, but you can add your unique twist so people know it’s for twins. A cute idea for favors would be cookies in the shape of animals and instead of only giving guests one cookie, you can wrap up two cookies together.
Two Peas In a Pod
A two peas in a pod theme is a classic theme for twins, however, you can take this in several different directions. First, there are many different favors and decorations that you can find for this theme. The major problem will be paring it down to the ones you like. The most common are two little babies in a pea pod or two actual peas in a pod. You can go either way with the theme or incorporate both into the theme. Decorate the baby shower with green and white and if the sexes of the babies are known you can add in some blue or pink if you wish.
Double Your Delight
This baby shower is perfect for the mom-to-be who is having twins but also loves sweets. Instead of having a full meal at the baby shower, you can have a dessert only shower with close friends and family. Ideas would be for an ice cream bar, a candy station, and whatever other delightful sweet treats the mom-to-be loves.
Two of a Kind
For this baby shower theme you can pick any normal theme or style you want and just make two of everything. A way to get your guests into this theme is to put on the baby shower invitations to buy two of whatever gift they are giving, within reason of course. So, if they were going to buy a baby bathtub, they would buy two of them. Rather than having one dish of a certain food, have two dishes of every food to eat, as well as two cakes. You can take a classic ladybug theme for girls and turn it into a two of a kind ladybug theme by simply doubling whatever you would normally do.
Well I hope these ideas can get you started on selected a theme. You can start with any of these and tailor them for your specific shower. Most of all, have fun and enjoy.
Finding Baby Shower Ideas Using Community Based Sites
July 3, 2009 by Candy
Filed under Baby Shower Ideas
One of the best things about planning a baby shower in this day and age is the access we have to information on the Internet. No longer do we need to rack our brains coming up with fun and interesting baby shower ideas because all that we need to know can be found online. I have done other blog posts about sites that offer baby shower information so I thought this time I would focus more on community based sites. Blogs, forums and social networking sites are the perfect example of this. With this in mind I am providing you with five community like sites where you can find baby shower ideas.
Babyshower101.com
This site has an excellent section with community forums and bulletin boards. Both have a regular stream of activity and they are filled with useful baby shower ideas that are contributed by other Internet users. Forums are an excellent way to interact with people from all over the world. Plus, it is great if you have a question and can’t find the answer because you can post and wait for a response.
Hubpages.com
This is a site that has hundreds and hundreds of pages on plenty of topics of interest for those planning a baby shower. Just go to the home page and use the search feature and you will find tons of information. You may have to do some pruning along the way as some of the pages are hit and miss but nonetheless there is plenty to pick from.
Squidoo.com
Here’s another excellent resource for people who are planning a baby shower. I recommend you search the term baby shower from the home page you will get a huge list of lenses that you can read and contribute to. The lenses cover everything from food to free clip art. What’s nice about Squidoo is you can get plenty of different perspectives on virtually an unlimited amount of topics.
Ehow.com
This is a great site if you are looking for a place where you can find baby shower ideas and ask questions. In the Parties and Entertaining section of their site they have an entire folder of how to articles for baby showers. You can read the articles and comment on them. Plus, you can even sign up for an account and write your own articles to share your knowledge and make a little extra cash.
Cafemom.com
This is a very well established site and is a great resource for moms and expectant moms. I think it is definitely one of the fastest growing social networking site for moms online. You can use this site to connect with other moms, share ideas, advice and support. It is a great resource for getting baby shower ideas and beyond. It is essentially Myspace for moms.
Well there you have it. Granted it’s certainly not a complete list but it’s a start on some pretty solid ones. Maybe you know some other sites. Feel free to add your comments or other suggestions.
3 Baby Shower Favors to Delight Your Guests
May 31, 2009 by Candy
Filed under Baby Shower Ideas
There are many details that you need to consider when you are planning a baby shower and naturally the smaller details are important. One of the smaller details are the baby shower favors. The favor is a keepsake not only for the guest but a keepsake for the mother to be as well. With this in mind I put together 3 favor ideas you can use that are sure to delight the new mom and her guests.
Candy Favors
When it comes to baby shower favors many people enjoy something with candy. This can range from mints wrapped in coordinating tulle to jelly beans and of course the old standby chocolate. For the do it yourselfer, you could make chocolate lollipops that are shaped like baby items. Molds to make lollipops can be purchased online or at a craft supply store. You can decorate them in colors to match the baby shower theme. The great thing about candy favors is they serve as both a keepsake for the expectant mom, as she will probably want to save one to remember the day, and a treat for all the guests.
Personalized Keepsake
Another great idea for baby shower favors is to give a personalized keepsake that can your guests can use after the baby shower. Some ideas along this line include something generic such as a small blue or pink candle in a jar or tin, or you can buy small tea or coffee bags. Regardless of what you select, most can be personalized with a label to commemorate the special day.
Picture Frame
One of the best ideas when it comes to baby shower favors is to do something with a frame. You can give a frame that already has a picture of the ultrasound in it or you can give a blank frame with a note card that says: “Coming Soon”. If you choose the later, the mother to be can send a picture of the baby when he or she is born along with her thank you cards for the shower. There are obviously many styles of frames you can choose from such as magnet frames, keychain frames, standard frames, or a combination of all three. As with the candy favors and personalized keepsake suggestions, you can decorate or buy the frames to match the theme of the baby shower.
As you can imagine there are many online places to buy baby shower favors. Two suggestions are Beau-Coup and Corner Stork.
