Traditional Baby Shower or Baby Shower Tea?
by Donna Gorenflo

Baby showers have come to be a very important event in an expectant mom's lifetime. Baby showers are a great way to allow friends and families of the expectant mom to display her how much they love her. One option to a traditional shower is a baby shower tea. A baby shower tea is usually a more formal affair which offers the mother to be and attendees a unique way to have fun.

In traditional showers, the invites are often pretty informal. Occasionally they are communicated with e-mail or word of mouth. Showers tend to involve intimate friends and family, so they can simply tell one another the time and place. With a baby shower tea, however, is much better served through creating proper invitations that show more formality. The aim isn't to make the baby shower tea feel pretentious, instead helping to establish a much more formal feeling to the overall occasion. Likewise, the total number of people to attend ought to be less. In a more classic baby shower the person hosting can invite a a higher number of people since larger groups tend to work perfectly with classic baby shower games and activities. A baby shower tea, however is better served with a small number of guests. You usually do not want any more people at a baby shower tea than can be seated at a small table. Games are not usually played, and intimacy and closeness is the key.

A traditional baby shower can be hosted just about anywhere. Usually the baby shower is in your hostesses' home, although they are also held in a simple hang-out-spot, hall, or a restaurant. The location really should be based on what the mother to be would prefer, so if she has got a favorite hang out that could be the great spot. A baby shower tea, on the other hand, is preferably held in a more formal, quiet location. Ordinarily this will mean in a private home, but it may also be located in a tea room. The decoration for the location must be elegant and formal, however that doesn't necessarily mean the celebration has to be pretentious or that a home needs to be kept by a maid service to be fitting.

A baby shower can be held at just about any time of the day but are usually at night or on weekends since many people have to work on weekdays. If none of the guests work in the day, baby showers can be held during school and the kids are gone. Baby shower teas are most appropriately held during the afternoon, since this is the most ideal time for a tea party. However, some may choose to hold the baby shower in the late morning. During a classic baby shower, just about any refreshments may be served, but at a baby shower tea, just scones and tea sandwiches are appropriate. Gifts and shower favors are usually a major part of a more classic baby shower, but at baby shower teas, gifts do not need to be given and the favors ought to either be cut out completely or relevant to the party. It's common nowdays for some baby showers to include the the soon to be father and often the guests bring gifts for the expectant dad, but at baby shower teas the guest list should just be women.

Both celebrations have bad points and good points, but a expectant mother can have both types if she decides to. Celebrating the birth of a new baby can be a delightful event.  Whether you gather family and friends for a baby shower or a more formal baby shower tea, you can not go wrong if you just make it fun, intimate and unique!

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Looking for help in arranging a baby shower celebration?  Bama Babies and Birthdays offers party hosts unique shower favors, decorations and baby gift ideas along with other resources to help you design a fun or formal occasion.