Baby Shower Resources
Baby Shower FEATURED THEMES Classic Themes Baby Boy - Blue Baby Girl - Pink Nursery Shower Nursery Rhymes Ducky Shower Diapers & Essentials Time of Day April Shower Twinkle Little Star Winnie the Pooh Noah's Ark Baby's First Clothesline Special Situations Baby Sprinkle 2nd, 3rd baby Peas in a Pod Twins Double your Fun Twins Distance Shower Adoption Shower Pampering Mom Baby as Special Guest Big Sibling Couples Men are invited Co-worker Shower Ladies Luncheon More Great Theme Ideas Candy Land Sports Baby Little Lamb Green Eco-shower ABC Learn with Me Library for Baby Little Angel Bear Necessities Gift Basket Scrapbooking Born to Rock Western Shindig Keeping Baby Safe Baby Naming Party Words of Wisdom Frogs Little Red Wagon POETRY by Theme Baby Shower Poetry

Ideas from our Visitors         Themes: Nursery Room by Debbie Schoonmaker Good Night Moon by Susan Nursery Rhymes by PMP Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Stacey More themes from visitors Poetry: Nursery Rhyme poems Storybook Character poems   Do you have an idea to add to this theme? Send it to us!             Baby Shower Gifts Gifts ~ Favors

Nursery Theme

 

Goodnight sweetheart,
May angel wings guide your flight,
To whimsical dreams of delight.

What more can we say to explain this theme.  It is, after all, a fitting start to a perfect baby shower that will involve all the necessities of an angel’s sleep.  The crib, the dresser, the blankets and teddy bears; we are talking about a nursery theme where you will not only celebrate a new life but also provide all the many items needed to furnish their very special first room.

Decorations

When I think of a nursery theme, I think of subdued tones.  Nothing filled with bright clutter or heavy fabrics.  Everything is light and refreshing, calm and peaceful.  That is why I would move away from the usual decorations that you would have at a baby shower.

I would first start by finding out what type of nursery the expectant mother wants for her baby.  You don’t have to stick with her idea (make sure though that you list what type of theme she is decorating the baby’s room with when you send out the invitations for guests), but try to have a few items like stuffed animals, blocks or knickknacks that reflect her theme placed around the room.

Next I would go to the fabric store and buy several yards of sheer fabric.  Don’t buy the most expensive stuff unless you are handy with a sewing machine, in which case you could turn them into curtains for the nursery.  When you have a nice sheer, make the ceiling look like a canopy for a crib.  Go to an online nursery site to see how the canopy over a bassinet or crib looks.  Basically though, you should take several long lengths of fabric, connect them in the center of the room with tacks and then drape them to the corners of the room.  You then let them hang down the wall in the corners.  Tie them at middle height with a bow from your color scheme.  Go with a pastels like pink, blue, yellow, green, or lilac.  Use soft tones mixed with white.

Light the room with white mini lights but not too many; you want to keep subdued lighting in the room.  Use candles if you feel confident about providing the proper safety and make sure to keep them well away from the sheer fabric areas.  Best to find soft lighting with regular electric bulbs though.

Next, provide lots of pillows around the room for people to use.  This also give that nursery feel; ruffled pillows can go on the floor, on the couches, and on chairs.  Make the room look good enough to sleep in and welcoming enough for cozy chatting by the party guests.

Once you have the room looking like a dream nursery, place a bassinet, play pen or crib in the corner.  This might be a group gift or a gift from the expectant mother’s mom or mother-in-law, and you will need to coordinate this before you make the purchase.  A bassinet works best for the overall effect but don’t feel like you have to stick with that.  Set up the bassinet so that it is made with sheets, blankets and a little sleep toy.  This will be where guests place their presents (conveniently placed beside the guest of honor’s chair) and will be similar to a gift table, however most presents would be arranged on the floor  around the bassinet.

After all that, I would add a few vases of flowers that bring to mind sleep, innocence and purity.  Use flowers like the White Iris or Star of Bethlehem, both of which mean purity, Orange Blossom meaning innocence, and for a touch of color try a Freesia which means thoughtfulness.  Play around with the colors and meanings of flowers to create a special message or just to give another element of beauty to an already beautiful space.

Also: main decorations section

Invitations

Invitations for a nursery themed shower are usually very simple.  Since we are going for refined simplicity, I would use a simple white invitation, possibly with a touch of embossing.  I would either have them shaped like a crib or have a small embossed bassinet, stroller, or crib on one corner of the invitation.  Another idea is to use a Goodnight Moon theme for the invitations.

One thing that every invitation should have is information stating that this is a nursery theme and ask the guests to reflect that theme if possible.  Provide a list of items the new mom needs but if you can, have a gift registry set up for the shower.  This will avoid people buying multiples of big items like cribs, crib blankets, baby monitors and other things.

If you are looking for a Nursery Rhyme poem, try our poetry section.

Also: main invitations section

Gifts, Favors, and Prizes

As we mentioned above, the gifts for a nursery usually include a lot of those large ticket items.  They can be pretty expensive so if you want to keep your gift cost low, try to purchase a few of the other things like sheets, receiving blankets and of course those wonderful knickknacks and stuffed animals that you have placed around the room.

Guests may choose to pool together their money for one large item or a couple medium priced items. Smaller items are given individually.

Larger Gifts:
Playpen
Bassinets
Cribs
Stroller

Swings
Rocking chair
Chest of drawers
Bouncers and rockers
Changing table
Baby monitors

Smaller Gifts:
Night light
Washcloths
Diaper pail
Diaper stacker
Crib toys
Mobile
Baby bathing (shampoo, soap, powder)
Nail clipper
Sleeping clothes
Baby gel
Changing pad
Baby blanket
Nail clippers
Brush
Teething products
Stuffed animals

For the guest favors, I would suggest knickknacks of sleeping babies or something simple and elegant. These can be nice keepsakes that tell people how important they are and how much you and the new mom appreciate them being there.   Other ideas might be gourmet chamomile tea wrapped in pretty pink and blue ribbon.

For the prizes, I would include things like refreshing eye masks, stress pillows and mini book lights for reading in bed.  Don’t forget that those stuffed animals also make great prizes and don’t have to be for just the mom to be.

Also: main gift section & main favors section

Food

Remember the drapes hanging above your head making the room seem peaceful and dreamy…Well take that same theme and apply it to your food.  Instead of having clunky food, have food that is light and flaky or is something that you would have before bedtime.

Things like powdered cakes, fluffy fruit dip (with fruit of course) and flaky meat cakes like crab cakes or Somoza (yes I know, we usually don’t eat spicy before bed but let’s pretend that we do because they are delicious).  You can also have sandwiches and other types of cakes and appetizers.

If you choose to do a meal, you can have a light quiche or maybe pasta with a cream sauce.  There really is no wrong way when it comes to the food and so you don’t need to follow the theme but just think how wonderful it would be eating Fluffy Lemon Meringue Pie on a sea of pillows beneath a cascade of shimmering white clouds.

Also: main recipe section

Games

As with most themes, games can be tailored to fit the theme but there are a few that you can do without changing at all.  The first one that I would suggest is Cotton Balls contributed by Shelly, however, I would pull out several of those eye masks that I have mentioned below to use as the blindfolds.  Make sure that people can’t see through them before you use them.  Another great game to do is Baby Items Memory, where you place several items on a tray, cover it or take it out of the room and then have the guests write down what items were on the tray. Try to keep it centered on the theme, things that you would find in a nursery room.  For a twist on the game, visit Tray of Baby Items with a Twist contributed by Cassie.

Also: main games section

Do you have an idea to add to this theme? Send it to us!