When it comes to planning a baby shower, there's a lot involved. The good news is that as a mom to be, you genuinely aren't responsible for most of the tasks if you have a friend or family member hosting for you. Of course, how involved you need to be in your shower may also vary according to where you live and how your friend friends and family normally handled in situations. So there may be parts of this that don't apply to your particular situation, but you'll likely find some valuable tips in this section. So what about a surprise shower? If you don't want a surprise shower, I would suggest spreading the word to family and friends that if they know of someone planning a shower to let them know you want to shower but that you don't want to surprise party.

And no, this isn't always guaranteed to work because sometimes people aren't going to care what you think, but you can try. Now, if you do want a surprise party, then that's totally fine. And that's your choice. Well, it's not really your choice because people have to do it for you. But you know, to me However, is possible, it's more practical for you to avoid a surprise party for two reasons. One, if someone plans a surprise party and they do a good job keeping it a secret, then you'll be left wondering if you're going to have a shower at all.

If you think you aren't going to have a shower that may not only stress you out but could also result in you wasting time and money purchasing things that people will give you at the shower because you didn't know anything about it. To a surprise shower prevents you from having any say at all on the planning process. This means the invite list date etc. are all out of your control. And the surprise shower is definitely better than no shower and can turn out really nice. But having a shower you know about is ideal simply because it's more practical for you when you know.

So again, if you don't want a surprise shower, I suggest letting your close family and friends know this so that if they hear of anyone planning a shower, they can spread the word that you don't want to surprise one and or let you know about any shower. Plans, but just make sure you clarify if you want a shower in general, so they don't think you are against a shower altogether if you want one. So hopefully that makes sense. Now, if someone wants to plan your shower, if you have someone willing to host a shower for you, I recommend asking if it could be held sometime during the first half of your third trimester, somewhere between when you are six and seven and a half months pregnant. I suggest this window of time specifically because it's not too early as long as you plan it out in time.

It gives you time to tell people you're expecting to register after finding out the sex of your baby if you're finding out and to send the invitations out. Personally, I feel closer to the six month mark is better than later. But that's not always possible for everyone. On the other hand, by not having a shower later than when you're seven and a half months pregnant. There are four ways you ultimately benefit. One, you'll have time to see what people will give you before you spend money on additional items.

Cuz you want to spend money only on baby items that you will already have enough right? To the shower won't be so close to your due date, the later you are in pregnancy, the more likely you are to go into labor. And of course, there's no guarantee that you're not going to go into labor early. It occasionally happens to mom, some moms but it's a lot less likely that you're going to go into labor at six to seven and a half months pregnant than when you're just a week or two, or three. Towards the end of your third trimester. Most women feel more tired and uncomfortable, and you don't really want to feel like that your shower.

So having it earlier in your pregnancy can be better in that regard. You may start to feel this way earlier in the third trimester, but you're going to feel that way the more so as you get closer to your due date you generally get more uncomfortable and for this will give you time between your shower and giving birth to get things ready for your baby. You need time to wash her baby clothes. Some blankets to have everything set up and ready for your newborn. Now, this timeframe is just a suggestion. If you can't have a shower in that timeframe of six months to seven and a half months pregnant, or if you have reasons you'd want to have that later, then you can do that whatever you feel will work best for you.

The timeframes I recommend throughout this course are simply suggestions, and mobile work out well for a lot of moms something else may work out better for you. And if the person planning your shower can't host it until a little bit of a later date, I certainly recommend you take them up on the later date versus forfeiting a shower completely. On the other hand, you may have special circumstances where you want to have a shower earlier than six months, such as if you're moving out of the area or for some other reason. I personally like the idea of earlier showers. The only problem is that you may not have time to find out the gender if you're finding out and or have time to finish registering before sending out invites. If you're planning a shower earlier than six months, but again, whatever works stop us for you.

So should you do a gender reveal in the shower. If you have your heart set on this, it can be fun. And there are a lot of great ideas out there for how to reveal your baby's gender to your guns. So if this is something you really want, then go for it. If you're looking for ideas on how to do a gender reveal, I suggest doing a Pinterest search because I've seen a lot of creative gender reveal ideas on there. On the other hand, if you plan on using gender specific colors or themes for your baby clothing or nursery decor, such as pink, blue or princesses, etc.

You may want to decide not to do a gender reveal. The problem with doing a gender reveal at the shower when you want to use gender specific themes or colors for baby items is that people who buy you baby gifts and don't know what you're having are going to get you gender neutral items because they won't know until your shower if it's a boy or girl. Also, if you already know you're having and you end up registering for items that are gender specific anyone who looks If your registry will be able to figure it out, there is a possible solution to these potential challenges. If you have your heart set on doing a gender reveal to shower, you could state something on the invite suggesting either diapers and wipes or monetary gifts be given versus clothing or other baby items. Some moms have had diaper theme showers where everyone is asked to bring a pack of diapers or wipes.

And trust me, you'll definitely use them after the baby's born. You could also choose to either keep your registry a secret, if you add items that would give away the gender or register for things like diapers, wipes and baby items other than clothing items or nursery decor that don't need to be gender specific. You could always add on gender specific items after your shower. And if you get monetary gifts and put it towards those items. Also having a gender reveal it could work out to your advantage with still getting gender specific items. Especially if you have your shower and the time frame.

I recommend if you by other moms and parents who still have some baby items from kids they had, they may offer to pass these on to you after they go to the shower and find out what you're having, and realize that they still have some other little boys or little girl stuff. And I do talk about this a little bit in section two as far as getting used items. So there's a lot to think about whether whether or not you want to do a gender reveal there are pros and cons to disinter consider. But basically it comes down to what you want and what you think will work out the best for you. Also, just to know if you do want to do a gender reveal for the shower, but you already know the gender you and your husband are dead to be will need to resist telling people before the party.

Someone's also up to reveal the gender and either pregnancy announcements or in the shower invites themselves. The downside is that you don't get to see people's reactions like you do when you either tell them in person or do we reveal the shower. Okay, I think we've covered everything I could possibly think Awkward the gender reveal topic. So moving on your invite list. If you have control over who's invited to your shower, make a list in advance of who you want there. Do you just want other ladies or both guys and girls.

Keep in mind that if you choose to invite my to your invite list is going to be significantly larger. You'll also want to decide if you want to invite the children or daughters of the moms or parents invite them. Think about if you want your husband or dad to be to be there. Many women have had their babies data time or stop it. Even in cases when they're the only man there. Whatever you both want is totally up to you.

I'm just offering different ideas for you to consider. If you have someone planning your shower, you'll want to talk with them about the exact number of guests you want or that can be accommodated. You may be limited as far as the physical space and location where it will be held. Especially if it's just going to be at someone's home and or by your budget or that the person hosting the shower If more than one person wants to host a shower. You can choose to have more than one shower if there are different people committed to hosting separate ones. Of course, you'd want to be sure that they both don't plan two different showers for you on the same day.

And yes, that could happen actually almost happened with me. One person told me they were planning a shower and the other was planning a surprise party for the same day. Another half problem that can happen with surprise showers, but fortunately, they figured this out before it took place. There have been pregnant women who've had separate showers for their co workers or friends and their family, especially for those with large families. Other women who've moved from where they grew up, I've had a shower in their hometown and then one in the area where they've moved, moved to and made new friends. So these are all circumstances where more than one shower can work out.

If you have too large of a guest list for just one shower. And if you have more than one person or group of people willing to help you throughout you find so if your guest list is too big, unfortunately you like won't be able to invite everyone you want to even sometimes with multiple showers. So I suggest you decide who you want. There's a most, you could choose to go with one group of people like all of your family or all of your friends, or you could pick out the people who are closest to you from everyone you know. You may also be able to invite a few additional friends or family if some people RSVP in advance that they won't be coming. This style or theme of your shower.

There are all types of themes and styles of baby showers. Some showers are more casual and budget friendly, such as like a buffet style or bring a dish to pass deal with casual dress. Other baby showers are a bit more formal or upscale with catered food dress your business casual attire and even nice music and dancing. other moms have had a baby shower somewhere in between the two above ideas. So you and the person or people making preparations or want to think about who is invited how many people will be there. The location facility In the budget and cost before finalizing decisions, a lot of moms also like having a color scheme or baby related theme.

If you're looking for a shower theme color ideas, I again recommend searching on Pinterest because I've seen a lot of great ideas on there you are the person cleaning your shower can find decorations that look nice and aren't too expensive. If you look around and shop wisely, as long as you're starting out with a facility or home that looks pretty decent, you really won't need to do a ton of decorating. I recommend keeping it simple. So you and or the person hosting your shower don't feel overwhelmed by trying to do too much. And also think about how much time will be involved with setting up any job for you choose. Things to Do early in the shower planning process.

One make a list of everything everyone would like invited, communicate with anyone helping to host or plan your shower regarding this to get everyone's phone numbers addresses and or email addresses depending invites are going to be texts, emails or emails. Three, talk with anyone involved with planning your shower about any preferences you have when it comes to cooking, food games gender reveal ideas if you want to open gifts to the shower, etc. If anyone you're inviting has special needs are dietary restrictions, you'll want to mention this to anyone involved with a party planning. You'll also want to let them know of any foods you aren't supposed to eat while you're pregnant. So you might not be aware of that or make sure you have registered and you were you plan on doing a baby registry before the invitations are done. And then let anyone involved in doing the invitations know you're registering information so that they can include this right on the invites, and also mention anything else you wish to be specified on the invites side.

Make sure you've told potential guests that you're pregnant before shower invites go out. So this doesn't come as a surprise when they get your invitation Do you want you can choose to send pregnancy announcements in advance using the same method of text, mail, email etc as will be used for shower invitations. And that way you'll have already told everyone and you'll have their info and address to send out the invitations later for the shower. I personally didn't send out pregnancy announcements with either of my pregnancies I just told people so it's completely your choice if you want to send out official announcements but you could do this if you want. Sex forward your complete guestlist with your with their contact info to the person that's sending out the invitations if you aren't the one doing this. And also just to note make sure you or someone else brings to the shower enough pens or writing supplies for any written games.

There are a lot of other things that the shower host or those who are helping will want to bring but this is something I've seen people forget more than one shower event you so that's why I'm mentioning it and also bring copies of the BB gift list tracker printable and included with this lesson. Plus appending to markdown gifts you received and who they're from. You can also use this later to track who you've already written and given thank you cards too as well. I include eight pages the fees on the printable, there are enough to write down gifts from 48 different people, you may want to print out more or less of these pages depending on how many people are invited to your shower. Note they may also receive some baby gifts at other times besides your shower, and you can still use the printable to cheat keep track of these as well.

If you're unable to print the baby gift to this tracker for your shower, you can simply just use a pen and pad and have someone marked down the info about each gift and Who gave it to you as you open gifts if you're opening them by your shower. So to do next, download and print the baby shower planner workbook. Complete the questions in the workbook and any applicable tasks on the to do list. Print and use the baby gift list tracker to keep track of any gifts you receive. And if you're unable to print those out. I definitely suggest at least writing down what gifts you receive.

And when you're ready, move on to the next sections course. But again, I know this is a lot of information we just covered. So I want to remind you to take your time with this course and to do any tasks you can do now before moving on to the next lesson.