10 Baby Shower Ideas

Before starting to plan the festivities, choosing a theme will narrow down baby shower decoration ideas. Your shower’s theme can be chic, leaving your guests Ohh-ing and Ahh-ing over a Pinterest-worthy flower wall, or adorable.

Our favorite baby shower themes include: 

#1 Nautical 

Say Ahoy to your little boy (or girl) with a nautical-themed shower. This is one of the most popular baby shower themes for boys. A blue and white color palette that can make your party feel as light and breezy as the salty ocean air, while tissue paper sailboats, anchors, and starfish can embellish tables. If you’ve collected seashells from previous beach excursions, you can use them as decor as well! 

#2 Rubber Ducks 

Rubber ducks aren’t just fun for bath time. They can also add a splash to your baby shower. You can use rubber ducks as cake toppers for your cupcakes, table centerpieces, or extra party guests taking a swim in the punch bowl. You can even create a bubble-y balloon wall perfect for photos. 

Don’t want to be left with a collection of rubber ducks after the shower? Send them home with your guests as adorable party favors. 

#3 Woodland 

For a rustic, fairytale look, consider a woodland-themed baby shower. You can hang fairy lights or butterfly garlands from the ceiling and decorate surfaces with pinecones or tealight candle holders made of natural wood slices (which you can use later as party favors). You can even purchase paper cut-outs or balloons shaped as your favorite woodland creatures, such as foxes, squirrels, raccoons, or bears. This will definitely look great as well when throwing a virtual baby shower.

#4 Safari 

With a safari theme, you can celebrate the arrival of your little king or queen of the jungle with lush greens and metallic golds. You can even get a little wild by filling vases with giant monstera leaves or hanging palm leaf garland. Then, add plush giraffes, elephants, lions, or tigers as table decor. At the end of the shower, send guests home with their choice of plushie or a box of animal crackers. 

#5 Baby Themed 

Sometimes there’s no theme more special than the one that’s growing inside you—your baby! For a baby-themed shower, you can place baby blocks throughout the space, along with permanent markers so that guests can write notes to your little one. And you know those cute baby onesies you purchased as soon as you found out you were pregnant? You can use clothespins and string to create your own baby garland with them. 

You can also consider adding several diaper cakes to your dessert table. While you (unfortunately) can’t eat them, you can make use of them later when the baby arrives. 

#6 Tea Party

Prepare for all the stuffed animal tea parties you’ll have with your little one by throwing a tea-party-themed baby shower. Add Alice and Wonderland-like whimsy with mismatched china and pastel balloon garland, or go for a British high tea feel with lace doilies and cake towers filled with scones. For party favors, send your baby shower guests home with sachets of your favorite loose-leaf tea. 

#7 Story Time 

Before you share the stories that shaped your childhood with your own baby, use them to personalize your baby shower. 

• For lovers of Charlotte’s Web, choose red and white checkered tablecloths, and hang fishing wire embellished with flowers for a floral cobweb effect.
• For a Velveteen Rabbit party theme, decorate tables with mason jars filled with buttons and vintage spools of thread.
• For Harry Potter fans, welcome your little wizard with a color palette based on your favorite house. 

No matter which storybook you choose, you can purchase a new edition and have your guests sign the inside cover to make storytimes with your baby even more special. 

#8 Meteor Shower 

Feeling over the moon about your pregnancy? Consider throwing a space-themed baby shower. You can decorate with metallic moon-shaped balloons or recreate the Milkyway with a colorful balloon garland. By hanging twinkle lights, your guests can feel they’re celebrating among the stars. You can even decorate tables with confetti in the shape of little rocket ships, astronauts, and comets. 

#9 Mommy-to-Bee

Looking to have a little pun with your baby shower? Create a buzz about your belly with a bee-themed baby shower. Hang tissue paper bees throughout the space and embellish tables with decorative honeycombs or sweet-smelling wildflowers. You can even send guests home with mini jars of honey or beeswax lip balms as party baby shower favor. 

One of the best aspects of this theme is that you can bee as creative as you’d like!

#10 Flower Shower (H3)

Among the many baby shower themes for girls, a flower-themed shower is one of the perfect ways to celebrate the budding baby in your belly. You can decorate with your favorite flowers or choose a flower based on your baby’s expected birth month. As a focal point, you can create a floral wall to use as a backdrop while opening your gifts, as well as for photos with family and friends. You can even add a touch of cuteness by replacing floral bouquets with bouquets of baby socks. At the end of your event, send your guests home with packets of seeds so they can watch their own miracle grow.

Baby Shower Food Ideas 

Since baby showers are often held during the day, hosts can keep food simple by serving appetizers, finger foods, or buffet-style meals where guests can help themselves. This informal catering style allows guests to mingle, hop in on games, and chat with Mom at their leisure. 

You can keep your own menu adorably sized and delicious with options such as:

• Pigs in a blanket
• Mini quiches
• Crostinis
• Kabobs (you can skewer veggies, meat, seafood, or even grilled fruit)
• Finger sandwiches (spice them up with mango chutney, or choose classic BLTs)
• Theme-related foods, like cheese and quackers for a rubber duck-themed shower or cocktail shrimps for a nautical party theme 

Don’t forget the dessert! Your shower’s dessert menu provides a fun opportunity to celebrate the gender of your baby-to-be, complement your overarching theme, or simply have an excuse to indulge in your favorite sweets. 

A few baby shower dessert ideas that tickle us pink (or blue) include:

• Gender-specific cakes – If you’re expecting a girl, you can opt for a pink strawberry shortcake. For a boy, consider the unique look and taste of a blue velvet cake. 

• Candy bar – A vibrant candy bar can add to the childlike whimsy of a tea party-themed shower or complement the vivid colors of a floral themed shower. Guests may even fill bags of candy to take home as party favors. 

• Donut bar – This fun trend allows you to offer an assortment of tasty cake flavors, along with colorful icings and unique topping options, such as M&Ms, Fruity Pebbles, or marshmallows. Just be sure you get first dibs.  

Baby Shower Game Ideas

After indulging your sweet tooth (or your salty tooth, depending on your cravings that day) and opening gifts from your loved ones, you can move to a third favorite baby shower activity—playing games. Whether you’re looking to quiz your guests on their knowledge of Mommy trivia or embarrass them with blindfolded baby-themed challenges, you’ll be laughing so much. You’ll probably need to keep running to the bathroom (ah, the joys of pregnancy). 

• Break out the photo album – Hang childhood photos of yourself and your partner, and have guests write down how old they think you are in each photo. Not only does this leave guests gushing over how adorable you two were, but it also lets them imagine what physical features your growing baby might share with you and your partner. 

To get everyone in on the fun, you can ask your guests to submit their own baby photos along with their RSVPs. During the party, see who can correctly match each adult guest with their baby photo. You may be in for some surprises!

• Test your guests with trivia – Sort your guests into teams and quiz them on how well they’ve listened to your childhood tales. Ask them questions about where you grew up, your favorite childhood toy, or the activities you loved as a kid. 
• Practice the nighttime diaper change – Use baby dolls to challenge your partner to a blind-folded diaper change. Whoever fits their doll with a fresh diaper fastest claims the title of Diaper Changing Champion (and the loser claims the first round of diaper duty).  
• Get a feel for motherhood – Place a baby item, such as a rattle, binkie, or sock, into a paper bag and have guests try to guess what it is by only feeling the outside of the bag. For an added challenge, replace the paper bag with a diaper, then sit back and watch as your guests feel the diaper for the surprise inside.
• Compete in a game of diaper pong – To play this cuter version of beer pong, simply secure open diapers to a corkboard or study poster board, then see which of your guests can land their ping pong balls into the diapers. 
• Play baby shower bingo – Just because your guests aren’t the ones opening gifts doesn’t mean they can’t be winners, too. Consider creating baby shower bingo cards or printing out premade cards from a resource like Etsy. While you open gifts, your guests can mark which presents you receive on their bingo cards. 

The lucky winner can receive a themed prize, such as a pine scented candle for a woodland theme, decorative potted succulents for a safari theme, or handmade floral soaps for a flower baby shower theme. 

• Decorate a onesie or quilt – Inspire creativity with a onesie decorating station complete with plain white onesies, puffy paint, and fabric markers. Your guests can tap into their inner Monets (or perhaps their inner Jackson Pollocks), while your little one is gifted a one-of-a-kind wardrobe. Or, if you’d rather be your baby’s sole stylist, replace the onesies with squares of white fabric. Afterwards, you can use these squares to create a quilt that your baby can snuggle up with for years to come. 

Get the Party Started Earlier with SneakPeek’s Early Gender DNA Test

Your pregnancy journey will be filled with discoveries, experiences, and celebrations, all leading up to the moment you meet your little miracle. Fortunately, with SneakPeek, one of those discoveries can happen sooner than you think.

SneakPeek’s Early Gender DNA Test lets you know your baby’s gender as early as 7 weeks into pregnancy and with clinically proven over 99% accuracy¹. Simply collect your sample and mail it to SneakPeek Labs in our prepaid packaging. Once received, you can have your results as soon as the next day! That means you can choose a baby shower theme and pick out registration gifts specific to your little boy or little girl. 

Start the party planning (and the celebrating) early with SneakPeek!