Organising an Eco-Friendly Baby Shower

There are numerous articles about how to plan a baby shower, but if the mum-to-be cares about the natural world you might want to consider planning an eco-friendly baby shower. Of course, much of the planning will be the same but there are certain things to be aware of. If you’re the mum-to-be and you want to have an eco-friendly baby, make sure whoever is planning your baby shower knows that you want it to be plastic free and if you want reusable nappies rather than disposables as gifts.

The most environmentally friendly baby shower should also be very cheap to organise. Being aware of your environmental impact means you’re less likely to buy things. If you’re not a particularly crafty person, make sure you enlist the help of someone who loves to make things.

How to Organise an Eco-Friendly Baby Shower

At the end you’ll find a handy checklist to help you plan your eco-friendly baby shower, but the most important thing for a nature-loving Mum-to-be is to ensure that everything that happens on the day, and that any gifts received, are environmentally friendly.

Invitations

One of the first things you’ll need to make or buy are the invitations. However, in an ideal world you don’t have to buy anything. Electronic invites are probably the most eco-friendly option, but receiving invitations in the post can be nice. Try to find a way to recycle any card that’s already in the house and make your own if possible. The least eco-friendly option would be to buy ‘eco-friendly’ invitations made from recycled materials and with no plastic sleeve.

1. Electronic Invites
2. Make your own from materials you already own
3. Buy eco-friendly invitations made from recycled card

Food and Drink

When you send your invites out do ask the guests to let you know about any food allergies, although most people will remember to let you know anyway! A buffet style is always easy to organise and is a bit less formal than a sit down meal. To be environmentally friendly, avoiding meat and dairy is always a good idea. You’ll find that most guests won’t even notice if the buffet is vegan as there are so many delicious vegan options to choose from. Making or buying some nice dips like guacamole or hummus, providing some bowls of crisps and some vegan sausage rolls (or a nice vegan Indian selection like samosas and pakoras etc) makes preparing the food very easy. You can also have some crudités with the dip and a selection of nice salads.

There are some really nice vegan brownie recipes online (this is my favourite) and making vegan cakes is pretty easy as well. If you’re providing any alcohol for the guests make sure that any wine or bubbles you buy is vegan friendly.

1. Vegan buffet style food & Vegan wine (if you’re providing it for the guests)

Tables, chairs, crockery and cutlery

When sending out your invites you might discover that you don’t have enough chairs or even enough plates. The easy thing to do is hire the table and chairs you need. You can also hire glasses and plates from some places. Many people end up buying paper plates, depending on how many people are expected, but single use items are not very environmentally friendly. If you’re having buffet style food then using reusable cloth napkins for people to hold their food is one option. Asking people to bring a plate with them is another. When you’re short on chairs, it’s really not a problem to ask a few people to bring some foldable picnic chairs with them if you don’t think they’ll be comfortable sat on the floor.

1. Borrow chairs, tables, plates, glasses from a friend(s) or neighbour(s)
2. Ask all or some of the guests to bring things with them
3. Provide reusable cloth napkins
4. Hire the things you need from a party supply shop

Decorations / Game Supplies

I used to love decorating for parties in the bar I used to work at and I made it my mission to spend as little money as possible and use what I could find in the building. We had all sorts of themes and it’s amazing what you can do with a bit of imagination. The same goes when decorating for any occasion. See what you already have in the house that you can reuse, recycle or upcycle. My advice is to avoid themes so that any decorations you make (or buy) can be reused for future celebrations. For example putting up some fabric bunting is one of the easiest ways to decorate a room. If you make some hessian bunting it can be used time and time again. Have a read through this for some great eco-friendly ideas for decorations.

If you plan on playing some games try to avoid buying anything. The most fun games can normally be played just with pen and paper. You don’t have to buy plastic crap to play games or to decorate the room with.

1. Make or buy reusable decorations (no single use and no plastic)
2. Find games that don’t require spending money on things you’ll never use again

Gifts for Mum-To-Be

I’ve left the most important thing to last. It seems that the main purpose of a baby shower is to ‘shower’ the Mum to be with loads of handy baby related items. However, babies can be unbelievably harmful to the environment (and when I say babies, I mean all the baby paraphernalia that people are convinced to buy to make their lies easier). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge a new mother from making her life easy by using time-saving items, but some Mums would be completely shocked at the amount of waste they get through with a newborn.

There are so many eco-friendly alternatives to disposable nappies, to baby wipes and to so much more. Avoiding single use where possible is always good. Read ‘How To Have An Eco-Friendly Baby‘ for a comprehensive list of baby related things that you could buy for your planet loving friend.

1. Buy reusable nappies
2. Purchase some reusable baby wipes
3. Find some biodegradable nappies or biodegradable wipes

The most important thing is to make sure the baby shower is appropriate for the Mother. If she avoids plastic in her day to day life don’t buy her baby paraphernalia that’s made of plastic!

A Handy Checklist for an Eco-Friendly Baby Shower

The basics – a few months before the baby is due

• Create a guest list
• Set a date
• Set a budget (not forgetting food, drink, decorations etc)
• Think of a theme (not entirely necessary but some people like a theme)
• Work out the location – at the mum-to-be’s house? At a local park, someone else’s house etc…
• Design the invitations and include any specifics such as ‘no plastic’, ‘no disposable nappies’, ‘no unrecyclable wrapping paper’ etc and ask for an RSVP
• Send the invitations
• Think about games you could play on the day and any things you might need to play them

Around a Month Before

• Double check your RSVP’s and chase up anyone who hasn’t responded yet
• Plan the food and drink, taking into account any allergies (go meat and dairy free for the most climate friendly food)

A Fortnight to Go

• Finalise your food and drink plans and make a shopping list
• Have you got enough chairs, plates, glasses etc? You might want to ask people to bring a foldaway chair with them

1 Week To Go

• Confirm the RSVP’s and ask the guests about bringing their own chairs, cutlery etc if you don’t have enough
• Also chat to the guests about what their duties might be – one of them might be hosting any games etc
• Gather your party supplies for any games
• Make your decorations

A few days before the baby shower

• Prepare and freeze any food that you’re able to, to free up time on the day
• Make plans for where gifts can be left and where food and drink might be served
• Choose a room to leave people’s coats in
• Buy your fresh ingredients for any food

The day before

• Make a time plan, especially if you’re eating hot food and plan to play some games as well as ask the Mum-to-be to open presents in front of everyone
• Prepare the rest of the food
• Decorate the room

Day of the Eco-Friendly Baby Shower

• There should be very little to do if you’ve planned things well other than have fun and enjoy yourself!
• Make sure any wrapping paper used is collected and recycled, or reusable wrapping cloths returned to their owner.
• If you have loads of food leftover, share it with some of the guests to take home so that you don’t have any food waste.

Planning a gender reveal party before your baby shower? Check out how to have an eco-friendly gender reveal party.

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