It's always exciting to be pregnant. You're thinking about a lot of things, like what the baby's name will be and how to decorate the nursery. But your baby shower is probably the most important thing for many of your friends. At a baby shower, friends can get together to celebrate the upcoming birth and all the excitement that comes with it.
When the time is right, at least one of your friends will likely ask you about a baby shower. This could be your best friend from high school or the girl you dated when you were single. You might even hear from family members who want to throw you a shower. Some people have more than one baby shower. Sometimes family members, friends, and coworkers all throw one. Regardless of who plans the shower for you, you will need to think about who to invite. Chances are, your aunt, best friend, or coworker won't know everyone you want to invite, so she will need your help.
First, you'll need to decide if you're going to take more than one shower. If you hear rumours of a family shower, you probably don't want to invite family members to your "friends" shower. If you are close friends with some of your coworkers, you don't want to invite them to your "friends" shower only to find out you are also having a work shower. So keep your ears open and try to learn as much as you can to avoid getting two invitations for the same event. You can even ask people you know well, as long as you feel comfortable doing so and can explain why you are doing so. Aunt Silvia might tell you not to invite your best friend to the family shower "just because." That's not the worst thing that could happen.
Make sure to ask the host of the shower how many people can come. It might depend on where the shower is. Some people have their showers at their church, where there is a lot of space and seating, but many people have them at home, where there may not be as much room. You also don't want to spend too much on your shower host. She might think that you'll only invite 15 people, and you don't want to show up with a list of 100 names. Don't forget that the invitations, decorations, and food will cost your host money, and you should be grateful for her kindness in throwing you a shower.
Once you know what kind of baby showers you're going to have, you should sit down and make a list. Before you start looking up addresses, you might want to write down the names on a piece of paper. You could even ask other people who they think you should invite. With everything you have going on, you might forget someone, so having someone else help you will be helpful. You don't want to upset anyone by leaving them off the guest list by accident.
Once you have your list, you can start collecting addresses. If you are comfortable with computers, you might want to give your names and addresses to the host on the computer. Many people already keep their names and addresses in online address books, so giving your host the list of people you want to invite to the shower may be as easy as printing the list of addresses and marking the names of the people you want to invite. If you don't have your addresses online, you can type them into a spreadsheet and give it to your shower host. Depending on whether she is going to have the addresses printed on the envelopes, print address labels for the envelopes, or write the addresses by hand on each envelope, an online copy of the addresses could be helpful. No matter how she does it, it will be helpful to have a nice, clear copy of all the names and addresses.
Lastly, if you forget someone important on your list and feel bad about it, invite them to a special lunch with you. It won't be the same as being there, but it can help make up for feeling left out.
Have fun making your list for the baby shower. Call a few of your best friends, get out your old address books, and have fun writing down names while you talk about the good old days.
