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Traditional Baby Shower or Baby Shower Tea?
by Donna Gorenflo

Baby showers have come to be a very important function in a soon to be mommy's lifetime. Baby showers are always a wonderful way to allow your close friends and families of the expectant mom to display her how thrilled they are for her. A new and fun option to your traditional shower is a baby shower tea. This is usually a more formal event that gives the guests and mother a unique form of celebration.

With traditional baby showers, announcements are often generally informal. Occasionally they are communicated by word of mouth. Showers often involve intimate families and friends, so they can simply tell each other the time and place. A baby shower tea, on the other hand, is much better served by mailing out proper announcements that show a lot more formality. This isn't to make the baby shower tea feel pretentious, instead to help create a much more formal feeling for the whole affair. Likewise, the total number of people to attend ought to be smaller. With a standard baby shower the person hosting usually will ask a larger number of guests since larger groups tend to work perfectly with the standard baby shower activities and games. A baby shower tea, however, would be best served with only a small number of guests. You usually do not want any more guests attending a baby shower tea than can be seated at one small table together. The key is intimacy, and usually games aren't played.

A baby shower can be held almost anywhere. Generally the baby shower will be at your house of the hostess, although they can take place in a restaurant, hall, or a favorite hang out. The location really should be based on what the mother to be would like, so if she's got a favorite restaurant it could be a perfect spot. A baby shower tea, however, is preferably held in a quiet location. Generally they are held in a private home, however the celebration could just as well be in a tea room. The decor of the location must be classy and formal, but that does not mean the celebration should be overly extravagant or that the house needs personal chefs and servants in order to be fitting.

Baby showers can be held at almost any time of day but they are typically at night or during the weekend since most that are invited have to work on weekdays. If none of the guests have to work during the daytime, baby showers could be held while the kids are at school. Baby shower teas are most appropriately held during the afternoon, because this is the most fitting time for a tea party. However, some may choose to hold a baby shower in the late morning. For a baby shower, just about any refreshments may be served, but at a baby shower tea, the proper choice is scones and tea sandwiches. Presents and shower favors are a big part of a standard shower, but at a baby shower tea, gifts need not be given and the party favors ought to either be relevant to the tea party or cut out completely. Today some baby showers include the expectant daddy and often times guests give gifts for dad, but at a baby shower tea the guest list should only be women.

Each celebration of an upcoming birth has good and bad points, but a expecting mom can have both if she so chooses. Celebrating a new baby can be a delightful occasion.  Whether you bring together family and friends for a baby shower or a more formal baby shower tea, you can't go askew when you just make it personal, special and distinctively yours!

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Looking for some help in arranging a baby shower celebration?  Bama Babies and Birthdays gives hosts unique shower favors, baby present ideas and decorations and many other resources to help you create either a fun or formal experience.