How to Make Baby Shower Centerpieces With Baby Items

Keep your centerpiece plans a secret from the guest of honor.

To honor the mother-to-be, create centerpieces that are specific to motherhood and make her life easier when the baby comes. Using objects that her baby can later use is beneficial for a few reasons. You’ll look like a creative host, your room will have plenty of visual interest and you won’t be saddled with useless centerpieces after the party. Rather than buying a shower gift, give the mom-to-be all the centerpiece items.

Things You'll Need

• Trays or cake stands, square, 1 per table
• Wooden letter blocks, 46 per centerpiece
• Board books, 4 to 6 per table
• Cloth diapers or receiving blankets, 6 per table
• Ribbon, pink or blue
• Scissors
• Pails

Instructions

Blocks

1. Buy square trays or cake stands. Each tray should be at least 1 foot across.

2. Place 36 baby blocks on one tray. Use wooden blocks that have one letter or number on each side. Find these blocks in a toy store. Form the blocks into rows of six blocks to create a square.

3. Place 9 blocks on top of the first layer, forming them into a square with three blocks on each side. Center this square over the first square.

4. Place a single block on the top layer of each centerpiece. Center it over the middle square of the second layer.

Books

1. Pile three to five baby board books together. The more books you use, the more impressive the centerpiece will look.

2. Fan out the pile of books a bit. Tilt each book so its corners stick out at a different angle. When you look at the book pile from above, you should be able to see all four corners of each book.

3. Open another children's book. Set it on top of the book pile, perpendicular to the rest of the books so it stands up with its pages fanned out.

Baby Blankets

1. Fold each cloth diaper or receiving blanket like an accordion. Continue until the entire blanket is folded.

2. Cut pieces of ribbon to be 12 inches long. Cut one piece for each bundle. Tie one ribbon around the center of each bundle.

3. Arrange six bundles inside each pail. Add additional bundles if there's any additional room, filling the buckets until the bundles are tightly packed.

4. Fluff the tops of the bundles so they expand a bit. They should appear to bloom over the top of each pail like a bouquet of flowers would.

Tips & Warnings

• While you can use any type of pails you like, plastic beach pails that children use to make sandcastles will be most useful for children later on.

References

• Real Simple: Baby Shower Etiquette