Once upon a time there was a new infant that was expected to join his family. They were so excited to see him arrive that they sprinkled words of happiness and love over every inch of their home and etched them onto their hearts. The happy parents knew that their love was so great that the world could not hold all the words to express it so they bound each word of love into a book of gold and placed it on a shelf for their child to read as he grew.
Although the little story reflects a boy, a Library Shower or “Little Reader” Shower can of course be an excellent theme for boys and girls alike. Reading is a gift that lasts a lifetime and starting a child off right will make all the difference as he or she grows and imagines worlds within words.
This is by far my favorite type of baby shower theme. I am crazy about books and my children’s school is grateful when it comes time for monthly scholastic orders. Reading to your child promotes so much growth in the whole child and its importance is never stressed enough. A Library baby shower reflects that not only will reading open up a world of imagination for your child, but it will also provide you with endless opportunities to bond with your child and boost their vocabulary, intelligence and emotional development. So let’s get this theme going, and try to remember to invite me when you send out those invitations. (Ok, I’m willing to settle for an email stating how successful this theme was.)
Decorations
Since a lot of your books are going to be wrapped up as gifts, I would only place a few books out for decorations. Include books that are appealing to the guests - things like gardening, home improvement or fashion books will give the guests something to flip through. Don’t place them up out of reach but place them on coffee tables, end tables and anywhere where they look decorative and can be reached easily.
Use a few balloons to make the area look festive and add some greenery to brighten the room up with flora. Ferns and any type of tropical foliage will give a library feel to the room. If you can accomplish it, have the baby shower in a den or any room that has one or more book shelves.
Place a few stuffed bookworms around the room and a few little knick knacks that would look wonderful on a child’s bookcase.
Lastly, set up a quiet area that you would see in a nursery. Place a small bookshelf in one corner and fill it with the gifts, then place a rocking chair beside it. Decorate it with a few throws and pillows and place a nice area carpet that would be perfect for a nursery on the floor underneath the chair. This will give you a central decoration, a special gift for mom to take home, and a place for mom to sit during the shower.
Make sure you explain on the invitation that this is a library shower where guests are asked to bring books or other items that you would find in a child’s library. For the invitation itself, you should find one that either looks like a book on the front or one that has a small book embossed onto the front. If you want something a little more book-like, go to a local craft or stationary store and pick up little folders that can have inserts placed into them or get little books with about 20 pages in them. Decorate the front to look like an invitation and glue most of the pages together so you have about 4 or 5 pages inside. Place pictures of the couple in the first few pages, or shots or baby if he or she has arrived, and then place the invitation itself in the middle, the information about gifts on the next page, a fold out map to your house on the following page and a pull out RSVP on the last page. It might be a bit more for shipping but it will definitely get your theme across.
Of course books are going to be the main choice for presents, but it doesn’t have to be just books. You could purchase a rocking chair for reading, as mentioned in the decorations section, or a few blankets to use when you curl up with a good book. Some nice lamps for both the nursery and reading are also a nice gift. You can also load up mom with some comfy clothes for baby because you don’t want baby to have to read in only a diaper.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. (Author), John Archambault (Author), Lois Ehlert (Illustrator)
The Crane Girl by Veronika Charles (1992)
There are so many other great books out there that I can hardly keep track of them but those are just a few of them. Also, don’t stick with just picture books, provide mom with a few of the classics like Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877), Charlotte's Web Read-Aloud Edition by E.B White or even Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868). Basically any great children’s classic that mom can read to her new baby when she is nursing, or simply holding him or her. Believe it or not, reading to an infant who is only a few days old will open up many developmental opportunities.
For the guests, I would suggest a good novel for everyone and a nice bookmark that you can have made or make yourself with the date, and time of the shower and who the shower was for.
Prizes for games could include bookmarks, books, pens, notepads, journals and some of those knick knacks and stuffed bookworms that are decorating the room.
Since you are having a book themed baby shower, I would suggest having finger foods such as chips, sandwiches, fruit and veggies. There are many places where you can purchase cakes that look like an open book or you can pick up your own cake pan that is shaped like a book.
If you want to have a few book worms lying around, make mini cakes shaped like books and place a gummy worm coming out of them. You could also make book shaped cookies or chocolates for some extra treats.
Games can be adapted for this theme, but one that I would suggest would be an adaptation of Nursery Rhyme contributed by Katina except guests should identify sentences found in popular children’s stories. Please keep them popular, things like the Three Little Pigs or popular titles from Dr. Seuss. Another twist to this is to read a popular children’s story and stop part way through the story. The first person to guess the next sentence correctly wins a prize. The classic Nursery Rhyme Memory Game would fit in well with this theme.
by Robert Munsch
by Robert Munsch
by Robert Munsch
by Shel Silverstein
by Bill Martin Jr. (Author), John Archambault (Author), Lois Ehlert (Illustrator)
by Anna Sewell (1877), 
by E.B White or even 
by Louisa May Alcott (1868). Basically any great children’s classic that mom can read to her new baby when she is nursing, or simply holding him or her. Believe it or not, reading to an infant who is only a few days old will open up many developmental opportunities.
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