How To Throw A Beautiful Baby Shower On A Budget

A hired venue, a caterer and personalised everything will take a baby shower past £400 without much to show for it.

Here's the same day at home for under £100, itemised, with the bits worth keeping and the bits nobody notices you skipped.

The £100 plan, for twenty guests

• Venue: someone's front room or a village hall at £15. Free is better.
• Food: afternoon tea made at home, around £6 a head - sandwiches, scones, one cake, a tray bake.
• Drinks: tea, coffee, a jug of elderflower and one bottle of fizz for the toast. £15.
• Decorations: a balloon garland kit, greenery and bunting, £30.
• Sweets and favours: bulk foil-wrapped chocolates in organza bags, about £1 a head - the cheapest luxury on the table.
• Prizes: three wrapped prizes, £10 the lot.
• Cards and tags: printed at home on decent card.

Where to spend

• The cake. It's in every photograph.
• Balloons. Nothing else transforms a room for £25.
• Good tea and real milk in jugs, which costs almost nothing and feels like effort.
• One thing on each table that looks deliberate - greenery, candles or scattered gold chocolates.

Where to save

• Skip personalised anything. It's the single biggest markup at a shower.
• No hired chair covers, ever.
• Digital invitations. Nobody has kept a paper invite since 2009.
• Borrow cake stands, teapots, urns and vases rather than buying.
• Bulk sweets over expensive individual favours.
• Make the playlist yourself instead of anything hired.

Cheap things that look expensive

• Eucalyptus or olive branches down the middle of a plain table.
• One colour repeated across napkins, ribbon and sweets.
• Food at three different heights on borrowed stands.
• Tealights, lots of them, in jam jars.
• Handwritten place cards in a nice pen.
• Foil-wrapped chocolates piled in a glass jar, which is about £4 of sweets and reads as a sweet cart.

Sharing the cost without awkwardness

• Say the budget out loud to whoever is helping, early.
• Assign dishes rather than asking for money: one person brings the cake, another the scones.
• A group gift means everyone gives £10 instead of buying something separate.
• Never ask guests to pay to attend a shower.
• Whoever hosts decides the budget, and nobody should feel short-changed by it.

Shop new baby cards

How to write it so it lands

• Write the budget down before you buy the first thing.
• Balloons and greenery are the best £30 you'll spend.
• Assign dishes instead of asking people for cash.

Where to shop next

• DIY baby shower favour ideas
• How to plan a gold baby shower
• Baby shower afternoon tea at home
• Baby shower game prizes
• Gender neutral baby shower themes
• Unique baby shower gift ideas
• How to make a DIY baby hamper
• What to write in a new baby card
• Shop new baby cards
• Shop party supplies
• Christening decorations
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Pin badges
• All guides

Frequently asked questions

How do you throw a baby shower on a budget?

Host at home, make an afternoon tea yourself at about £6 a head, spend £30 on balloons and greenery, use bulk sweets as favours and skip anything personalised. Twenty guests comes in under £100.

How much does a baby shower cost in the UK?

Typically £150 to £400 with a hired venue, or under £100 at home for twenty guests if you make the food and build the decorations yourself.

Who pays for a baby shower?

Usually whoever hosts - often a close friend, sister or the parents. Guests are never asked to contribute to the cost of attending.

What can you skip at a baby shower?

Personalised decorations, chair covers, paper invitations, hired entertainment and expensive individual favours. Nobody notices any of them missing.

Do you sell baby shower decorations and sweets?

We make cards, enamel pin badges, prints and party decorations like bunting, banners, balloons, table confetti and cake toppers, all posted from the UK. Chocolates, catering and anything else mentioned here are outside recommendations, not things we stock.