Parenting & New Baby Advice Blog

Archive for February, 2010

When planning your Barnyard Baby Shower don't forget some fun decorations!  Farm babies are the cutest animals, and they make adorable decorations.  You can find tablecloths, plates, cups, napkins, balloons and streamers and in primary colors or a pastel color scheme.  If there's one animal that you want to focus on, you can also find baby lamb, baby pig and baby cow decorations.

To bring even more authenticity to your shower you can purchase hay bales or corn stalks (depending on the season) from your local nursery, garden center or farmer's market.  Use the bales for seating or as a gift collection center, just be aware of the extra cleanup involved (if these items will be used indoors).  Picnic-themed items work well with this type of baby shower - checkerboard tablecloths and summer foods (corn on the cob, potato salad or a cool ice cream dessert) are a great addition!

Decorate your gift table with the awesome barnyard friends diaper cake shown here.  With 35 diapers and 13 accessory items, this cake is a great display piece and a useful gift for the new mom!  Scatter beanie babies or stuffed farm animals around the remaining guest tables.

Some fun final touches for the shower include a big sign welcoming everyone to "(mommy-to-be)'s Farm".  Surround the sign with animal-themed helium balloons and have country music playing in the background.  Find themed gift wrap and decorate the guest of honor's chair with wrapping paper, ribbon and bows.

For more ideas, try this article on hosting a Farm Animal or Barnyard Baby Shower.

If your new mom grew up on a farm, lives on a farm, or just wishes she was back on the farm, consider throwing her a Barnyard Baby Shower.  This fun theme is perfect for a summer shower where you can have an old-fashioned outdoor hoedown complete with haybales and barbecue!

Growing up in a rural community, I'm actually surprised that I never attended a Farm Animal Themed Shower.  Of course, when I was growing up there weren't a lot of themed showers at all - how boring.  I would love to host or attend a farm-themed shower now, especially with all the adorable baby shower invitations and farm animals baby shower decorations that are available!

When choosing a baby shower theme, it's important to go with a basic color scheme as well.  Primary colors work best for a barynard baby shower, but there are also some cute pastel pigs and lambs that will fit right into the farm.  If you go with primary colors, use checkerboard tablecloths and make a big red barn for your guests to deposit their gifts.  Have a "baby animal hunt" (similar to an Easter Egg hunt, but hide plastic animals instead of plastic eggs) and dance to the chicken dance for prizes!

Choosing food for your barnyard baby shower will be loads of fun too - make pigs in a blanket, chicken wings and milkshakes.  Make a black and white cake to resemble a cow, put together round cakes and pink cupcakes to recreate a pig, or go all out like the cake shown below!

photo courtesy of cakewrecks.blogspot.com

Find more ideas for hosting a Farm Animal or Barnyard Baby Shower.