[pkellyc]

Planning a baby shower for dd in July. It will be mostly family and a few friends so I have decided to have both the men, women, and children for a outdoor type of event.
I have a tentative date for the Sunday after the 4th of July so hamburgers and hot dogs are just not going to be the thing to serve. I am thinking of renting a tent or just plain moving it indoors in the case it should rain.
So any frugal ideas out there for food, decorating, or favors?

 

[justpeachy92]

meat and cheese tray
pasta salads
vegi tray
fruit tray
a cake

for centerpiece a diaper cake, you could start looking now for things on sale or clearance

 

[Darlene]

What a fun thing to plan for, congratulations!
I know Lisa (Prairierose) will probably have lots of ideas, seems like every time I talk to her she's throwing another shower ,lol.

 

[Edna_E]

I like to keep these things to finger-foods. Sandwich plates with a variety of things from pb&j to cheeses/cheese spreads to tuna/chicken/etc. salads to deli turkey/ham/roast beef. Sliced or balled fruits work well. Many appetizer recipes work well. Basically it let's people focus on visiting, looking at gifts, and socializing rather than having to sit at a table and deal with silverware. It also can be really easy to clean up after. I also read of someone making scoops of ice-cream and wrapping them in foil or plastic wrap and popping them back in the freezer for ease of serving at a kid's b-day party - the same would work well for a shower, and you could put them in a cooler where people could get one/more out as they choose. Similarly, I'd go with little tarts or cupcakes rather than a large cake that has to be cut. I'm rather in favor of as much advance prep as possible.

 

[PrairieRose]

Well.....since you asked....lol. I like to keep the 'work' to a minimum. If I were going to be serving a crowd during the summer, outside I'd do a couple of briskets, a big pot of beans, a huge potato salad and a couple of cakes. We don't do favors here for showers but I might do a pic of mom and baby in a cute frame (dollar store) or pregnant mom's belly in black and white or something..... . We'd serve iced tea to drink and lots of good conversation and lots of pictures. Hope you have fun planning it. My best advice would be to do as much as you can ahead of time so that you can enjoy the day as well.

 

[Jerseygirl]

I just had 2 showers, the girls at work threw me a pot luck lunch, my family threw a big Italian dinner, eggplant parm, sausage and peppers, ziti etc. The girls at workmade chocolates in baby molds and pink candles in dollar store glass carriages, my family did favors of chocolate dipped pretzels rolled in nuts and sprinkles and wrapped up pink lipglosses. One of the girls at work made me a 5 tier diaper cake for the centerpiece of the head table, then they did balloon arrangements for the other tables, my family did simple clear vases of pink carnations with lots of pink and white ribbons and pink glass pacifiers tied to them.
The last shower I did in my yard I hung baby clothes I was giving her on my clothes line, gave out votive candles that smelled like baby powder in a glass holder wrapped in tule, .50 each at A.C. Moore, we did lots of salads and pasta dishes, fruit platters and I ordered trays of chicken and rice from a local spanish rest. For us the best cakes at really reasonable prices come from Costco.
Good luck and enjoy!

 

[pkellyc]

Thank you for all your replies.

Jersey girl, Costco's is a great idea for the cake. I will shop around for goodies to place on the top of it.

We have decided to do a meat platter and salads it just might be too hot for anything else.
Lots of balloons and decorations.
We will not be playing many games seeing as it's coed, but I did see one I thought the kids would love called guess the girth.
You take a ball of string and scissors and let them cut off a portion that they think will go around her.
I can just see the boys now, cutting off miles of string.

Starting to get excited now. I bought a crib for her this weekend and she bought the matching chest of drawers. She is going with Winnie the Pooh theme and her sister bought all of the bedding and the mobile from Avon (maybe you have seen it) to go on the crib. They are still up in the air for a name but just knowing he is a boy is exciting enough after my having girls. Dh is already eyeballing trains even though it will be quite some time before he is ready for them.

So for now we are avoiding the hot grill for that day, making lists, and having a wonderful time anticipating his birth.

 

[Radish4ever]

I made some favors for my cousin's and they were CHEAP!!
I bought a big bag of Epsom salts, a tiny fragrance oil (baby powder scent) from Hobby Lobby (I think it was maybe $2?) and then I put them in empty baby food jars!
Then I added a few drops of fragrance oil in the salt and mixed them up...... Got on my printer and found a picture of a stork and put that and underneath I put Michelle XX's Baby Shower and then under that the date......... and then I had some yellow ribbon lying around and I tied that around the lid of the jar!

 

[guest56464]

I love felt flowers.

If you're crafty you can pick up some felt and wires and make some felt flower decorations. I did that with my wedding reception. But for the ceremony we had real flowers.

 

[geckoace]

i buy a huge hoagie at safeway and cut it up into slices, cold pasta, fruit and potato salads are a great thing. make sure you have some games the kids can participate in simple one, like i went to a shower last month and the had a basket of diapers the people picked to play reached in and however got the poopy diaper won a prize.

diaper cakes are always cool. i have heard of people passing out onesies and fabric paint and eveyone making a onsie for baby then hang them on a clothesline.

 

[Michelle]

I like to keep the 'work' to a minimum. My best advice would be to do as much as you can ahead of time so that you can enjoy the day as well.

These two sentences are key to enjoying the day as much as the guest of honor.

Since it will be summer time, I like the idea of salads (macaroni, potato, tossed, fruit, etc). I also like the idea of finger sandwiches like seafood salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, etc...so you don't need to worry about putting out all the fixings for a deli tray...just simplifies things IMO.

I also second the idea of going to a warehouse store (Costco, Sam's, BJ's, etc) for the cake if you should decide to have one.

Have fun planning. I love showers

 

[Michelle]

I also wanted to direct your attention to the "similar threads" section at the bottom of this thread. Lots of good ideas to help you out.

 

[cocoasensations]

I will suggest chocolates!...I know everybody loves chocolates so you can make it a favor...It's like having a chocolate baby shower favor....

 

[sophirlipopette]

last shower i did I made favors of homemade rhubarb jam (was in June) and put in baby food jars, labelled it and topped it with scraps of fabric and ribbons...so it was technically free to make those as the rhubarb grows in my yard...and we did it potluck style so it was a breeze for everyone. I also made the dessert, a layer of puff pastry, a layer of vanilla custard, a layer of homemade blackberry jam (that also grows in the yard) and another layer of puff pastry, decorated with edible flowers. Looked really sharp and was very yummy!
the only money we put in was disposable cups, plates and silverware, napkins and a few ingredients for the dessert and dish we provided...totally doable!

 

[Ali Lee]

lunch meat is so expensive here. I would suggest sloppy joes in crock pots, chips, cheese ball, watermelon basket filled with fruit and of course, cakes or cupcakes & ice cream. HM would be cheaper than store bought. Since it's a boy, $Store has large blue bowls, blue silverware, & blue dinnerware etc. Cakes/cupcakes could be decorated with stuff from the $Store plus they have helium balloons. A "baby" planter from a thrift store with a live plant would be cute as a decoration, plus she could take it home. Have fun Grandma! :babybot: