Nowadays, baby showers seem to be the opposite of budget-friendly. Pinterest and party blogs are pushing an increasingly expensive vision of what a baby shower looks like. They are spotless, catered events with bespoke banners and tiny macarons on fancy china. Some sites go as far as saying $1,000 is well within the range of an “average” cost to host.
If your ideal budget is more like $100 or less, you’re speaking my language. This site is all about how to raise a family more affordably (for example, my article on baby shower gifts for $25 or less). Knowing how to throw a baby shower on a budget is no exception.
When I was pregnant with my third child, I knew SIXTEEN close friends and family members who were pregnant at the same time. Needless to say, I’ve been to a lot of baby showers!
Today, I’m going to share all the tips and tricks I’ve learned through the years. Plus, I asked 20 other frugal baby shower hosts to share their wisdom, too. You’ll be ready to start planning your own baby shower in no time! (And if you just want to see the budget breakdown for my $100 shower, you can just skip to the end.)
Planning a Baby Shower on a Budget
1. Host at a Free Location
Someone’s home or backyard is an ideal option, according to frugal moms Kerri Lynn and Nathalie Carette-Meyers. But who’s house? Well, if you host at the mother-to-be’s home, she doesn’t have to haul gifts to and from the car when she’s already pregnant and tired. However, hosting at someone else’s house means she won’t feel any pressure to prepare, or host people early to decorate or late to clean. Ask what her preference is!
If someone’s home isn’t an option, here are a few other locations that often offer free (or very affordable) spaces for events. Make sure you leave these spaces cleaner than you found them and reserve them in advance if necessary.
- Church hall
- HOA or condo park clubhouse
- Community centers
- Public Parks (especially if they have covered spaces like gazebos in case of bad weather)
As a final resort, you could use a private function room at a local restaurant. However, this often means your food budget will be larger than you could otherwise get it by hosting at any of the above free locations (where you can bring your own food).
2. Focus on the Mom-to-Be’s Closest Family & Friends
For every person you invite, you might feel pressured to provide them with food, drinks, game or activity supplies, and a favor at the end. That means the cost can really add up quickly if you have a large guest list, especially if it means you outgrow local options for free event locations.
To keep things manageable, mom Swam Vavas suggests inviting just “immediate family and close friends,” aka the people who will make the new mom feel truly loved and cherished. Plus, a more intimate gathering can be a great chance to share more personal stories of birth or parenting, offer (asked for!) advice, or just feel more comfortable.
However, if you have a more laid back group of friends and family who will be attending, feel free to embrace simplicity, have a no-frills shower, and invite whoever you want. Everyone likely just wants to be together, eat, and celebrate the new baby. Favors, decorations, and fancy cucumber sandwiches not required.
3. Stick to Brunch, Afternoon, or After-Dinner Showers
The goal is to avoid hosting during a time when most people expect a full meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner). When you have a baby shower during one of these off-meal hours, you can serve apps, snacks, and/or desserts without leaving your guests cranky. To help with timing, brunch is roughly from 9-11am, and afternoon parties are usually from 2-4pm. If you’d like to have a later, “dessert only” style shower for a younger crowd (or adventurous grandmas), aim for 7-9pm.
4. Send Digital Invitations
If you were planning on inviting 25 people, you’d likely pay somewhere between $15 and $50 for paper invitations and envelopes, plus $14.50 in stamps.
Instead, save that money and send digital invitations. Today, even grandmas and great-grandmas have email they check regularly. (And if you still have some really old-school guests you’d like to invite, you could just send paper invitations to those few people.)
You can use a website like Paperless Post to send up to 50 free invites, and it automatically helps you track your RSVPs. Or, if you’re artsy, there are free websites like Canva that let you customize their designs to email or print for family and friends.
5. Consider Hosting a Potluck-Style Shower
Depending on the guest of honor’s preferences and the closeness of the assembled guests, a potluck baby shower can be the perfect choice. You can assign different confirmed guests to bring different categories of food (beverage, appetizer, salad, etc), or let guests decide what to bring.
You can also turn the potluck into part of the present for the new mom. Frugal mom Shannon Davis said, “Have every guest bring their favorite “quick and easy meal” along with a recipe card. Then, collect all the recipes into a binder for the parents to reference on busy nights in the future.” This is perfect for a baby shower where the guests aren’t that familiar with each other but you’d still like to try a potluck.
You can also do a “casserole baby shower” as long as: 1) mom is at least seven months pregnant at the time of the party, 2) she has freezer space. A casserole baby shower is where everyone brings a meal that freezes well (often a casserole, since those can be safely frozen for three months). The food will be for the new family to use during their postpartum time. You can serve a few meals at the shower and let mom keep the rest. (Need ideas for good freezer meals for new moms? I’ve already done an article on that!)
6. Get (Most) Supplies at the Dollar Store
Six of my experienced baby shower hosts brought up this tip. Your local dollar store has TONS of affordable party supplies, including balloons, ribbons, fake flowers, craft supplies, games, prizes, favors, banners, garbage bags, and more. Even if places like Dollar Tree have bumped their prices up to $1.25, it’s still a great bargain. They even have a surprising selection of baby shower-specific decorations, and comparable products at the box stores will cost $15 or more.
When it comes to paper goods though, you’ll want to stick to some place like Target or Walmart. Where the Dollar Store will charge you $1.25 for ten plates (or about 12 cents per plate), you can pay only 6 cents a plate for a pack of 50 plates at Walmart.
Budget-Friendly Baby Shower Decorations
7. Use Decorations that Double as Gifts
If you really want to save money on a baby shower, don’t waste your cash on single-use decorations. Lisa Gi suggested “using the gifts as decorations” and let them brighten the room. Here are some ideas from my own baby showers or ones I’ve attended:
- Have a “clothesline” made of twine and clothespins and hang all the cute onesies, bibs, or outfits on it. Friends at work did this for me when I was expecting my first, and I LOVED it.
- Line the shelves or tabletops with baby board books.
- Make a diaper “cake” (here’s a step-by-step tutorial) or diaper wreaths. I’ve even seen people go crazy and construct fancy diaper bassinets, strollers, or motorcycles. All you’ll really need are a bunch of rubber bands.
- Use a set of baby blocks to spell words or the baby’s name.
- Go unwrapped! Pick a table, basket, or blanket on the ground to serve as the gift area, and invite all your guests to bring any gifts unwrapped. You can ask one person to be the “curator” of the space to keep things looking nice.
8. Check Facebook for Gently Used Decorations
Most decorations don’t wear out easily. Signs, banners, centerpieces, balloon arches, standing displays, and more can all easily withstand multiple parties without any sign of damage. On the other hand, things that guests use– think of tablecloths, photo booth props, or game supplies– might see more wear and tear, so check these more carefully.
Jamie W. also brought up the famous Buy Nothing project on Facebook. If your area has a local Buy Nothing group, sign up now if you haven’t already. Everything in a Buy Nothing group is free, so you can really stay within your budget by getting even a few items here. You can keep an eye out for anyone giving away their decorations if you’re flexible about style and type. Alternatively, you could make an “ask” post if you have a specific idea of what decor items you need.
Facebook Marketplace is another good place to check. I can always find dozens of offers for lots of baby shower decorations, both local and by using the shipping function.
Cheap Baby Shower Ideas for Activities, Games, and Favors
9. Play Free Baby Shower Games
There are probably hundreds of games you could play at a baby shower. However, most of the options you’ll find on Pinterest or other similar blogs require buying a least a handful of supplies per game, which can add up.
Here are are a few ideas for games. Though they will require some paper, you can get hundreds of sheets for $5-10 (if you don’t already have paper around the house).
- Who’s that baby? Have each guest bring one of their own baby pictures, and display each one on a side table with a number. The guest who can correctly match the most baby pictures wins. Pro-tip: Make sure you plan for a display method which allows for different sizes and doesn’t damage the pictures. Some people might have old, delicate, or otherwise very sentimental photos they don’t want a thumbtack through.
- Baby-themed Pictionary. Split guests into two teams (or group by table) and have them play Pictionary with words like diaper, sleep deprived, labor, or tummy time. Whichever group can get through their list first wins.
- Name that lullaby (or children’s book). Play short clips from different lullabies (can find on Youtube) or read a single page from a few different children’s books. As you go through, have guests write down what they think the title is. Whichever guest correctly identifies the most wins.
- Mom or Dad? You’ll need to ask a series of 10 or 15 questions to both parents-to-be prior to this game to get an “answer key.” Try asking them questions like “who will change more diapers?” “who’s more likely to spoil the baby?” or “who’s going to cry more when the baby is born?” Then, once you know what the parents consider to be the right answers, ask the group to write down their guesses for who said what. Whoever guesses the most correctly wins.
- Baby predictions. Print out a list of half-written sentences and invite guests to fill in the second half. Examples include “You’ll look more like…” “Your parents will be proud of you because…” “THIS is really going to drive your parents nuts:…”
10. Or, Offer Creative Activities That Also Give Mom a Gift
There are plenty of activities you can do at a baby shower that are enjoyable but don’t require guests to compete against each other. Many also give something useful or meaningful to the mom. Try to choose activities which fill actual needs, or provide something she would have to buy anyways, but do so in a creative way. Here are a few examples:
- Buy packs of plain white onesies (get different sizes!) and offer fabric markers so everyone can decorate one.
- Get wooden letters and let everyone paint or otherwise make art on one (or several, if you aren’t going to have 26 guests). After the shower, the new parents can hang up one-of-a-kind alphabet in the baby’s nursery. Alternatively, you could only buy the letters of the baby’s name if you have a small crowd.
- Buy many birthday cards (one for the first birthday, 2nd, 3rd, and so on, until 18 or 21) and have each guest write a future birthday wish to the baby. Each year on his or her birthday, the child can know how loved they were even before they were born. This can be especially meaningful if you have older guests who might not be alive in 20 years.
- Get a box of some cheap diapers and have everyone write a note of encouragement on a bunch of them. It can really help boost mom or dad’s mood during 3am changes. Plus, you can never have enough diapers.
- If the parents haven’t chosen a baby name yet, use a pack of jumbo craft sticks and have everyone write a few name suggestions. Then, mom can read the suggestions out loud. These can be genuine ideas or a very silly activity to get everyone laughing.
11. Use Food as the Favors
Remember the favors you you received at your cousin’s wedding? Yeah, no one else does either. Favors are one of those things that seems important to provide as a host, but is often quickly forgotten by guests. Of all the parts of a stereotypical baby shower, this is the easiest to do away with entirely if you’re on a tight budget.
If you really want to provide your guests with something to take home however, food is a great option. Here are some thoughtful, edible favor ideas:
- individually wrapped homemade brownies
- decorated sugar cookies
- chocolate covered strawberries
- mason jar mixes of soup or a dessert
- flavored popcorn
Hypothetical Budget Breakdown
Just to show it’s totally possible to throw a baby shower for $100 or less, let’s imagine I needed to plan a baby shower for 25 people tomorrow. I’ll stick to a $100 budget. Here’s the breakdown for my hypothetical spending based on today’s prices for goods.
Location: Free at my house.
Invitations: Free from an online site like Canva or Paperless Post.
Decorations: Free from repurposed gifts and printed note cards, plus a $10 gently used party pack from Facebook Marketplace.
Food: Potluck-style, $19 for a platter of croissant ham and cheese sandwiches, plus $7 for supplies to make deviled eggs and $10 for beverages like iced tea and pink lemonade.
Party supplies: $11.50 for plates, forks, napkins, and cups from the Dollar Tree and Walmart.
Game/activity supplies: $24 for a box of diapers and $5 for a pack of sharpies for “diaper decorating,” $6 for craft sticks for the name activity, and $1.25 for a poster board for the “who’s that baby” game.
Favors: $6.25 for a double batch of red velvet cupcakes with homemade frosting.
Grand total: $100!
I hope this has given you a few new, affordable ideas for your upcoming baby shower! I spent a lot of time making this article as useful as possible, so I’d love if you considered sharing it with a friend or on social media.
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