Afternoon baby shower food ideas

Baby Shower Food Ideas - Baby Chick

Hosting a baby shower is such an important job to support a mother-to-be. I will never forget my baby shower and all the work my mom put into it to host for me. I am forever grateful!

Planning a baby shower is a lot of work, from the guest list to the décor, the baby shower games, and most importantly, the food. There is a lot of thought and effort that goes into a shower.

What to Consider When Planning the Baby Shower Food

When planning the menu, you want to consider the preferences of the mother-to-be and serve some of her favorite foods, along with considering the theme.

The theme of my shower was “Fiesta, Baby,” and we had a taco and nacho bar—some of my favorite things and on theme! You will also want to consider your guests’ dietary needs and ensure you have some gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and vegan offerings mixed in. That way there is a little something for everyone in the spread. Of course, make sure to have plenty of bottles of hand sanitizer available to your guests as they prepare to make their way through the food offering. This will help keep everyone healthy.

Baby Shower Appetizers

Finger foods are excellent to serve at baby showers, and anything “mini” is always a charming option for the food table. I love going to a baby shower where many different appetizers are served. Bonus points if they are on a toothpick or in a single serving cup! Serving many appetizers is a great way to have lots of options for your guests that meet the needs of even the pickiest of attendees. Here are some delicious ideas for appetizers:

Pimento cheese crostini
Charcuterie board
Individual cups of cut veggies and dressing
Tea sandwiches
Fruit kebabs
Sandwich pinwheels
Meatballs
Pigs in a blanket
Stuffed mushrooms
Mini crab cakes
Shrimp cocktail
Spanakopita

Baby Shower Buffet

Buffets of entrée foods are a great, inclusive baby shower food idea for your guests. They can choose exactly how they want to customize their meal according to their preferences and dietary needs. I have shared some fun buffet ideas and examples of items to put on that buffet that will give your guests many options.

Taco/nacho bar (taco meat, chicken, refried beans, sour cream, salsa, taco shells, tortillas, corn chips)
Baked potato bar (cheese, chili, sour cream, chives, butter, bacon, ham, black olives, scallions, chicken)
BBQ and fixins (pulled chicken, pulled pork, brisket, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, potato salad, cornbread)
Bagels (various cream cheese flavors, lox, capers, pickled onions, dill)

Baby Shower Brunch

A common time for baby showers is a brunch shower! I have often been to showers late Sunday morning, and I love a good brunch shower. Here are some yummy options for baby shower food ideas during brunch:

Mini quiches
Breakfast casserole(s) both with meat and vegetarian
Deviled eggs
Baked French toast
Chicken salad on Hawaiian rolls
Croissants
Scones
Muffins
Fruit salad

Baby Shower Desserts

The options for baby shower desserts are endless and the center of a shower’s celebration. Most traditionally, you can serve a beautiful cake decorated akin to the shower’s theme. A trendy idea is to have a dessert bar with lots of different options for your guests to choose from. Here are some other more non-traditional dessert ideas:

Decorate your own cookie station
Cinnamon buns (cute for a “bun in the oven” theme)
Cake pops
Cookies
Chocolate covered pretzels
Petit fours
Cupcakes
Fun-sized candy bars
Hershey’s Kisses
Personalized M&M’s
Caramel popcorn
Chocolate covered strawberries
Rice Krispie Treats
Chex Muddy Buddies

Baby Shower Drinks

The drinks you offer at a baby shower depend heavily on the theme! One cute theme that I have seen is “Something’s Brewing.” You would serve beer and coffee at that shower. At a brunch shower, you’ll probably have a mimosa bar with lots of different juice offerings. Depending on the time of day and audience, a signature cocktail inspired by the mother-to-be is also a cute idea! Of course, a nice offering to have is mini bottles of water. I find that at events where the mini bottles are served, it cuts down on the half-empty bottles of water being found everywhere when the event is over!

Mimosa bar (various fruit juices such as mango, pineapple, orange)
Coffee or hot cocoa station
Iced tea
Hot tea
Infused water
Signature cocktail
Bottled water

I hope this inspires you as you plan for baby shower hosting responsibilities. You can mix and match from this list of food ideas and pull off a flawless shower! The guests and mother-to-be will love what you put together, no matter what you choose to do.

37 Crowd-Pleasing Baby Shower Food Ideas

Planning a baby shower is lots of fun, especially when it comes to brainstorming food ideas. Whether you’re looking for food ideas that match your chosen baby shower theme or you’re just looking for quick, easy, and flavorful options that everyone will love, you’ve come to the right place. Check out our 37 baby shower food ideas, including savories, sweets, and thirst-quenching drinks.

9 Tips and Ideas for Planning a Baby Shower Menu

When planning a baby shower, you can be as creative as you like with the food ideas, but it’s also important to consider some practical aspects.

As the host, you’ll have a lot to take care of, including decorating the venue, so it’s good to plan food that is quick to make and easy to serve and eat.

Here are some tips to help you think about the types of food to choose, how to serve it, and more:

Savory Baby Shower Food Ideas

Whether you plan on having only finger foods or an entire menu at the baby shower, here are some ideas for the savory food:

Baby Shower Dessert Table Food Ideas

Besides having a baby shower cake as a centerpiece, you may want to have a dessert table with an assortment of other sweet offerings. Here are some ideas for crowd-pleasing sweets and desserts:

Drinks

Beyond serving the usual wine spritzer or sparkling wine at the baby shower, consider some alcohol-free drinks, like mocktails, punch, and homemade sodas:

The Bottom Line

You’ll no doubt have lots of fun planning and serving the food for the mom-to-be’s baby shower.

If you’ve decided to prepare most of the food, round up some of the mom-to-be’s friends and family to help. Make it easier on yourself by using some store-bought elements, too. You could also make some of what’s on offer but ask each guest to bring a small plate to share.

Set up food and dessert tables so that guests can serve themselves buffet style, and stick to foods that aren’t too messy to eat while standing up and mingling.

If you have a set theme, you can tie the food into the theme by using colored frosting, or by piping lettering onto foods like “Oh, Baby!” Cookie cutters are your friend! Cut everything from brownies to sandwiches into shapes that match the theme. You can also connect the food and drinks to the theme based on the colors you choose for the straws, napkins, and cupcake liners.

Having a chocolate fondue fountain or a soda bar can create an interactive element that guests will love.

Have fun with it! Your options are endless, and you might find you really get into it once you get started. And, always remember, no matter what food and drinks you serve, your guests — especially the guest of honor — will really appreciate your efforts and thoughtfulness.

While you’re here, check out our baby shower checklist to double-check that you’ve covered everything for the upcoming event.

How to organize a children's birthday: animators, decor, food, music, entertainment

Our expert - Elena Moiseeva, an event organizer with many years of experience, co-founder of the London agency Chaika Events - has organized more than five hundred children's parties in her life. Especially for Workingmama, Elena prepared a checklist of the most important items for self-preparation of a children's holiday.

We all love to look at beautiful pictures on the pages of professional eventers and decorators. They have breathtaking scenery, expensive themed accessories, luxurious costumes, gourmet dishes. As holiday planners, we love coming up with exciting design concepts, but the truth is, it's more for parents, grown-ups. Children are interested in something else. The key point in organizing a children's holiday, 80% of success is a professional animator.

Professional animator

A good entertainer is the cornerstone of your party. This is the only thing you can't skimp on. If you have beautiful decorations, a complex candy bar with cake pops and macaroons, but at the same time the children scatter in the corners and sit buried in their smartphones, everything will crumble to pieces, and no decorations and expensive balloons will help. And if an experienced animator works at the holiday, who is able to get and keep the attention of children, then you can get by with a couple of pizzas with a cake: everyone will still remember how fun it was.

Finding a professional and really talented animator is a little easier than finding a unicorn. But it's worth the effort.

Start looking now, even if your next children's birthday is only a year away. Where to looking for? Gather contacts at other children's parties, at restaurants where there is a children's corner, at festivals where a children's area is organized. If you see that children are running after someone with burning eyes, run after him too and write down the phone.

You can search for animators on the websites of the organizers of children's parties, on Instagram. Watch the video, read the reviews. Keep in mind that an hour of the animator's work costs more if you call him for just an hour. Because he still needs to travel, take props with him, think over the program. It is best to invite an animator for the entire holiday. Otherwise, the rest of the time, before the arrival or after the departure of the animator, the children are provided - and this usually means real chaos.

There is nothing worse than a five-in-one animator. When the same person and face painting does, and dogs from balloons, and shows from soap bubbles. Because while one child is being painted, the other 25 have fled in all directions. Additional skills are good, but, as a rule, they cannot be combined. An experienced animator should rally everyone, involve all children in various activities. And parents at this time should rest and drink champagne.

Where to look for animators:

letspartybox.com/

instagram.com/lobacheva_project

vesnywka.ru/

instagram.com/moreshowcom

instagram.com/LAK_event/

Invitations

In today's frantic pace, when children have five circles and an active social life, it is necessary to invite guests to a children's birthday party as early as possible. It is not shameful to send Save The Date (an invitation with a request to stake out the date) and two months in advance. This is important if you want exactly the people whom he would like to see come to your child for the holiday. If you delay with an invitation, you can end up in a situation where all your friends have already been invited to another party.

You can order invitations on the international website Etsy.com. There you will find a huge selection of beautiful templates for any topic. For a few dollars you will receive personalized email invitations - you just need to send your text.

Electronic invitations can be sent by email or WhatsApp, or you can use the convenient PaperlessPost program, which will immediately give you statistics: how many people accepted the invitation, who will not be able to come, who will come with brothers and sisters, etc.

Location

If you are not ready to spend a children's party at home (and we understand you perfectly), then look for a spacious place. This is the main criterion. Children need to move, they need a lot of space to play. A cafe or a game center can convince you that the room is designed for 50 people, but you can safely divide it by two: usually the capacity is calculated based on the fact that people are calmly standing in buffet mode, and not playing hide and seek and catch up.

Optimal: indoor/outdoor combination. There you can move, hold all sorts of sports games.

Perfect for a garden or square. The more space the better. Yes, and try to see the site in advance, do not focus only on photos or descriptions. Start your search with a review of "30 places in Moscow where you can celebrate a holiday" on Workingmama.ru.

Food

News: children eat almost nothing on their birthdays. Therefore, there is no point in excelling in haute cuisine. Food that goes well at parties has a funny name: finger food. That is, everything that can be taken by hand. And second: almost everything should be with the prefix "mini". Mini pizzas, mini burgers, mini rolls, mini hot dogs. There is practically no chance that a child in the excitement of the game will finish the adult portion - most likely, he will take a bite and immediately quit. Miniature portions will reduce the amount of undereating.

Are you in favor of wholesome food? Cut the celery and carrots into strips. Children, of course, will not eat this - but your soul will be calmer.

If you want to surprise your guests, and you have a small budget for it, install a mini version of the chocolate fountain. Such a design can be purchased for quite reasonable money. It is very easy to assemble. You will also need special chocolate, which is heated directly in the bag in the microwave or steamed, and poured into the fountain. Put strawberries, marshmallows, skewers nearby - voila! – on the sweet table it will be the highlight of the program!

Where to order food:

m-catering.ru/catering/detskiy-prazdnik/

catering-muscat.ru/children/

Duration

For children aged 3 to 7 years, the optimal duration of the holiday is 2-2.5 hours. Longer is already physically difficult for both children and adults. Children cannot keep their attention on something for a long time, so activities should alternate every 15-20 minutes, breaks are required.

It is better to start the holiday with active games, and at the end you will certainly make a disco.

Because after eating a cake, children necessarily release energy, which urgently needs to be directed in the right direction. If you also pick up all sorts of bright accessories in a Fix Price store: colored wigs, bright glasses, bracelet beads, the disco will become a hit that will take at least half an hour and will be remembered by everyone.

Music

Music should sound at the festival all the time, from beginning to end. Well, except for some special activities. Music sets the mood, sets the tone for the whole party. Now almost everyone has smartphones and tablets. One of your friends will probably have a portable speaker, ask to borrow it for a few hours. Feel free to upload the playlist to Spotify or YouTube. By the way, one more news: it is naive to believe that children love children's songs. In fact, they've been in love with Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams and Bruno Mars since the age of three. So they don’t need to put on “A smile will make everyone brighter”, dancing to modern pop music will be much more interesting for them.

Decor

In Russia now you can find almost any scenery. True, to achieve a picture like from the page of a professional event decorator, you will have to spend a lot of money. So, fashionable paper decor (flowers, garlands, etc.) will cost a pretty penny, because you need a lot of it so that the room does not look dull.

If your budget is tight, use balloons. They can put the name of the child and the number indicating the age. Meter balls-numbers look very cool. Brilliant figures of impressive size look great in the photo and you can immediately see how old the child is. You can also buy regular latex balloons. Individually, they look lonely, and in bouquets of 5-7 pieces, excellent compositions are already obtained.

A small note: decorating an event with helium balloons is not the most budget option. There is a shortage of helium on the market now, and this gas has become very expensive. So if you buy a bunch of inexpensive balloons, remember that you will have to spend a lot on helium tanks.

Decorations can be made by yourself. On the mentioned site Etsy.com, ready-made "soup sets" on various topics are sold: "Frozen", "Cars", "Spiderman", "Paw Patrol", etc.

You buy a ready-made package with files that will need to be printed, cut, pasted. There will be stickers on bottles of lemonade, and garlands, and banners.

Where else to look:

happybabymonster/

instagram.com/be_create/

instagram.com/becreate_decor/

instagram.com/merrymelon_decor

party-boom.ru/catalog/holidays/den-rojdeniya

zatey.ru/

Activities

Children under 8 love to search for treasures: solve riddles, find clues and clues. Treasure hunting can be done in a variety of subjects, and you don’t need a lot of money for this. Children will be absolutely happy if the found treasure is chocolate "coins". The possibilities are limited by nothing but your imagination. The search for clues is a team work that unites very much. In addition, treasure hunting is very motivating for children to behave well, to complete tasks - they are interested in it.

If the budget is limited, and there is no money for some special effects and shows (soap bubbles, chemical experiments, etc.) - do-it-yourself activities are great.

There are websites that offer great DIY kits to create all sorts of things in 15 minutes, from superhero masks to fairy wings. Children love to cut, glue, paint, decorate everything with all sorts of colorful stickers. You just need to give them simple blanks, help a little along the way, they will create a craft that they will gladly take home with them. Such activities easily and naturally adapt to the theme of the party. For example, if you're having a space party, you could all paint a large cardboard rocket together.

Gifts

Gifts are usually given at the very beginning. Make sure there is a special table for this. By the end of the holiday, the table is gradually filled with gifts, and at the end of the holiday you just take them with you. There is no need to open gifts in public. In order not to offend anyone, you will need to immediately read all the postcards - there is no time for this. Let the child be busy with his holiday, enjoy the moment. Gifts are a pleasant continuation of a birthday, a separate joy that you already experience at home.

Photo/Video

If you want to get a good photo report from your holiday - do not rely on yourself and your phone. Most likely, you will not be at all up to filming. Good children's photographers/videographers tend to be expensive and charge by the hour. However, you can meet on the forums with budding talents who need photos and videos for a portfolio - then the cost can be purely symbolic, but you must be ready to give permission to use your photos for promotional purposes.

Alternatively, ask one adult guest to be responsible for this particular part.

End of the holiday

Do not delay the end of the party. After the cake has been served, children need to be entertained with a disco or sports games so that they “let off steam” - and we remind you that until the last minute the little guests should be under the control of an experienced animator. There is no need to hope that everything will somehow “go by itself” later. Everything will just go haywire. There is nothing worse than when, after a “carbohydrate overdose”, children rush about, tearing off balls and jewelry on the way, and the birthday boy’s mother runs after them, trying to calm everyone down and prevent fights and injuries.

If you understand that it's time to wrap up - just turn off the music, thank all the guests and say goodbye.

Happy holidays to you!

***
Nadia Makoeva

Ideas for a children's birthday 5 years old

Content

Gifts for 5-year-old birthday
Place of birthday Entertainment
The end of the holiday

The first anniversary will definitely remain in the memory of the child.

The celebration of a child's fifth birthday is a special celebration. The first small important date is 5 years. Five-year-olds are basically nimble and active children who love to taste the world for taste and strength. Children's birthday ideas can be very different, but contests and games for them should be understandable, accessible to their abilities. In games, friendship should always win. And fun entertainment should be mixed with delicious treats.

The best time to celebrate a birthday is in the afternoon. The maximum duration is 4 hours. No need for adventure lovers to overwork on this busy day. Just at the age of 5, the child realizes the full significance of his own celebration. Therefore, it is imperative to clarify with the child exactly whom he wants to invite to his birthday.

A long-awaited gift is half the battle.

Gifts for a 5-year-old birthday

At the age of 5, children are already able to critically assess the surrounding reality, so the choice of a gift must be taken seriously. A few weeks before the significant date, very carefully find out what the child is dreaming about, and do not touch the topic of the gift anymore. Then there is a guarantee that the gift will be to the heart and cause a bouquet of joyful emotions. 5 years is a period of irrepressible curiosity, so it is better to avoid surprises, careless handling of which can be harmful.

Ideas for birthday gifts can also be inspired by cartoons that the child enjoys. Both girls and boys will be happy with everything related to their cartoon friends. Also, puzzles and constructors are very interesting for all children.

Places for celebrating the birthday of a 5-year-old child

The birthday of a 5-year-old child can be celebrated anywhere. Ideas can be like this. These are amusement parks and water parks, and sparkling entertainment centers and various children's cafes. And all children love this kind of entertainment. Brilliant and memorable help can be provided by people who professionally organize children's celebrations. Animators, magicians, clowns, entertainers who arrange soap bubble shows will leave behind a whirlwind of the most vivid feelings. And both boys and girls will be happy, as well as their parents. What is better than a birthday outside the home or in it - it all depends on your mood and capabilities.

The indisputable advantages of having a holiday at home is that you have valuable experience of celebrating your child's previous birthdays and a knowledge and sense of his needs and desires that no one else has.

Ideas for a home birthday

The most exciting and touching moment on this fabulous day is the beginning - congratulations to the little hero of the day. You can put him in a circle of children and adults and say words of admiration and love to everyone in turn. And then arrange a fireworks display in honor of the little hero of the day. From crackers. Children, of course, have the smallest and safest crackers. In adults, crackers are voluminous and brightly colorful. Rain and an ocean of confetti will start the birthday celebration with funny notes.

Presenting gifts on this magical day is interesting to turn into a tempting adventure. Hide them in advance in the most unexpected corners of the house. And then, with the help of the words hot and cold, all the children, both girls and boys, help the interested birthday man to look for them.

A particularly inspiring and unifying action can be the creation of a joint huge picture-congratulations as a keepsake on this glorious day. The number 5 years is beautifully drawn. And all the children dip their hands into different jars of paint and create a multi-colored sky for the hero of the day on a sheet of paper. This is both a moment of entertainment and a very serious occupation. Adults can help write wishes from children next to their clouds.

After that, you need to eat a little before the main bubbling fun. It can be small sandwiches and fruit salad. The main thing for children is not to overeat and keep alive and active. And it's time for the main events - contests and games.

Surprises for all children - small gifts.

Entertainment

The main thing to remember is that active entertainment should alternate with quiet ones. And vice versa. Round dance of various impressions. And be sure to prepare small gifts for all children. It can be kinder surprises, juice bags, balloons, crackers, Barney's sweet bears. Everything that will appeal to kids 5 years old.

Ideas for children's birthday contests 5 years old can be:

Balloon attack

The children are divided into two teams and stand on both sides of the blanket with balloons held by two adult participants. Then, on the whistle, they shake the balls. They fly apart. And the task of the children is to transfer them to the side of the rivals. The one with the fewest balls at the end wins.

Find a brother

The leader tells each child what animal they are. And all children with sounds and gestures, without words, must find a mate. Your brothers and sisters. The pair of children who recognize each other the fastest wins.

Tell me who I am

The guys are also divided into two teams and must guess the heroes of fairy tales and cartoons and complete the sentence. The host says - Winnie and the children finish - Pooh, and for example Karabas - Barabas, Doctor Aibolit, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Kid and Carlson, Peter Pan. And that team of children wins, which has more guessed names in its assets.

Candy Salad

This competition will definitely appeal to all the little sweet tooth. Especially on a day like this. Large bags of sweets are placed on one and the other side of the room. All children are given tablespoons. And two teams of dexterous and active guys compete in turn in who will quickly transfer all the sweets to the bowls located at the end of the room. He will mix all the sweets there with a large ladle and make his own unique, delicious, candy salad. Then, of course, everyone who wants to try it and the contestants themselves, respectively. Both the girl and the boys will fill up from the belly, but what celebration of a children's birthday is complete without sweets.

Noisy games should replace quiet ones.

And of course all children are endlessly happy to play and play. Games can be the following:

Games for children 5 years old:

Repeat after me

All the guys sit in a circle. And one gets up and starts. For example, it turns around itself. The next child repeats this movement and adds something of his own, for example, bouncing. And so in a circle. If someone goes astray, then out of the game. A sea of laughter and fun is guaranteed. What else do you need on your birthday?

Guess the object

Blindfold a child with a scarf, give a soft toy into his hands and he must guess by touch what kind of object it is, the name of the toy and what it is for. The trick is that the next child is no longer given a soft toy, but, for example, a book or a part from a designer. The constant change of objects of guessing delivers many violent emotions to the children who have already taken part.

Don't get caught by the crocodile

Pillows are arranged on the floor in different order. These are crocodiles. You need to cross to the other side without getting caught by any of them, without stepping on anyone. The child remembers where the crocodiles lay down, they blindfold him again and he sets off. The winner is the one who passes all the crocodiles with brilliance.

Unknown hero

Very interesting game. The host prepares cards in advance with the name of different fairy-tale characters. The main condition is that they should be very familiar to children and easily guessed. Then the first player draws a card with a name that he does not see. This card is inserted into a paper cap. She's already on top of his head. All children see this name except the player. And he has to guess who the hero is. For example, Winnie the Pooh. Questions might be: Am I from a cartoon? Answer: About Winnie the Pooh. What color am I? - Brown. That I love? – Med. Fun for all kids. And for those who guess. And those who help him in this.

Musical chairs

Chairs arranged in a row. They should be one less than the children playing. Then joyful and energetic music is turned on. The guys are circling around these chairs. Then, at the signal of the presenter, the music stops abruptly and the children should sit on chairs. One of the participants is left without a chair, he leaves. Again one chair is removed. The cheerful music continues and again which of the guys will be faster. There should be one chair left and one lucky winner at the end. Of course, all participants receive sweet consolation prizes.

The favorite guest of the holiday is a delicious cake.