Celebrating the arrival of a baby doesn't have to come with the traditional all-pink or baby blue themes. If you're not sharing whether tiny tyke trucks or pretty princess bows are called for, gender neutral invitations, decorations and party favors are one way to celebrate without spilling the baby's sex.
Eco-Friendly
Environmentally-friendly showers are defintely a growing trend. It just needs a baby focus with the decor and gift registry choices. For example, serve condiments in reused baby food jars and adorn a "Welcome Baby" banner with pictures cut and recycled from used children's books. Ask guests to wrap the gifts in reused newsprint. Add eco-conscious options to the gift registry, including Earth-friendly baby grooming products or organic infant clothing.
Teeny Tiny
Focus on size instead of color with small-scale centerpieces made with miniature roses, bonsai trees, or little succulents. When it comes to food, serving a buffet of bite-sized morsels such as mini-pies, tiny quiches, sliders or petit fours carries on the theme. The gift registry can feature typical tiny baby basics such as newborn hats, itty-bitty socks or infant-scale bedding in gender-free hues. Guest gifts can also be tiny succulents to carry the theme throughout.
Get Artsy
Even though an art theme may seem grown-up, you can make it baby-centered with a craft project. For example, ask the guests to create portraits of what they think the baby will look like. The invitations can be art postcards that feature reproductions of works with mothers or children such as Renoir's "A Girl With a Watering Can." Gifts can continue on with the theme, and possibly include items such as framed cartoon drawings or artsy nursery wall decals.
Read It
Dr. Seuss, Ezra Jack Keats, Eric Carle, and Beatrix Potter. These famed children's authors, as well as others, can make for an educationally imaginative shower theme. Pick one book, go with a genre or an author's entire catalog. For example, send out Cat in the Hat-themed invitations, serve "Green Eggs and Ham" and send the guests home with baby seedlings courtesy of "The Lorax."
