Craft Gossip

The largest independent craft review site since 2007

Party Ideas – Adoptive Child’s Baby Shower

by

baby-shower-ideas

baby-shower-ideas

Although adding a special member to your family through adoption may be a nontraditional way to build a family, it still deserves a traditional celebration. Whether you already have your bundle of joy or you’re bringing home a 4-year-old child, a baby shower celebrates the beautiful life-changing occasion and the little one who’s your family miracle.

Since the adoption process can be a demanding and strenuous process, plan a baby shower as an exciting reminder for the happiness this child will bring. Here are ideas for how to welcome the little girl or guy into your home with a party, friends and family.

International Theme

If you’re having an international adoption, decorate the shower with the flag of the country of your child’s origin. Decorate the cake’s frosting with the country’s flag or stick toothpick flags into home-baked cupcakes. Make the home country the theme of your shower. Bake a heart-shaped apple pie with Antonovka apples for a Russian-themed baby shower. Cook up a South Korean spread full of white rice, noodles, kimchi, pickled vegetables, seasoned bulgogi and galbi for a little babe coming from East Asia. Plan a festive affair that honors the homeland of the child traveling so many miles to be yours. You can find a ton of international adoption themed baby shower ideasat Adoption Magazine.

Welcome Home

For an older child, use the baby shower as a welcome home party for introducing the child to friends and family. Focus on making it a warm and loving environment with items that would comfort the child. Decorate with a soft color scheme, stuffed animals and children’s books. Invite your closest friends and family members to make it an intimate gathering that doesn’t overwhelm or scare your new son or daughter.

Personal Gifts

Ask guests to include the name of your child on the gift or monogram the gift to provide a sense of permanence. A monogrammed quilted blanket or initial decorations to hang on the wall show the adoptive son or daughter that this loving home and family is for forever.

Belated Baby Shower

For a newborn baby, plan a traditional baby shower just like you would for a non-adopted child. The only difference is that the party may not be before the baby’s arrival, and the new babe may be the guest of honor of his or her own shower. Create a love theme and tailor the decorations to be for a boy or girl.

 

You can find blue and pink baby shower decorations online from retailers like PartyPail.com. Complement the baby shower favors, floral centerpieces and balloons with homemade decorations and desserts. Hang 3-D paper hearts with beads and bake confetti-frosted, heart-shaped sugar cookies using the Lofthouse Style Soft Sugar Cookies recipe from TwoPeasAndTheirPod.com. You also can bake a teddy bear cake and set clusters of teddy bear stuffed animals on the food, drink, dessert and gift tables.

Read These Next

Have you read?

Reflecting on the Past Year with Kids

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

  • Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
  • NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
  • Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
  • The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]