Baby Shower Favors

[TLC1994]

Hi - I'm trying to come up with some ideas for favors for a friend's baby shower. It will be a small shower, just for a few close friends, because this isn't her first baby. We just wanted to do a little something because she's having a boy this time and it's been a little while since her last child.

I know that all the "babyish" favors are cute, but I really don't know if the invited guests really want rubber duckies or baby bottle shaped things to take home with them. I kind of lean toward more useful favors or something that the women would truly like or actually use.

But, I need some ideas and, like a lot of people, I don't have a ton of money to spend! Can you all help me with some ideas for favors (outside of tea lights or chocolates ~ which are great in their own right, don't get me wrong!) Maybe something a little more unique? It's been a few years since my baby shower and I can't even remember what the favors were!

Thanks so much!

[JTsMom]

Is there any kind of a theme you can build off of?

This is kind of random, but when I threw my sister's shower a million years ago, I painted inexpensive latte mugs with stars and moons (that was the shower theme). Inside I put some homemade star shaped chocolates, and I had a big moon shaped chocolate lolipop sticking out of the center (it was wrapped with some kind of cellophane stuff and ribbon).

I think something like a coffee mug alone could work- coffee, sleepless nights, etc. If you wanted to, you could always use a paint pen to put X's shower and the date on the bottom or something. Or maybe include a baby poem or something. I'm with you on the useful favors in any case.

[american_mama]

I used refrigerator magnets from vistaprint with an uplifting quote about motherhood. I put them in a small bag with Hershey Kisses and Hugs, and a little note that said "Hugs and kisses for all the days of motherhood" or something like that. Vistaprint has a million coupon codes if you google it, and their shipping is very fast, so you don't need to pay for premium shipping. It was not expensive.

I also liked the idea of little tea bags (if your shower has a tea theme), or little cinnamon buns (for the bun in the oven).

[misshollygolightly]

In the past, I've done tea bags in little sheer favor bags (the bags can be found in the wedding-supplies section at Dollar Tree) and attached a tag saying "A Baby is Brewing!" (this also makes a cute invitation for a tea party theme: draw/print a tea cup on the front of the invitation and write "A baby is brewing!" and include a tea bag in the invite).

I've also done a rubber ducky themed shower and given little bath goodies (not rubber ducks, but little bottles of shower gel, lotion, bath confetti, bath bombs etc.) for favors.

If the shower will be a sit-down affair, you can always buy little picture frames to use as place-markers and send those home w/ guests as favors.

You say it's going to be a small shower...you could use small potted seasonal plants (geraniums, pansies, ?) to decorate, and then let each guest take one home.

When I'm stumped for ideas, I walk through the dollar store, Tuesday Mornings, or Big Lots to see what favor-ish items they happen to have on sale. Sometimes you'll find a nice large box of imported, individually-wrapped soaps at Tuesday Mornings--perfect for favors! Good luck, and have fun!

[misshollygolightly]

Oh, another idea: those little magnetic To-Do and Grocery List pads you can get at the dollar store and at the dollar section in Target. Everyone can use one of those, and you can tie a bow around them to coordinate with the shower colors.

[Jen841]

Put in a poem or something along the lines of "fill with a picture of baby ____ due MM/DD/YYYY." You or the Mom can make sure each person gets a picture when the baby arrives the right size for the frame.

[amandabea]

I did mini soaps that I ordered from Etsy (I think they were $1 each). The seller included a little blue (baby boy) wrapper that said "thank you" and had a little baby face. Everyone loved them since they smelled great and were useful. In fact the mama that I threw the shower for just asked me where I ordered them bc she is hosting a shower for one of her friends.

[misshollygolightly]

Had another idea: potted herbs or packets of seeds tied w/ a pretty bow and tag reading "So-and-so's garden is growing!"

[melissaflorida]

I bought really pretty mini photo albums books and tied each one with a fabric bag filled with M & M's.

All told they were about 2.00 each. I found everything to match the color scheme of pink and chocolate brown.

Also, even though it's baby-ish it was cute, I bought small plastic real baby bottles and filled them with M & M's and had a label on the front saying thank you for coming etc. Also, works with empty glass baby food jars.

HTH,

Melissa

[Page]

i second the tea bags...for my shower last year we put them in little boxes from the craft store, put a stamp of baby's footprints on the top and tied ribbon around it.

I got nicer loose tea that came in individual bags (there's different qualities of teas, and loose tea is better). I think I got about 20 bags at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for around $15 or so.

[MamaMolly]

At my sister's shower we got homemade note cards. The hostess printed 8 cards for everyone, with their first initial in a pretty font on the front. She tied the with matching envelopes with a sheer ribbon and they were both lovely and useful. I don't imagine it took much in the way of money or time to make them but they were really nice.

[CKConz]

You could play off the "shower" theme and give away pretty bath soaps, little bottles of antibacterial hand gel (great around cold/flu season, especially for moms with little ones) or bath salts which you can buy in bulk and repackage in pretty little bags.

[MelissaTC]

I also recommend the tea bags. You can even find plain tins to decorate and place them in. You can get cute tags from ebay or make them yourself, something along the lines of Baby is Brewing, Steep in lots of love...or Good Things Come in Small Packages, etc... Good luck!

Bath and Bodyworks is having their big sale right now and the mini antibacterial bottles are 5 for $5.