A Step-By-Step Guide To Hosting A Baby Shower Brunch
Welcoming a new bundle of joy into the world is a special occasion that deserves to be celebrated in style. And what better way to do so than with a baby shower brunch? Hosting a baby shower brunch can be a fun and memorable experience for both the parents-to-be and the guests.
From choosing the perfect menu to selecting the invitations, location, and guest list there are many details to consider when planning the event. In this step-by-step guide, all the details you need to host a baby shower brunch will be provided!
1.Choose who is planning/hosting the baby shower brunch
The first step in planning a baby shower brunch is to choose who is planning/hosting the event. This could be a single person close to the mom-to-be, or a group of people like the mom-to-be’s mom, siblings, and close friends. Or maybe you’re like me and a control freak and love planning events and you decide to plan/host it yourself! For the sake of this guide, we will assume someone is planning it for the guest of honor. However, all the steps are still applicable if you are hosting it yourself!
Pro Tip: If multiple people are helping to plan the shower you can assign each individual to different things so the load isn’t on a single individual and shared.
2.Pick a date and time
Because you are hosting a baby shower brunch, you’ll want to host it during brunch hours. Brunch typically is anytime between 10am-2pm, so my recommendation is having an 11pm start time. When choosing a date, I would recommend a Saturday or Sunday for a baby shower brunch. You’ll also want to decide if the shower will be indoors or outdoors and that will vary greatly depending on where you live, the climate, and the time of year! Use your intuition!
3.Choose the location
Are you the host, hosting it at your home? Is it happening at the guest of honor's home? OR are you hosting it at a venue or restaurant? In my opinion, hosting the event at someone's home is the best option, because you wont need to pay for space rentals or have high food and bev minimums.
However, it can be a large undertaking if the baby shower brunch is a large event with many guests, which might not accommodate smaller homes or homes without a large yard for an outdoor event. It is something the guest of honor and the host(s) will need to discuss and decide on before moving to the next step.
Pro Tip: Locations like parks and community centers can offer lower rental fees whereas restaurants and venues will typically be on the higher end.
4.Pick a theme or color scheme
There’s really no wrong way to pick a theme or color scheme. It can correspond with the gender, the theme of the maternity shoot, or the color palette of the nursery.
For example: blues, greens, reds for boys, pinks and purples for girls or pastels, yellows, or grays for neutral color palette. For my maternity shoot/reveal we had a baseball theme so if I had a baby shower (thanks Covid) we would've gone with a baseball theme because as a couple that is who we are!
You can also choose fun themes and color palettes that are less personal and just cute ideas like Tea Parties, You are my Sonshine, or Mother to Bee!
5.Create a registry
Before you create a guest list and send out invitations you will want the guest of honor to create a baby registry so that you can include it on the invitations.This will eliminate the guest of honor or yourself from being bombarded with guests asking for the registry (although we all know people still will)!
6.Create guest list and send out invitations
My advice when creating a guest list is to focus on the people who the guest of honor truly wants there. Who will be the people that will actually be in the baby's life? If they aren’t people who will be a part of the child's life, it is not necessary to invite them. Once you have your final guest list you will need to collect everyone's address so you can mail the invitations. As the person hosting the baby shower brunch you can get this from the guest of honor or help take a load off the busy and tired mom-to-be’s and collect them yourself.
Pro Tip: If you want to save money and streamline things or just do good by the environment you can create a digital invitation and send those out electronically to peoples emails. Use an option for people to be able to add it to their calendar since they won't have a physical invitation hanging on their fridge.
7.Plan the games you'll play
There are so many games you can play at a baby shower brunch! You can get really silly and wild with games like a change a baby’s diaper challenge or boobs or buts guessing game! Or keep it more traditional with games like baby bingo or price is right for baby products! I think it really depends on the mom-to-be. Is she typically silly and light hearted or how is she feeling? Is she having any complications or needing to take it easy? From there you can decide which games are perfect for the baby shower brunch!
If you are planning to give any prizes to guests for the games you’ll purchase those ahead of time. You can give something more pricey like these Camp Craft Cocktails Infusions or if you’re on a budget, find silly gifts at your local dollar store or 5$ gift cards to a local coffee shop! You also don’t have to offer any prizes, there’s no rules saying you do!
8.Choose a menu
When thinking about what to serve at a baby shower brunch, think about what brunch is; a combination between breakfast and lunch. So you will want your menu to reflect that. You’ll need to decide if you are doing a sit down meal or a buffet, but my suggestion is going with a buffet, that way there is something for everyone.
For a baby shower brunch buffet you’ll want to offer something sweet and something savory and maybe 1 or 2 appetizers like deviled eggs or bacon wrapped figs. For the entrees you could have avocado toasts, a waffle station with syrup, butter and fruit, or a delicious donut bar for some sweet treats and offer a charcuterie board or tea sandwiches, the possibilities are endless, just make sure you have something the mom-to-be likes and can also eat!
Check out this beautiful Caprese Tomato Tulips Appetizer for you baby shower brunch
Make your guests mouth drool with my Bloody Mary Deviled Eggs Recipe
For refreshments at a baby shower brunch you’ll want to make sure you have mom-to-be friendly offerings such as mocktails like a strawberry mojito mocktail, sparkling water, sodas, flavored waters and decaf coffee or iced tea. When it comes to alcohol you’ll want to verify with the mom-to-be if you want it served or not. If she does, then I suggest keeping it simple and serving bloody marys (that can also be virgin) with a few garnishes on the side (think pickles, olives, cheese, bacon) and mimosas.
Looking for an easy, spa like mimosa, try my Kale Green Mimosa
Virgin or with spirits, try my Roasted Tomatillo & Jalapeno Margarita
Pro tip: decide who will be cooking and mixing. Will close guests to the mom-to-be cooking the food or will you be hiring a catering company? It all depends on the budget but obviously when you hire that out all the work including cleaning up will be taken care of by the catering company!
9.Set up
When it comes to the day of the baby shower brunch you’ll need a set up crew. Try recruiting the dad-to-be and some friends to help with the setup or hire it out through the catering company or an event company! You’ll want to plan at least 2 hours ahead of time to get it setup at the minimum, because it's better to be set up early than have a snafu and be late!
Pro tip: if you are the host, leave yourself enough time to get ready for the shower after setup is done. Use this: 3, 2, 1, 30. Start setup 3 hours before the event. Spend up to 2 hours setting up, 1 hour to shower and get ready, and 30 mins before the event to put out all the food and drinks before guests arrive and also let in any guests who arrive early.
10. Enjoy the day but remember it isn’t about you
You’ve put in so much work to make this baby shower brunch extra special for the mom-to-be. You’ve spent money, spent time, and busted your but. These are all things that when you take on hosting an event, you should expect. You definitely deserve to enjoy yourself at the event but make sure that you keep the attention on the guest of honor.
It can be easy to want to brag about all the work you’ve put in and want some credit/recognition. Let the guest of honor express their gratitude and thanks and keep your interactions with the guests about how happy and excited you are for the mom-to-be.
So there you have it! A step-by-step guide to hosting a baby shower brunch! Did I miss anything or do you have any questions? Send me an email or leave a comment below!
Brunchfaced Community sound off - Let me know your thoughts in the comments!