Baby Shower - First steps in planning

A friend at work is pregnant with twins! I am so excited for her and I am lucky enough to  host her shower. I just started planning this week and started by following the advice in the post Party and Event Planning - Laying the Foundation. This information is the basis for all remaining party plans and gives allows me to envision how I want the party to be on the day of the event.

What is the real purpose of the event? - To celebrate Kathy and to make sure she has what she really needs post-delivery.  

What do I want the tone or mood of the event to be? - Kathy is reserved, shy, and older than 30 so I want to make sure the party suits her. She feels awkward asking for gifts from co-workers and I doubt she would want to play some of the standard baby shower games. We want to celebrate Kathy and her babies' impending arrival, not put on a show. 

What do I want for my guests? - I want my guests to relax, have fun, feel that they helped celebrate in Kathy's happiness, and contributed to her preparation for motherhood.

How do I want to participate in the event? - I want to be able to be just like the guests but know what is going on and be able to handle any issues that arise during the party without guests realizing anything has gone awry. 

Starting the Planning

 Now that I have a foundation for the event I can start planning. The first thing I like to do for a shower is put together the guest list. This helps me understand the approximate number of people, which leads me to how much space, food, and drinks I will need. 

I don't hold surprise baby showers. I started this rule when I threw one for a very pregnant woman and she burst into tears after we yelled "Surprise!"  It took quite a while to let her compose herself as she continuously sobbed "don't scare a pregnant lady!"  I learned my lesson and now include the Mom-to-be in the ideas on planning. Having the guest of honor sob for the first 15 minutes of the party was not the tone I was going for. 

This also makes it easier to come up with the right guest list, theme, and color scheme. I have asked Kathy to determine her guest list, and have asked her if she has a theme and color scheme for her nursery. I have also found out where she is registered. We have chosen a tentative date of February 12, but need to finalize that date. We will start at 5 PM.

Guest list:  In progress, estimated to be about 25 people
Nursery Theme: Jungle animals
Colors: soft blues and greens

For this party I will use electronic invitations sent through email. I work in software and the guest list will include primarily co-workers. These folks prefer an electronic file to a piece of paper of which they have to keep track. It also makes it easy for them to RSVP. It's all about how to make it easiest for your guests. 

Next steps are location, invitations, and communication to see if people want to chip in on a big gift. We are lucky enough to have a hotel nearby so I am hoping to hold it there.
 
I haven't yet found an electronic invitation that I like, so I will keep looking. The remaining planning will take place in the coming weeks. I will keep you updated as I make progress and show you how I organize and track party planning information so the event itself is very easy. 

Happy Planning! 
Laureen