Baby Showers: Cutting Corners but Still Looking Cute

Regular Save 4 Fun reader Kate commented the other day on Can You Tell It's from the Dollar Store that she liked the idea of my friends cutting corners on some things for my bridal shower and splurging on others. She mentioned that she'd have to keep that in mind for upcoming baby showers that she will be hosting.

I've done my share of economizing as a baby shower hostess, so I thought I'd share a couple of tips that I've used. I had searched the Internet for ideas, so these aren't completely originals. However, I can't remember exactly where I found them in order to give credit, and I have a tendency to mix and match my own ideas with ones I've found from various message boards and websites. I like to customize for the honoree, the occasion, and my own style.

The invitations I used were note cards from the Dollar Tree. They were blank inside and had a pink baby carriage on the cover. Cute since she was expecting a girl. I printed them myself at home. I've always liked adding poems about bringing a little something extra as a gift to go with the theme of the shower (bridal or baby).

For this particular one, I found a nice idea of having people bring books for the mother to read to her daughter either as a baby or as a young child. So, I printed that poem on the inside cover of the note card and then the details about when, where, for whom, etc. on the right, inside the card. Below was the how poem read:

Something special for Baby Allie Marie…

Although cards are nice,
With their sentiment and prayer,
They're read once or twice,
Then tucked away with care.

A book is a treasure,
Words and pictures unite,
Read over and over,
To teach and delight.

So instead of a card,
For the little baby and mother,
Please consider a storybook,
With your thoughts in the cover.

Your book will be cherished;
God will watch from above;
When it's read, they’ll remember,
Your kindness and love.

Just like it's shown here, I made the poem in a special font so that it would stand out and look special inside of the card. I also highlighted some of the lines in pink to dress it up a bit.

Most guests still gave her cards with their gifts even though the intention was that a message written inside of the cover of the book would serve as the card. However, she still got a bunch of nice books to go along with each gift. You can actually find nice children's books on discount racks of bookstores for about the same price as a greeting card (assuming you aren't buying it at a discount store where they usually sell for either half price or 50 cents). So, I don't think this idea broke anyone's gift budget if they had one.

Stay tuned for more thrifty but nice baby shower ideas tomorrow.

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