A Martha Stewart Baby Shower: It's a Good Thing!

You may feel fear and trepidation whenever the name of Martha Stewart is mentioned because you may think you'll be required to produce something perfect and professional. However, Martha is a great source of ideas and inspirations for not only baby showers but for everyday things around the house. Hey, if your basic shopping area will just be centered around Wal-Mart, there should be no reason to complain!

A cursory look over at the Martha Stewart baby shower webpage shows quite a few baby shower themes outlined from invitations to favors, including food and cake ideas, as well as decorating the party area. You could choose among these themes and adapt them as your taste and budget decrees. What's nice about the Martha Stewart baby shower webages is that they give you so many choices and tips to personalize your baby shower so it comes out homemade and heartfelt.

You could also have a baby shower inspired by Martha herself. Using plain white card stock, find a font similar to the “Martha” shows but write the expectant mother's name in that same manner instead. Underneath, use plain black italicized font (possible Arial would be a good choice) to write: “Having a baby soon, it's a good thing!”

Using Araucana egg blue and green, plus tomato yellow and orange with white touches as a color scheme, decorate the room in an unexpected way. Don't use balloons or streamers but concentrate on flowers, fruits, and vegetables instead. Cover each table with a light blue-green tablecloth and have a glass dish in the middle filled with lemons, tiny oranges, small melons, and green grapes accented with yellow and orange ranunculus and blue stock, and blue-green kale leaves. Surround the arrangement with small votive candles in glass-green votive containers. If you can center this whole arrangement on a mirror, it will be just perfect.

Cover the buffet table with the same blue-green tablecloth and arrange more of the same fruits and flowers on a stack of clear glass cake stands. Scatter more votives around your food platters. Serve your food on heavy white serving platters and use silverware servers if you can.

The meal should be simple, light, and elegant, depending on the time. For example, if the baby shower is also a brunch, a selection of good breads and cheeses, a selection of fillings for omelets and an omelet station is wonderful along with champagne or sparkling wine mimosas and choice fresh fruit with yogurt. Only what is season and what is easy for you to prepare.

Activities would be a good choice here, like decorating onesies, burp cloths or maybe having the purpose of the baby shower be outfitting the baby's diaper bag. Personalizing the diaper bag with fabric decorating pens or handmade bag charms and organizing it for the mommy-to-be would be another good thing.

Favors can be chosen from Martha by Mail or on marthastewart.com. Again, something simple like a specialty cookie cutter finished off with a satin bow in a coordinating color or a tin of mints personalized with a sticker printed off your computer are great choices.