When planning your baby shower food menu it’s always best to be organized and have things planned out so that the food is tasty and presented nicely.
First thing you want to consider when planning your menu (besides your budget), is that the food you choose can be consumed by the mother-to-be (there might be things that the expecting mother can’t eat and needs to avoid or doesn’t like), it’s best to know what she likes and incorporate it into the menu.
Your baby shower time of day can change the menu drastically. If you are planning a baby shower in the morning you can think of light morning food like fruits, yogurt with granola, bagels and cream cheese, etc. If it’s around dinner time – you’ll need to plan for more of a dinner menu.
Your baby shower theme will also change the menu. For example if you choose to have a baby shower tea party, you’ll probably want to choose little finger foods and elegant sandwiches, little teapots, biscuits and jam, etc. Making baby shower food that suites your theme can really add to the atmosphere (it’s always nice to add little signs by each baby shower food that expresses your theme, for example for a Winnie the Pooh party “Pooh-nut Butter Sandwiches” or “Rabbit’s Garden”, etc.).
You’ll find that in each of the themes on this site we’ve included special foods that fit that special theme – so make sure you visit the themes section…
If you don’t want to go wild with your baby shower food menu and only serve appetizers, finger foods, refreshments and dessert, you can plan the baby shower in between meals and that way you don’t need to serve a full lunch or dinner. Make the right considerations and count every guest to figure out the amount of baby shower food you will need. It’s best to serve more food than less food… (the parents-to-be can take the leftovers so that they don’t need to cook for a few days after the baby shower).
Think about the location of the party also when planning your food menu. If it’s a small group of guests, you can have everyone sitting around tables. If you’re planning a baby shower with lots of people, consider a buffet.
If you are hosting the baby shower at a restaurant, you’ll need to work on the baby shower food menu with someone at the restaurant. Find out what settings they offer, can they provide a buffet setting? around tables? You might even be able to change and fit the restaurant’s baby shower food menu to suite your theme.
Baby Shower Foods
Before the main course, it’s always good to have appetizers and finger foods (people always love to start nibbling on something light when they just arrive). You can have fruit platters (a healthy treat), cheese and cracker platters, little finger foods, all kinds of vegetables, chips with dip (you can make salsa, guacamole, spinach dips and more), little pizzas with all kinds of appetizers, chicken wings with ranch dressing, etc.
For baby shower food you can also make a buffet of vegetables – people can choose different vegetables from different bowls and mix-and-match their own preferred salad. Serve different salad sauces as well. How about a build-it-yourself taco and/or burrito buffet? Provide taco shells and tortillas, separate bowls of cheese, little pieces of cooked chicken, minced cooked meat, cut tomatoes, avocado, sliced onions, lettuce, salsa and whatever else you think will fit.
Baby Shower Drinks
Drinks can change in regard to your theme as well. You can choose different color drinks that match your theme colors. If you decide to serve soft drinks, make sure you have regular and diet choices. Tea and coffee are always drinks that people prefer, so try to have a few kinds of tea and coffee choices. It’s best if you serve white and brown sugar as well as the pink and blue-colored sweeteners.
For the punch you can buy a little baby tub and pour the punch in. Buy a few little rubber duckies to swim in the punch and add a ladle so that guests can spoon out the punch.
It’s a fun idea to use baby bottles as drinking cups! Cut the nipples of the bottle a bit bigger and put in a straw. You can also use baby bottles for holding condiments like mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, tahini, etc. If you don’t want to ruin the nipples of the bottles (to save the baby bottles to give to the mother-to-be), take out the nipples and just use the bottles.
Baby Shower Cake and Desserts
What about the cake?! Cake is one of the best parts of a baby shower. You can create a nice diaper cake as a centerpiece. Here are lots of homemade diaper cakes visitors like yourself have created:
For more wonderful homemade baby shower cakes, check out the Cool Baby Cakes on our sister site for loads of homemade baby shower cakes you can make yourself, including pregnant belly cakes, baby rattle cakes, baby cupcakes, baby stroller cakes, baby teddy bear cakes and many more!
Chocolate Fondue is also a very popular dessert. Melt semi-sweet chocolate with milk or cream. Cut up fruits and let people dip away! You can also dip each fruit in the chocolate beforehand and put on a tray in the fridge.
A Watermelon Baby Carriage is another fun baby shower food dessert you can create. Cut the watermelon lengthwise, about 1/3 from the top and across about 3/4 of the watermelon. Cut that whole piece away in a right angle (this will create the cover for the baby carriage. Save the piece of watermelon rind you take out for later). Take out all the watermelon flesh, cut into chunks and put aside (instead of chunks you can also make little balls with an ice-cream spoon). Fill the watermelon baby carriage with the cut up watermelon.
Then take an orange and cut into circle slices. Take one of the slices (which will be the baby’s face) and peel away the orange peel 3/4 around (leaving 1/4 of peel as hair of the baby’s face). Cut a small hole in the baby’s face for the mouth and put in a small pacifier. Put the baby’s face in the carriage. You can then take grapes, put a clove in the center of each and use them as eyes (you can also use raisins or little candies as well).
Take the piece of watermelon rind you took out and put aside in the beginning, and cut out little wheels for the baby carriage. Attach them to both sides of the watermelon rind baby carriage with toothpicks. It’s not as complicated as it sounds and can be a very nice addition to your table!
A Jell-O Potty Chair (!!) is another cool baby shower dessert idea (which can also serve for lots of laughs!) You buy a new little potty chair and make sure it’s very clean. Take Pineapple or Lemon Jell-O (any yellow Jell-O), mix the ingredients according to the Jell-O package, put the ingredients in the potty chair and put into the fridge. Don’t let the Jell-O set completely and take it out of the fridge. Then take a mini Baby Ruth candy bar and put it in the bottom of the Jell-O. Put it back in the fridge and let the Jell-O set completely. During the baby shower give the Jell-O potty chair with a spoon to the mother-to-be and everyone will go berserk!
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