I'm co-hosting a baby shower for a good friend and she wants to have a display shower. It will be in the evening and is intended to be more of a gathering of friends to celebrate and socialize instead of traditional games and opening presents. etc. As I understand it, guests bring unwrapped gifts (decorations ok) which are put on display for everyone to view and enjoy during the party. The little bit of online research I've done suggested that we include something with the invitation - like a gift tag - that guests can somehow affix to their present to 1) make sure we can identify who brought what and 2) to add a little decor to the display. Does anyone have experience with this type of shower? Sample wording for the invite? Am I missing anything else? Thanks!
I SOooo wish I had done this for my baby shower :) I heard about it after and was happy to share the idea with my expectant friend. I love the wording suggestions, the idea of making it 'green', and also providing an envelope for guests to include gift receipts etc. Brilliant. Thanks ladies! I'll keep you posted.
You could make it 'green'
'as to be kind to the environment the mom-to-be requests any gifts brought to the luncheon be unwrapped but creatively labeled. Gifts will then be displayed for everyone to admire.'
To be honest, when I first read the idea, it sounded rude to me. However after thinking about it--wrapping paper is so expensive and such a waste...therefore, if you focus on that aspect, I think it is a GREAT idea!!
You know, back in the day...all wedding gifts used to be displayed at the home of the bride...so I like this idea!
Here's O. example I found for the wording: ”At the request of the bride, this will be a casual “display” shower. Please bring your gifts unwrapped, so that Lisa has more time to enjoy your company.”
great idea, thoguh it comes from a bridal shower site:
” At the request of the mom to be, this will be a casual “display” shower. Please bring your gifts unwrapped, so that "name" has more time to enjoy your company.”
or this poetic version:
“The adorable baby gifts will be put on display – So no need to wrap in any way- a ribbon or twine will do just fine, leaving us free to visit and dine! ”
I would still decorate the gift and food table though to make it cute and colorful.
http://weddingbellesonline.com/2008/08/02/invite-wording-...
this idea was cute:
"I attended a baby shower last year and it was my first “display” shower. I was very impressed with how the set up was done. I will be duplicating this same set up this year with my best friend’s baby shower. The gifts were arranged by theme (e.g. bath time, sleepy time, feeding time, etc) on separate tables arranged in one section of the room. Guests were given tags to write their name and attach to their unwrapped gifts so if there are multiple gifts given by a single person, they are easily identified. In addition, guests were given envelopes to write their mailing addresses on, this way the mom-to-be can easily write thank you notes without searching around for the mailing list. I hope this helps others out there!"
Cool idea. I had never heard of it so I looked it up. I found this sample wording for a bridal shower.
” At the request of the bride, this will be a casual “display” shower. Please bring your gifts unwrapped, so that Lisa has more time to enjoy your company.”
We went to an engagement party that was like this. It was great. They simply asked for the gifts to remain unwrapped in the invite. And they mentioned to make sure it was labeled. I don't recall them adding a gift tag in the invite, but they had some on the gift table. It was a fun party.
K., I love the idea that was mentioned about saying the word "green" somewhere on the invite. I would merge that into what Tracy and Momma L have said.
Although I have typically thought it was a bit rude to ask a present giver to fill out her own envelope for the thank you card, I think that this is a smart idea for THIS kind of shower. The reason is that many of us put a gift receipt into the wrapped present, in case for some reason, it needs to be returned. The gift receipt could be enclosed in the empty envelope that the giver writes her address on, and then attaches to the present. I like the idea of baby ribbon wrapped around the gift. You could put a one-hole punch hole in the side of the envelope to run the baby ribbon through, giving it to the gift giver like that. No lost cards, and a place for the gift receipt, if there is one.
Have fun!
Dawn
I have never heard of this but LOVE the idea! Cuts down on all that waste and visiting is so much more fun than being pressured to play games w/ women you don't know very well! Sounds fun...good luck!
I think it would be a little tacky to ask people to bring unwrapped gifts. If you can make it seem less about the "display" part it would help. Maybe ask people to contribute an "unwrapped gift to a gift basket" or "we will be collecting unwrapped gifts to display druing dinner" - eeks this is hard!! You could assign someone to sign in the gifts and then take the basket to another room to display the gifts while everyone has appetizers.
The first one I attended did not include gift tags so everyone was running around trying to figure out who gave what. Good idea with the tags.
I hated the concept but have been to several and we got to visit so much more. My traditional shower was a boring event with people having to hush and watch me open presents. I will never do it the old way again.
Make sure you put "come and go" so people know they don't have to stay the whole time
My friend did something like this for me, only it wasn't that gifts couldn't be wrapped. Guests couldn't use wrapping paper. I got a lot of blankets that night, lol.
I hate shower games, so I think this type of shower would be wonderful!
I love this!!! Let's face it, watching the Mama open presents gets BORING!!! It'd be so much more fun to mingle and see what everyone brought and enjoy!!! I also HATE baby shower games, so I'd love to go to one that is more about visiting and enjoying the company!
I like the idea of incorporating the "green" aspect.
This made me think back to my baby shower. We didn't do any games, it was just a luncheon where everybody had plenty of time to walk around and mingle. We did have the traditional present opening while the guests enjoyed the cake. Although I do like the "display" shower idea, and would have enjoyed having a shower like this, I would have missed one of the most unexpected, and emotionally precious moments of my life when I opened my mother-in-law's (step-in-law) gift to find a painting done by my husband's mother, who had passed away when he was 12. It was a show-stopper folks, let me tell you. I immediately recognized it and burst out crying. LOL I don't think it would have had the same impact had I seen it amongst a table scape of bath toys and baby blankets.
Just saying, there are trade offs.
Never heard of it, don't have any advice, but the more & more I thought about it, this sounds like an awesome type of celebration. Less emphasis on the gifts & more on celebrating. You can only say "aww" so many times, over the same type of presents, over & over again.
I love it! If I am blessed with another child, I will do this for sure!
Have a great time!
Sandy
