While this may be slightly untraditional… I’m kinda an untraditional gal.
My wedding wasn’t traditional and my nursery isn’t either… so why should this have been any different?
So whether you are currently pregnant and planning your own shower, or maybe you are helping plan one for a friend who likes all things neutral, hopefully I can give you some ideas or inspiration!
I decided to plan this for myself for a few reasons. I was candidly so excited to celebrate finally having this pregnancy to celebrate in the first place and I honestly didn’t want to burden anyone else with the task. I knew I wanted things to be incredibly simplistic, timeless and without the fuss of traditional Baby Shower antics and games.
I choose Charlie’s in Bayhead, NJ as my venue because of the water views, natural light and coastal ambience. I loved the neutral colors and the look of the natural wood beams and white ship lap. They also had plenty of options in terms of Buffet vs. Plated and Brunch vs. Lunch, which I liked as well.
As a Baby Shower participant and now host, something I would recommend is a Seating Arrangement if you are ever planning a Shower for anyone. We all have friends who are early, on time and late right? I don’t know about you guys, but I never want to be stuck at a “family table” for a friend’s shower – just keeping it real.
I saw this idea on Pinterest (what would any of us do without Pinterest?!), so I decided to do this instead of traditional place cards. I purchased the succulents from a local plant store, but had to plant them in these Terra Pots that I found on Amazon, Linked Here. I bought cheap construction paper at Michael’s and simply typed out my list. Super easy right? And I got so many complements from it. I have been using Letterboard a ton as well, and this was just another excuse to use it!
As far as other decorations go, I opted not to use any. No centerpieces, flowers, candles etc. I just couldn’t be bothered and this venue was so beautiful, I don’t think I even needed it. My mom and I chose simple balloons in white and ivory for the tables and we were DONE. I remember a waitress asking us if we were celebrating an engagement, and I was like “Nope, but that’s EXACTLY the look I’m going for” haha.
The only pieces I chose to display were some of our favorite photos from our Maternity Shoot when we traveled to Southern California earlier in the month.
(I plan on doing a whole other Blog Post on that as well soon!)
I knew I wanted some kind of guestbook or framable memory that I could keep in the nursery, and to be honest, most things I saw were very “baby like.” I know, I know – it’s a Baby Shower, but again, not my particular style. I had this cute guestbook custom made by an Etsy Shop called PrintSmitten. They had all kinds of sizes, colors, and options and it shipped fairly quickly!
In terms of what kind of favors to give, I decided on mini Prosecco Bottles. I got these cute custom labels printed from an Etsy Shop called Customaed.
We secretly plan on bringing these to the hospital for our Little Man’s arrival. Gotta celebrate right!?
All in all it was such a beautiful day. It flew so quickly as expected, but it’s always incredible to have all of your favorite people in one place together. We are truly blessed to have the best friends and family who care so much about us and our little guy already!
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