Throwing a baby shower shouldn’t be expensive. A couple of weeks ago, me and my mom decided to throw a baby shower for my cousin, but both of us had a very tight budget. For one, I’m a  grad student and finally, my mom is not the decorating type. To her, food and family should be sufficient, so I was on a mission. It was very low key, but I still wanted it to look special. I decided to bring the “indoors” out! I suspended a couple of chalkboards from the pergola, took indoor dining tables outdoors and sofas and chairs made its place as a relaxing station. We held the party at my mom’s house and it became a very relaxing party. Most of the items used were from dollar tree, the $.99 cent store, thrift stores and indoor decor and furniture moved outdoors (also purchased at thrift stores).

1. Table Decor: The tables were decorated with pizza trays, squared vases, vinegar bottles, blue baby bottle tags, and small picture frames all purchased from Dollar tree. The vinegar bottles were decorated with scrapbook paper glued with a glue gun and stickers.  The ornate tray and champagne bucket are both from the thrift store.

 

 

2. The “Memento”: As a “recuerdo” or memento, I decided to fill clear baggies with Dollar Tree popcorn, tie it with jute twine–that I purchased from the dollar section at Target —and topped it off with a sticker. The stickers were purchased at Party City for $1.20. I wanted it to look child made to fit the baby shower theme so, I had my kids stamp the phrase, “She’s ready to Pop” with the date.

 

 

3. Indoor furniture for outdoor use: We decided on indoor furniture placed outdoors to make things a lot more comfortable. My mom has been on a thrift store furniture shopping spree because she’s been bitten by the “reupholstering bug.” She used furniture that she hasn’t reupholstered yet to not worry about spills. I decided to use my chalkboards and suspend them (double tied) from the pergola with jute twine.

4. The Food Station: For food, we had tacos, potato salad, rice, beans, veggies and nachos. I purchased the picture frames, the clear plastic cups (to make cheesecake cups, Nutella mousse and blueberry mousse), the mini silver spoons and forks, and the large silver platters at Dollar Tree. The tree branch was a previous DIY created around Christmas. I just hung baby bottle tags and “Oh Boy” tags all purchased for $1.00 at Dollar Tree and Target on the tree.

 

5. The Present Table: The present table was simply an outdoor bar area, but I decided to print posters from Costco(they only cost me $7.99 each) and simply attached the poster to the picture frames. The poster consisted of an ultrasound picture of the baby, the siblings and the parents.

That is basically it. It was inexpensive, comfortable yet still nice and personalized. Let me know what you think!

 

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