If you are hosting or throwing a baby shower, then you are probably wondering about how much the event costs, and what a good budget is.
The cost of a typical baby shower can vary from $150 to $1,200 depending on the venue, number of guests, entertainment and food and drink options.
Given how wide the range above is, let’s take a look at the main components of baby shower to help you budget the correct amount, and see where you may be able to make some savings while still throwing a beautiful and memorable party.
Table of Contents
How Much Does A Baby Shower Cost?
Venue
The first thing to think about when throwing a baby shower is where will you host it.
Many people wonder if you can have the event at a restaurant, and the answer is usually yes – especially if the restaurant has a room or space you can hire out for several hours.
Aside from restaurants, other good venues include:
- The house of a guest
- The backyard of a guest
- Park or other nice outdoor space
- Church hall
- Hotel conference room
- Country club
As you can see, the cost of a venue varies from free (someone’s house or garden) to perhaps $500+ if you are hiring a room at a nice hotel.
Related: 8 Cheap or Free Baby Shower Venues
Food
No party is complete without a good selection of food, so you’ll probably want to provide many of the following items for the event:
- Cupcakes
- Cookies
- Cake (the cost of cake is typically around $50-$150, and don’t forget to include a personalized message)
- Sandwiches
- Finger Food
- Fruit
- Chips
- Salad
Depending on the number of people invited to the event and type of food you want to serve, you should expect to pay anywhere from $50 to $300 on food.
Drink
Every great party needs a good selection drinks, and baby showers are no exception!
Given mom-to-be clearly won’t be drinking alcohol, and the event is usually thrown during the day, it’s good to have a selection of non-alcoholic drinks and pregnancy safe mocktails in addition to alcoholic beverages.
You may also want a special bottle(s) of sparkling wine or Champagne to toast mom and baby, which could add to the overall cost.
As with food, much will depend on the size of the party and the quality of drinks you serve, but a helpful estimate may be $50 to $250 on drinks.
Decor
Decor such as bunting, flowers and balloons are a useful way to bring a space to life and turn what could be a boring room into a lovely baby shower venue, so decor tends to be money well spent.
Most hosts find that $50-$70 is a good number to budget for decor.
Entertainment
Entertainment can vary from playing games to having professional musicians, so it’s another part of the baby shower budget that can vary a lot between parties.
Keep in mind however that some of the best games cost nothing to play and simply need some pre-preparation, and include:
- Guess Who (guess who the guests are from their baby photos)
- Who Knows Mommy Best (a quiz all about mom)
- Baby shower bingo
- Compiling a list of baby items from A-Z
- Sharing Baby Advice & Making Predictions – a lovely way to capture these is by using cards like the ones below (set of 50 available from Amazon)
Invitations
The cost of invitations can vary wildly, from professionally printed invites which may cost $2-$3 per person, to digital invites which include emails, texts and calls, all of which are free or cost very little.
If you are planning to send out physical invites, remember to budget for this cost, because the cost of designing, printing and sending the cards can quickly add up for a large guestlist.
If you are planning to have a diaper raffle, then you will want to include the details on the invitation by selecting your preferred diaper raffle wording.
Below: Baby Shower Invitation Set with: Invitations, Diaper Raffle Tickets, Books for Baby Request Cards and Thank You Notes
Thank You Notes
As with invitations, the way you say thank you can vary from a simple text to a printed card, and if you go for the latter option should should allow $2-$3 per person to be on the safe side.
Summary
From the above you can see that the venue and the food and drink options are the most significant cost of hosting the celebration.
So if you are on a budget and looking to save money, then choosing an inexpensive venue can save you a lot of money and if done correctly, it won’t compromise how beautiful and memorable the party will be.
A backyard or even a park can be a great option, as could asking a guest who you know has a large house and / or backyard.
It’s also possible to save money by making your own decorations, or again if you know one of the guests is artistic or has a good eye you could enlist their help.
While food and drink is expected, you don’t need to go overboard so you could stick to simple finger food and perhaps make some food or bake some sweet treats yourself if you can.
Finally, it’s acceptable to ask other friends or family to help contribute to some of the costs, so don’t be shy in asking others for help, and remember help can either be money or offering their house or yard, cooking skills or decorating skills.
See Also: How To Throw A Baby Shower On A Budget: 7 Tips & Hacks
What Is A Baby Shower?
A baby shower is a party that celebrates the expected birth of mom’s first baby, and a way for friends and family to celebrate the life-changing event that mom is about to experience.
By giving gifts and participating in a diaper raffle, these events are also a way for the guests to help the parents with some of the costs associated with raising a newborn child.
The event is traditionally only thrown for the first baby, but nowadays this is less strict, and some moms like to have a “baby sprinkle” for their second or third child, which is a celebration on a smaller scale with fewer guests and fewer presents.
Who To Invite To A Baby Shower?
The guestlist of a baby shower tends to be exclusively female (unlike diaper parties, which are the male equivalent).
Typically close family (mom / stepmom, grandmas, mother-in-law, sisters, aunts, cousins, older nieces), close friends and work colleagues are invited to a baby shower.
But if you are hosting a baby shower, you should always check with the mom-to-be about who she would like to attend, because she might have some people she does not want to invite.
Related: Hosting Your Own Baby Shower: Tacky or Acceptable?
What Happens At A Baby Shower?
Some of the things you can expect at a typical event include:
- Enjoy delicious food and drink
- Play games
- Partake in a diaper raffle
- Gift opening for mom-to-be
- Ask other moms attending to fill in advice cards or write parenting words of wisdom in a book
When To Have A Baby Shower?
Baby showers are typically thrown in the third trimester, usually around 4-6 weeks before mom’s due date.
This tends to be a good time, because it’s far along into the pregnancy, but not so late that the baby might make an early arrival to disrupt the plans.
The majority of baby showers are thrown while mom is expecting, but some women prefer to have their event after their baby is born.
Must Read: Everything You Need To Know About Baby Showers