Putting together a baby shower and looking for decoration ideas? We’ve got two great tutorials for you today: A baby wish wall, and baby shower gift tags that can double as decor. These are easy to assemble, look fantastic, and double as useful and practical. Yay! Bonus: These baby shower decorations mostly rely on paper, an easy material to get hold of, and one of our absolute favourites (I mean, we are ‘Paperlust’).
Baby Shower Wish Wall
You will need:
- Scrapbook paper
- Stencils (bought or DIY)
- Scissors
- String or twine
- Mini pegs
- Pens
How it works:
- Before the big day, get to the local craft shop and buy yourself some scrapbook paper. It should be light-coloured and not too busy so that when people write on it the text can be easily read. The paper can be in a range of different colours, but make sure it all works together nicely. Think about the colour scheme of your event and the colour scheme you have planned for the baby’s nursery or playroom (you’ll understand why in just a moment!).
- Use a stencil to trace shapes onto the paper. You can use any shape you like, so this will fit in with any baby shower theme! We chose to use animal shapes, but you could do stars and planets, letters and numbers, baby items, or something else entirely. The shapes should be large enough for guests to write messages on and to use as decoration around the room.
- Use your scissors to cut out the shapes! You’re going to want enough shapes for all your guests to have at least one or two each, plus spares in case some people want a do-over. If you’re busy with other planning, you might want to outsource some of this cutting work to other friends who will be attending the shower.
- The day of the shower is here! Place strings along a wall, leaving enough room between rows for the shapes to be pegged on them. Make sure the strings are easy to reach. You can have the shapes already pegged up at the beginning of the event, sitting nearby in a basket or piled on a nearby table. Leave plenty of pens nearby.
- Ask your guests to write wishes for the baby on the shapes and peg them up on the wish wall throughout the baby shower. You could include a fun reading of the wishes later in the proceedings, or just let everyone read the notes on the wall.
- When the baby shower is over, these decorations can be reused to decorate the nursery. Simply string up the wishes along a wall. Alternatively, you can stick the wishes in a scrapbook, or just hold onto them in a memory box.
Voila! A great bunting-style baby shower decoration that doubles as an activity, and can be whipped up the day before the big day with items you probably already have at home.
Baby Shower Gift Tags
You will need:
- Paper stock
- Computer, printer and ink
- Scissors, knife or guillotine
- Hole punch
- Twine, string or ribbon
How it works:
- Use a Word document or a program online to create a design for your gift tags. They might be traditional gift tags to give ‘thank you’ gifts to your guests, or you could use a similar design as place cards or to keep track of whose drink is whose. Work out what you want to say and if you want to have any pictures on them to match the theme or colour scheme of your baby shower. Depending on the size you are hoping for, you might choose to make the design four to a page, six to a page or eight to a page. You could even go larger or smaller if you wanted to.
- Print out your design on the best quality paper your printer is compatible with. Ask at your local stationery and office supply shop if you’re not sure. To avoid smudging, make sure you leave enough time for the ink to dry before you try to do anything with them and remove each page from the printer tray as the printer spits it out.
- Trim your gift tags to size. This is easier with a guillotine or a craft knife, but if you have a steady hand scissors will do just fine. Try to keep them consistent.
- Punch a hole in the corner of the tag, where it won’t affect the design or disrupt readability. If you don’t have a hole punch, cut a small hole with scissors or a knife. Don’t make the hole too close to the edge of the paper or it will be in danger of tearing.
- Thread twine, ribbon or string through the hole and tie it to whatever you’re planning to decorate: a gift, a glass, a flower. It’s entirely up to you.
There we have it! Two beautiful baby shower decoration ideas that can be made just with paper and a few other bits and pieces. Happy showering!