We wrote up a blog post a while back about how having a baby shower for the second, third, etc. child is controversial: some people are all for it, while others think it’s tacky (and possibly even a bit greedy). Well, if you’ve decided to go ahead and have a second baby shower anyway, we’re going to write up a series of blog posts about different types of baby showers you can have for a second child while minimizing the chances of offending family and friends who prescribe to the strictest rules of etiquette. The first type is a “Welcome Home, Baby!” or a “Meet the Baby” Shower.
A “Welcome Home!” shower is held after the baby is born, usually in the first few months after the baby’s birth, although not right away. Waiting for at least a month after the birth gives the new parents time to adjust to their new schedule, and the baby time to acclimate to his/her new home. usually the focus is less about giving advice and gifts to the new mom, but more about simply meeting the new baby and celebrating his/her safe arrival!
We thought we’d put together a few tips on how to throw a welcome home baby shower that will allow friends and family to meet the newborn, but still make it a stress-free event for mom and dad.
- Plan to have the shower at the mother’s home. Sure, there’s more preparation as far as cleaning and setting up decor, but compared to the new parents’ stress of packing up an infant for a trip to a restaurant or other public location, where they will be introduced to a bunch of new people all at once, cleaning and setting up some decorations at their home is a much less stressful option. Keep it simple and informal at home to keep the stress level down – and also to help keep the new Little One as happy as possible for the event!
- If the newborn is already on a decent sleep schedule, plan the party for a time right after a daily nap. This is a pretty important thing to consider, if you want the baby to be awake and happy while he/she is meeting friends and family. If the baby is not on a sleep schedule, this can be problematic. Many babies tend to shift to sleeping more during the night and having a bit more awake time during the day by the time they are 6 to 8 weeks old, so if it’s possible to hold off a little longer for the shower, it will probably be more successful.
- Keep it short and simple. Again, this is primarily to accommodate the baby’s sleep schedule, but also helps with keeping the shower very simple, with less preparation and cleanup. Since the main goal of a “Welcome Home” shower is to meet the new baby, you probably don’t have to plan for a lot of games or activities. If all of the guests know each other well, people will have enough to talk about to keep themselves entertained. If there are guests who don’t know others very well though, it would be nice to be able to direct the conversation so that all guests can participate. Have a few talking points lined up that everybody can participate in.
- For the food, consider having the shower pot luck style, or have it catered. There’s some controversy around the etiquette of a pot luck style gathering, so consider your guest list before going this route. If this is a common occurrence among your group of friends, by all means, go ahead with it and save the host the trouble of cooking for a large group of people. If a pot luck is a no-no within your group, catering is a great alternative if it’s within the budget set for the shower.
- Decorations don’t need to be extensive, although with a little effort a welcome home shower can have all of the fun and excitement of a shower that’s thrown before a baby is born. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that many guests may want to have photos taken of themselves with the new baby. While you don’t necessarily need to go all out with decorations, you should think about where people will be sitting or standing when they have their picture taken with the baby, and see if there are any adjustments you could make to make sure the photographs come out well. Also consider the lighting. Nobody wants a photo to be ruined by a window behind them that’s too bright, causing a hot spot on the photo!
These are just a few of our most important tips for throwing a “Welcome Home!” or “Meet the Baby!” shower, but we’re sure there are many other great tips. We’d like to hear from you! If you’ve thrown a shower like this, or are planning one now, leave us a note in the comments with the ideas that you found the most useful!