What is a baby shower? Do you put a baby in the bath tub and shower it? (someone in the Netherlands really asked me that). There are some differences how cultures celebrate a new baby, new mom and dad in this world, but it is all about welcoming the new family and showering the new parents and baby or babies with gifts, advice and lots of fun times.

My First Baby Shower

In March 2006, I was 20 weeks pregnant with J. I traveled to the United States to see my husband, who was working there at the time. We planned to look for houses, because as soon as the baby was born and my occupational therapy practice was sold, we would move to the US.

My step-mother-in-law organized a baby shower for us. I had no idea what it was. I asked, if my husband could be there too. This was something I didn’t know, but baby showers are usually only for women. At that time, I didn’t know anyone. The invited women and children were all strangers to me at that time, so I was happy that my husband came along.

The party was at my step-mother-in-law’s house. There were about 10-15 (new) moms, some decorations, a huge cake, other snacks and drinks. It was very mellow and I got to talk to most of these women. I still know all of them and we became friends over the years. It was very precious, but suddenly very overwhelming, especially when everyone gave beautiful presents. I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t know any of these women and they just gave me and the (not even born) baby an enormous amount of presents. It was very surreal!

Now, after 12 years of living in the US and attending several baby showers, I know it is a normal thing here and it is a beautiful event to celebrate a new mom and dad, a new baby, a new family.

A baby shower in the Netherlands.

Well, we don’t have baby showers in the Netherlands. Not that I know of, anyway! Maybe since 2006 things have changed, they may have started something like baby showers. That actually happens a lot. Certain holidays or parties are slowly making their way over to the rest of the world from the US. In the USA there are even gender reveal parties.

In the Netherlands, there are usually no celebrations before the baby is born. Family and friends are invited to visit AFTER the baby is born, in between rest times of the mom and baby. Most of the times the new parents send out a birth announcement in the local newspaper and birth cards to family and friends inviting them over for a visit to see the baby. This can end up in a train of visits… every… single… evening for 3 or 4 weeks. It would be so tiring for the new parents who are already sleep deprived….right?

When J was born in the Netherlands we decided to have a big garden party at my parents house. It was not only showing off the baby, but it was also my birthday (5 weeks after she was born) and our move to the USA.

A 3-in-1 party. But this is not what new parents usually do in the Netherlands.

A typical treat they give at baby visits is “beschuit met muisjes”, Crisp bakes with little anise sprinkles in the color of pink (for girls) or blue (for boys).

How to organize a Baby Shower

In the beginning of last month a good friend of mine had her baby shower. I offered to organize this party with another friend. I think baby showers are a very personal thing and that’s why you should talk to the-mom-to-be personally, before you organize the party. Some may say:” Surprise me!!”. Some have specific wishes. During the conversation, some ideas will pop up and then it’ll be easy to organize with help from other friends.

This is how we did it:

Invitations:

First we asked the mom-to-be who she wanted to invite to the party. You might want to be sure that the right amount of people are invited and the only ones, SHE would like to see at her party. By the right amount, I mean how many is comfortable for the venue for example. We used Evite and shared the invitation through Facebook Messenger and email. Sometimes the new mom wants it to be a surprise, but make sure that you know her wishes.

Host:

I always like garden parties, but most of the baby showers I went to, were inside at someones house.

One of our friends just bought a new house and she was really excited to organize the baby shower with me. Her house was lovely and we could set up 2 big rooms and the kitchen for the activities we had planned. Make sure the address and telephone numbers are clear on the invitations.

Date and time:

Normally the baby shower is held about a month before the due date. We agreed on having the event on a Sunday from 2 till at least 6 PM. Normally the-mom-to-be can get tired quickly, but our mom-to-be had some ideas in mind to keep some of the guests longer if they wanted to;). I would guess a baby shower would normally go for about 3 hours.

Theme, games and activities:

Sometimes a baby shower can have a certain theme. Maybe the mom-to-be wants to have an animal themed shower or particular colors. It seems that people don’t want to do games anymore in the last few years. But if they do, here are some fun ones and to do something different than normal, here is a great site too.

Our new mom-to-be wanted to have a social party, where everyone just relaxed and get together, eat and talk. She wanted to do a craft as well. She didn’t want decorations, which we certainly did NOT listen to. We used tissue paper to make pompoms and we made smaller pompoms out of yarn  and the pompom tools to make a fun wall decoration. For the baby room she wanted to have a mobile with felted lamas and cacti. We had tools and felt to make the lama’s and cacti.

We also had a Baby Journal where every one could write down a special wish, a quote or a parenting tip, a fun story for the new-mom-to-be.

Food, drinks and a cake:

Finger food is a preferred food at baby showers. A possibility could be that people just bring things and make it into a potluck. On Evite you can make a list of the things needed and people can sign up to bring them, so you won’t end up with 10 bags of chips and no drinks!

At baby showers these days, alcohol, like wine and cider or beer are being served as well. That is what I’ve heard!

Some people want to reveal the baby’s gender through a cake. I personally knew the gender from the beginning with all 3 of my kids and wanted to share it with the whole world;) Here are some ideas for cakes.

At our party we had friends bringing over all kinds of drinks, snacks and we had 2 beautiful cakes. Because the mom-to-be is gluten free and cow milk intolerant, I made this super yummy Chocolate Quinoa Cake.  The other cake was a tasty angel cake and beautifully decorated.

Another part of the baby shower was : Make your own pizza. I made a few batches of normal pizza dough and a batch of gluten-free pizza dough. Everyone could bring their favorite toppings to make their own pizza. The mom-to-be got a special one…LOL!!!

Don’t forget pictures:

I wished I had organized this part of the baby shower a little better. I could have been on top of it myself to make more pictures during the event, or I could’ve bought some of those disposable camera’s, and put them on different tables, so everyone could make pictures at any time. After developing them, a beautiful collage could have been made. OR I could have asked around for a Polaroid camera, so we could have made instant pictures and hung them up right there. We did this once with a going-away party for a family.

Opening presents:

At some point when you think that most of the guests arrived and no one has left yet, you can get everyone together around a big comfortable chair and hand the mommy-to-be the presents from the guests. Be sure to make a list from the presents and who gave them, so after the party, little “Thank You” Notes can be send out to all the guests.

Meal Train:

Have you ever heard of the Meal Train? This was one of the amazing things that was organized for me, when I just had M.

My parents helped us right after the baby was born, but as soon as they left, I had to do everything by myself again. Well, most of it! One of my best friends set up a Meal Train and they invited everyone through the Meal Train website who wanted to participate in bringing a meal to our house. All of our friends brought the most amazing, yummy food….for 2-3 weeks! My other 2 kids were looking forward to it every day.  Who was going to bring something and what?

If you organize a Meal Train, you can write on the website, what the family likes, if there are any food allergies or restrictions, how many people there are, what time they can deliver the food and the address. This was such a big help and it was another nice way to connect again with friends…and to show off the baby of course…

Baby donation jar and Baby registration:

Sometimes the mom-to-be, especially a first time mom, can set up a baby registry through a big store like Target or Walmart. We made a baby jar at the baby shower, because we knew that the mommy-to-be didn’t know exactly what to get. She had gotten most of the essential and basic baby stuff, but she might like to buy something after the baby is born…or just use it for a massage, manicure or pedicure for herself, whatever!

If you have any fun ideas for decorations, food or activities, please write the down in my comment box below.

And don’t forget to pin!!

Danielle

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.