We had the absolute best time celebrating Baby Choinka with all of our close friends at our new home. This was the first time many of our friends were able to visit our new house, so that made it extra special! Although our house was pretty empty because our new furniture still hasn’t arrived (it’s been 4 months!), we still had an amazing time. We opted for a co-ed baby shower so that Matt felt more comfortable and we were able to have his friends join too. Honestly, we just wanted something super casual where everyone could hang out, enjoy some good food, and enjoy each other’s company.
Benefits of having a co-ed shower:
- It’s something different! If you’re having multiple baby showers like we are, having one as co-ed sets it a part and allows you to have different activities so they aren’t too similar.
- No cheesy baby shower games. We opted to have optional “activities” instead of games so that those who wanted to participate could and others wouldn’t feel bad for wanting to skip out.
- It’s casual- Our whole party was more of a chance to just hang out with our friends and wasn’t structured like a typical baby shower, which was perfect for us!
Outside, we set up tailgate tents, chairs & tables and for food, one of Matt’s friends offered to cook a shrimp boil! We also grilled hot dogs for kids and picky eaters (aka me!).
Inside, decorations were a little more girly and baby shower themed. My mom made sugar cookies that were super adorable and we also had cake, cupcakes, Oreo balls and cake pops on a dessert table.
I didn’t want to play typical “baby-shower games” since it was a co-ed shower, so we set up a few activities instead. We had one activity where people guessed how many starbursts were filled inside a large baby bottle. Another activity was a diaper decorating station where people could draw a funny picture or write a joke on a diaper. Lastly, we had little advice cards people could fill out if they wanted to!
My favorite decoration was the DIY Balloon Garland that my friend Hannah and I put together. It was a lot of work, but looked so good!! She had a greenery wall that she had made for her wedding last year, so we used that as the backdrop to attach it too! If you’re interested in making your own balloon garland like we did, I’d recommend buying a kit like this one. It comes with a variety of colors and sizes of balloons and it comes with the tape that you use to string them all together which is really helpful. One other tip, grab a balloon inflator (here’s the one I got from Amazon). It’s less than $20 and makes blowing up all the balloons 10x easier!
My dress that I wore to the baby shower was from Pink Blush Maternity and you can find it linked here. Use the discount code “ERICACHOINKA” for 25% off your purchase.
We had an amazing time at our baby shower and loved that we got to celebrate our little girl with so many of our close friends!