Guests at a baby shower are usually delighted to be a part of the celebration of the pending new arrival, whether they are family or friends. They give up their time, travel for miles – and often bring lovely gifts and perhaps contribute food or help for the shower.

Giving baby shower favours is a lovely touch that allows the host of the baby shower to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who attended the party.

Shower favours are usually small, inexpensive and often home-made gifts – and usually each guest will receive the same little favour as a ‘thank-you and goodbye’ gesture, presented at the end of the shower, when they are leaving.

Sometimes baby shower favours are also used as prizes for those who win at the baby shower games. If that’s the case, do think about whether you will have one type of shower favour for prizes and another as thankyou gifts. If you just want to ensure that everyone receives one favour, you might need to ‘rig’ the games!

Popular Baby Shower Favour ideas

The challenge when shopping for baby shower favours is to find a little item that will appeal to all of your guests, that also fits in with the theme and the style of the shower.

Because you are usually buying in bulk, unless you have a large budget it will be important that the item not be too expensive – but you also don’t want your baby shower favours to look cheap!

If you have the energy and ability, making home-made treats like brownies can be a lovely touch.

Other popular gift ideas for baby shower favours include:

• scented soap
• chocolate
• scented candle
• pretty pen, matching the theme of the baby shower
• flavoured lip balm
• pretty compact mirrors
• colourful notebook
• tiny tea or coffee sachet kits
• chocolate coins
• tiny jars of lollies
• photo frame

Don’t forget to include your mum-to-be in the decision making when you are choosing baby shower favours; after all, she is the one who probably has the best knowledge about most of the guests you are likely to invite and should be able to spot potential problems before the occur.

Making it personal

Plenty of retailers sell favours that are personalised with the name of the mum-to-be. You can also choose to personalise baby shower favours with a photograph if you want to.

If you would like to organise personalised baby shower favours, do make sure you leave plenty of time for these to arrive, especially if you order online.

One popular idea that is catching on, is that all of the guests line up for a photograph with the guest of honour near the beginning of the party. Then someone is given the task of taking the digital image and making prints for each guest, then putting each print into a photo frame, then having it wrapped and ready to hand out at the end of the party.

This can be a great activity for a competent junior member of the baby shower hosting team – a teenage cousin and her friend could probably get these all done in less than an hour or so – and have a lovely time doing it!

Guest books and Messages

Where do you put the baby shower favours during the party? A basket near the door is often a good solution! That way, if someone needs to leave a little early you are less likely to forget to present them with their favour.

You might want to also keep the baby shower favours in the same area where guests leave their baby shower gifts.

Another nice touch is to keep a memory book near the baby shower favours. As each guest prepares to leave, ask them to write a special message in the book, something memorable that the parents-to-be can look back on later.

Baby shower favours to inspire – it’s all in the presentation

No matter what your budget, you can make the smallest gift look a million dollars by spending a bit of time and thought on the wrapping.

Try these ideas for unusual baby shower favour wrapping ideas:

• get a large roll of brown paper from a stationer to wrap gifts – then wrap a strip of tinsel around for extra impact
• obtain tiny baskets from florists supply shops
• old china teacups from a second-hand store are cleaned with bleach, packed with sweets or chocolates and wrapped in cellophane
• small ceramic flowerpots from a garden store – filled with chocolates