Let’s start with the basics. Cake. Filling. Icing.
Be creative with your flavoring. There are way to many cool cake recipes online to serve boring yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Having a monkey theme baby shower? Why not make peanut butter & banana flavored cupcakes? Get the idea here?

Here are a few of my favorite cupcake recipe ideas:
Cream filling

Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling

Lemonade Cupcakes

York Peppermint Patty Cupcakes

Tiramisu Cupcakes YUM!

Gluten Free Almond Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

Smores Cupcakes

Decorating cupcakes is a piece of cake (pun intended).  You can use a pastry bag & tip to ice them really pretty or spread on the frosting with a frosting spatula. Which ever you decide, jazz up your frosting with food coloring or add some pretty, modern sugar sprinkles.

Decorative cupcake wrappers and holders are essential for making your mini delicacies look like a pro made them.

You can go with something classic like this.  Or something absolutely fun like these.

Cupcake toppers are a must for a baby shower. I have found that Etsy is a fabulous place to get cupcake toppers that are more personalized or to match your theme. Just look how “tweet” they are!

I wound up making my own for my daughter’s baby shower. Here’s how I made them.

To display your masterpieces, you can go with a Styrofoam 3 Tier Cupcake Stand and either leave it white or decorate it.   Painting around the edges or glueing ribbon will spruce up a plain and boring anything.  You could  get really crafty and make your own dessert stand from scratch. You could also go with a more reusable metal cupcake display and not have to decorate a thing.

Have you ever tried decorating for a baby shower? Why not make hanging tissue paper flowers? They are easy as well as decorative. The materials are inexpensive, and these paper flowers will be the delight of all the guests. The following is a list of materials you will need to get started on making your tissue paper flowers.

Tissue Paper

Scissors

Pipe cleaners or ribbon

Now, we can start creating our hanging flowers for our baby shower. The process is simple if you just follow these simple steps.

First, choose the colors of tissue you want to make your flowers, the number of sheets you use for each flower will determine how thick or large your flower will be when completed. Baby shower flowers could be done in pink, blue, yellow or light green according to the babies gender.

The next step is to lay your paper out straight and even with one sheet on top of another sheet. You will fold the paper up in accordion style; starting from the short end. Make the folds about 1/2 inches to an inch wide, but they do not have to be exact.

By now you should have a long strip folded, and the ends are ready for trimming. The way you trim the ends will determine how your petals will look on your flower. By just trimming the corners off you can have rounded petals, or what about having an especially girlish look by using pinking shears to make it look lacier.

Next, you will need to find the middle of your strip. To do this, just fold your strip in half, and you can make a little snip on each side of the middle fold. Just don’t cut all the way across your paper strip. Taking your ribbon or a pipe cleaner, you will wrap it around the tissue paper where you made the snips in the middle.

After you have tied your ribbon or pipe cleaner, you will need to unfold the tissue paper. This is done one layer at a time carefully separating each piece by pulling the layers up to form petals.

These flowers make beautiful baby shower decorations when hung from banners or as a garland. The edges of the flowers can be decorated with glitter to give them a party look. Your next baby shower can be extra special with these hanging tissue paper flowers.

Decorations:

Plastic Star Tablecloth- $1.29

Dinnerware- If you don’t have solid white plates, you can use these plastic plates in silver and blue. Change the blue to pink if you’d like for a girl.

Silver Shimmer Plastic Dinner Plate 20 Count

Baby Blue Plastic Dessert Plate 20 Count

Sprinkle Silver Star Confetti across the table.

If you’re feeling crafty, cut out stars from cardboard. Cover them with aluminum foil and hang them with fishing line from the ceiling. These look best done in all different sizes and hung at various heights in a group. If you’re not feeling crafty, you can purchase some hanging stars like these.

Food:

This is a no brainer! If you can find a star and/or moon cookie cutter, you’ve got it made. Cut shapes from everything from finger sandwiches to fruit. Add a star shaped ice cube tray to your shopping list to make colorful star ice cubes to add to drinks or a big bowl of punch made of clear soda like Sprite or 7Up and a block of sherbet.

Favors:

Remember the star cookie cutter? Buy one for everyone and make them favors. You can make your own tag and attach it with a pretty piece of ribbon or you can use the simple one I made here.

Baby Gift:

Ok, so this may be a little corny to some but I love it. I can’t think of a better baby shower gift for the “little star” than to name a star after them. You can do that here for only $19.95:http://www.nameastarlive.com

Materials
(Fabric is assumed to be 42″ wide. There will be extra.)
1 yard light blue cotton fabric cut 6 pattern blocks 9″X12″ each
1 yard pink cotton fabric cut 6 pattern blocks 9″X12″ each
1 yard baby themed print fabric cut 5 pattern blocks 9″X12″ each
2 yards muslin fabric cut 17 backing blocks 9″X12″ each
2 yards fusible web
2 2 feet long, 1 to 1 1/2″ wide baby themed ribbon
Color coordinating yarn

Tools
Scissors
Cutting mat
Rotary cutter with pinking blade
Ruler
Iron
Needle sized to fit yarn

1.Place a pattern block on the fusible web, wrong side down. Iron per package directions. Continue with remaining blocks.
2. Using scissors, cut out the blocks.
3. Save two blue blocks until step 8.
4. Place the remaining blocks on an ironing surface fusible web side up
5. Place the backing blocks on the pattern blocks, align edges. Iron.
6. Trim blocks 1/4″ from the edges with the rotary cutter.
7. Place the two remaining blue blocks on the cutting mat with a backing block aligned on top. Trim as in step 6.
8. Lay a backing block on the ironing surface. Place 3″ of the ribbon on the left side of the block about 1″ from the top. Place a blue block face up on the backing, aligning the pinked edges. Iron the blocks with the ribbon segment between them.
9. Repeat step 8 with the other blue block EXCEPT place the ribbon on the right side of the backing block.
10. Lay blocks out as follows. B- Blue block, P – Pink block, T – Print block.
B-P-T-P- B-T-B-P-T-P-B-T-B-P-T-P-B
11. Cut 16 8″ pieces of yarn. Thread the needle. Do not knot the yarn. Place the right upper corner of the Blue block that has ribbon on the left on top left of the corner of a pink block overlapping about 1″. Starting from the front, sew through the layers. Bring the needle back up to the front. Pull the yarn through until both ends are even. Tie the yarn into a bow.
12. Repeat the sewing step using all blocks, working from left to right, ending with the blue block with the ribbon on the right.

MLB Hooded Baby Towel

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Bath Lattes
Makes 25 favors

You will need:

25 Washcloths, colors in the shower theme or any
25 Clear Plastic Cups
25 Clear Plastic Lips
25 Black Straws
Cotton, or Cotton Balls
Yarn scraps in different colors, or rick rack

1) Fold all the washcloths so that they will sit upright in the cups.
2) Place cloths in the cups so that the cloth touches the plastic all the way around.
3) Place yarn scraps, or rick rack between the cup and washcloths. You may use any colors or combinations but the idea is to mimic syrup.
4) Top with cotton, to resemble whipped cream
5) Place straw into cup

Cloth Stork Package

You will need:

6 Gerber 12-Pack Flatfold Birdseye Cloth Diapers 
10 rubber bands, ribbon or twine
1 receiving blanket, or hooded towel Carters Wrap Me Up Receiving Blanket
Ribbon to tie

1) Roll each diaper into a cylinder.
2) Secure each with a rubber band.
3) Next, when three are done, secure them together.
4) Secure the next three.
5) Secure both groups of three together into a pyramid.
6) Lay your blanket, or towel out and fold in half lengthwise.
7) Play your pyramid in the center.
Bring up the sides and attach with a rubber band
9) Tie a ribbon where the rubber band is.

Baby toys are everywhere. This can make it hard to choose one that is not only fun but also beneficial. For newborn babies, there are items that can attach to a crib that plays soothing music with soft calming lights. These can help quiet a fussy baby and help them to sleep better. There are also mobiles that can hang above the crib that can also have lights or play music. Babies love things like this and can be amused watching it for hours.

For little ones, stuffed toys can be found that can mimic the sound of a heartbeat or provide soft light to help the baby at sleep times. Many parents have found them beneficial in soothing a baby. They come in many different styles and sizes.

StuffedAnimals.com™ – 15% off any order. Use coupon code SAVE37 at checkout.

As the baby gets a little bigger, there are choices such as blocks like the Step2 Walker Wagon with Blocks  that a child can hold and learn shapes. There are several play items available that are full of colorful lights and buttons that when pressed, make sounds or talk. Babies of all ages find these very engaging.

Finding baby toys that are not only adorable but beneficial can be done if some time is spent looking around. Many stores have large baby sections that are filled with possibilities. Talk to other parents to find out what they recommend. Read some parenting magazines and check out some of the product reviews. Before long, the right gift idea will come along.

There are lots of different ways you could approach this. But here’s a simple way, and you can make your own variations. Here’s the quick overview: Get foam stamps of letters and bugs, available at many craft stores. Apply paint to the stamps and press them onto the onesies. Make fun phrases like “cute as a bug” and scatter prints of the bugs around the onsie.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Gerber 5-Pack Onesies Brand One Piece Underwear

Sheet of cardboard

Roll of wax paper

Old sheet or newspapers

Damp old cloth or paper towels

Foam Stamps:

Giant Alphabet Stamps – Uppercase

Going Buggy Foam Bug Stamps (12 pc)

Fabric paint:

- Regular

- 3D

- Paint brush

Suggested Phrases:

Cute as a Bug

Cuddly as a Bug

Bright as a Blossom

Cuddly as a Kitten

Cute as a Kitten

The Work Part: Get the onesies ready before the guests arrive

- Start by washing all the onesies. Fabric softener might cause issues with the paint, so don’t use it.

- Measure and cut cardboard pieces that fit inside the onesies.

- Cut wax paper sheets the same height as the cardboard, but two inches wider.

- Wrap the wax paper around the cardboard tightly around the cardboard, making sure there’s no cardboard exposed at the top or bottom, and tape it in place on the back of the cardboard

- Put the cardboard/wax paper inside the onesies

The Fun Part: Paint the Onesies

Just a Little Bit More Prep:

- Choose a good work area like a table or open floor area

- Cover it with newspapers an old sheet to protect it

- Lay out paints and foam stamps

Now for the Real Fun:

- Choose your phrase

- Do a trial arrangement of your letters on the onesie (you can lightly sketch the positions with a pencil if you prefer)

- Remove the letters

- Coat one letter with paint – make sure it’s covered, but not dripping

- Press the painted side of the letter onto the onesie. You can use a wooden block or other item to press it evenly

- Remove the letter and wipe it clean with the paper towels or damp cloth in case you or someone else needs it again

- Repeat until your phrase is complete

- Repeat with bugs

Have fun!

PS: if you really want to make this project slick, here’s a way to improve it, but it does take some extra work, and you’ll need to do it at least a day ahead of the shower. Get some pieces of wood that are 1×2 size. Cut the pieces, or use cut off ends, that are about the size of the foam stamps. Spray glue the foam stamps onto the blocks to make really easy to use stamps for the project.