Eco Baby Shower

Last fall I hosted my first baby shower, and it’s hard to believe this weekend is his 1st birthday party! I’ve also been to two showers this week, so I’ve been thinking more about them.


Baby showers are an important milestone, and way to show support for the family-to-be. I remember being overwhelmed by the love and friendship that came with ours. But I also think there’s a lot of room for greening up this right of passage to lessen the impact and deepen it’s meaning.


It truly takes a village, and people want to help host. Recruit close friends to set up and clean up, and any other talents they may want to share. Prepare in advance and try to share the work load.


Invitations – Go paperless with an e-invitation. I used to send with E-vite, but I was recently turned on to Socializer. It’s free and green.


Decorations – Keep the decorations s imple. My favorite is decorating with a clothesline and baby clothes. If you want centerpieces, create them around baby items they can keep – like reused books standing up or a homemade lovey. A co-worker created towers of blocks in Danish for our shower, and I was so surprised. Now Girly plays and learns from them almost two years later, much better than something that goes in the trash!


eco friendly baby shower Games – Go with a more personal approach. Know your guests and tailor any games to a mixed age or co-ed group. For the co-ed shower I threw, the parents-to-be answered questions about their childhood in advance and guests guessed the answers. At another friend’s shower where I did the games, the theme was “A Star is Born,” so I taped the names of famous mothers on the backs of guests to guess as an icebreaker. Guests also tried to guess the baby names of celebrity stars. I gave organic/free trade chocolate bars as prizes.


Non-Games – Don’t feel like you have to do traditional games, many of which are honestly quite wasteful and not very meaningful to the expecting parents. While many groups may not be comfortable doing a more spiritual blessingway ceremony, you can still go a little deeper. Create something together for the parents. Share stories.


Gifts – Let guests know that reused gifts are welcomed. Since having a plentiful supply of used kid stuff, I’ve been giving a combo of reused and new. Here’s a short list of my favorite gifts:

Beyond the shower – Create a meal train for the family to get meal delivered 2-3 times a week for the first month, or after they return to work. This can be the most valuable gift ever!


I’m hoping that my experience will help you plan an eco-friendly shower. The Oregon Environmental Council has a fantastic resource, with an entire Tiny Footprints Baby Shower how-to kit.



Have you hosted an earth-friendly baby shower?


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Sustainable Family Finances
The story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.

2 thoughts on “Eco Baby Shower

  1. Sarah Joy

    I did have help organizing my blessingway with close friends from my dear friend Mary. That was definitely more spiritual and less baby-shower-y, a very nice experience. We did a belly cast of my pregnant belly with this kit http://www.proudbody.com/- pretty awesome! My friend Mary suggested the meal train idea – and truly, it was a lifesaver! I was also inspired by the idea and “fed the freezer” in the weeks leading up to giving birth.

    Family also threw us an informal baby shower. We were a bit worried about the whole gift idea because in Costa Rica it’s common to gift packs of disposable diapers (we had decided on cloth) and synthetic baby clothes or blankets. We decided to ask guests not to bring gifts at all, that their presence was the best present. However, for people who still wanted to contribute, we shared our plan – to buy a padded rocking chair for nursing. Many guests did give anonymous donations to a collection box and we had the rocking chair custom made for me (a tall person in a country of short people!)

    Reply

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