Planning a baby shower can be more difficult than it seems. It involves inviting the chosen people for the occasion, ordering the special cake, selecting the game, fixing a convenient time, the party formalities or informalities and last but not the least, the opportune moment, i.e. before or after the baby is born. I do not know how others have handled the predicament but can describe the way I tackled it.

Well, when my sister was pregnant with her first baby, I volunteered to organize the baby shower and nearly collapsed doing all the exercise needed for this very special ritual. To start with, planning a baby shower involves time and motion study. Unless you coordinate things with the mother-to-be, things may go haywire. I took extra care in inviting people that my sister approved since on a previous occasion when my sister-in-law had a baby shower for one of her friends, she had inadvertently asked people to join the party that the mother-to-be never wanted. The obvious result was an uncomfortable time for everyone. And I did not want a recurrence.

There are two options for arranging the baby shower One before the birth of the baby and the other, after the arrival of the baby. My sister insisted on waiting till the arrival of the baby so that people attending the shower could see the baby while one of her colleagues, who also was planning a baby shower for her had plans to do it prior to the birth of the baby. In fact, her idea was to do it on the last day of my sisters scheduled day of attending office prior to her maternity leave. And I was deputed to solve this debacle. However, after much deliberation we agreed to inform the guests about the issue so that they could select their gifts accordingly. Also, our plans to coordinate the two baby showers fell into their respective slots to our mutual relief. As I was responsible for asking the relatives and my sister took charge of her colleagues and co-workers, two apparent showers for the same person finally mingled into one and all were happy.

As for ordering the baby shower cake, a dispute of a different kind raised. Since my sister had forgotten to inform her husband that her brother had already placed an order for the cake (specially prepared with floral decoration and carrying the name of the mother-to-be), her husband had ordered for one and despite all our pleadings none of the confectioners agreed to cancel their orders. We were almost on the verge of paying for two pricey savories for a single occasion when help came from an unexpected corner. At the last moment, one of the confectioners voluntarily agreed to call off my order, as another mother-to-be had suddenly appeared ordering for a baby shower cake. So the issue ended peacefully.

Planning a baby shower may include as much contribution as possible since it is a celebration in tribute to the new life of the baby. The inclusion of the father should not be neglected, as after all, he is the initiator of all the jubilations. Also, the cards received from the department stores where the mother-to-be has registered to place in shower invitations are useful as they contain all the information to be noted down on the invitations.