A few months into your pregnancy, moms belly starts to show and the little bundle inside gets ready for it’s arrival into the world and new parents start to wonder – just how much are we going to need to support this little human?

Baby showers are the perfect event to help the parents collect all of the new baby essentials. But there’s one sneaky little fact about the baby shower that many people ignore – the party itself can get expensive.

Host an inexpensive baby shower by using a free space instead of a paid event space, sending free invitations, asking friends to contribute food or activities to the baby shower instead of (or in addition to) gifts and opting for a homemade dessert rather than an expensive cake.

There are many ways to save big time on the baby shower – without limiting your guest list.

Can I have a baby shower without having a baby shower?

One of the quickest and easiest ways to have an inexpensive baby shower is to skip the party thing altogether! Create an Amazon baby shower registry and sent it directly to your friends, family and coworkers via email along with a baby bump pic.

You can also opt to host a virtual baby shower through a video chat service, like Zoom, to bring all of your friends and family together for games, words of wisdom and a show of support for the parents-to-be.

Who pays for the baby shower?

Close friends and family pay for the baby shower. The baby shower is planned for the mother-to-be by friends and family.

All the parents should do for the baby shower is provide the baby shower guest list with their contact information and share any preferences. For example, the parents should let their party planners know up front if they want a gender-neutral baby shower or want certain a certain theme.

Once they have the guest list and parent preferences, the party planners create the budget, purchase the food, décor and games.

How to have a baby shower on a budget

Host your baby shower at home

The venue can be one of the most costly components of a baby shower. Event spaces can run you $100 per hour for even a small space with limited décor options.

Finding a free space will dramatically lower the cost of your baby shower. Hosting your event at your home or at a friend’s space gives you a few major benefits:

• The space is free
• There are no limitations to how you can decorate
• You control the volume levels
• There’s no limitation on how long you can stay at the venue

Ask for favors instead of gifts

Food, activities and entertainment all cost money that your baby shower hosts will have to shell out.

You can eliminate costs entirely by asking friends and family to contribute to the shower rather than sending over a gift. For example, if you have a friend that loves to bake (and is good at it), ask them to make the cake. Ask your friend who’s a chef to bring a dish. Anything that can be prepared by a friend or family member for free is a cost that you don’t have to pay for your event.

Our neighbor a few houses down from us is a country musician and we asked him to sing a few songs for our baby shower. Instead of a box of diapers, he serenaded our little babies and our guests at the baby shower and it was the most magical part of the event.

Choose free digital invitations

While paper invitations that you receive in the mail can feel warm, inviting and give you a well-designed memento to stick on the refrigerator, they cost money to create, print and mail.

Save money on your baby shower invitations by sending a free invitation to your guests. You can send out a simple email invitation, create an event on Facebook or create a digital invitation using Evite or Paperless Post. The important information to include is date and time of the event, location, a link to your registry and a note from the host.

Plus, there’s an added bonus of saving a few trees by going digital.

Create free baby shower games

It’s easier than you think to find baby shower games that are completely free. One quick google search for free baby shower games will lead you to tons of printables that you can download and print at home.

Find cheap baby shower games on Etsy, where you can purchase 1 or 2 printable baby shower games for $3.99 or less. Search for games that don’t require you to purchase accessories or additional items to play the game.

Get creative with gifts for guests

Baby shower game winners expect to win a prize. Baby shower gifts could be anything from a bag of candies to perfumes or candles. These gifts are typically under $15, but if you’re playing several games or expect multiple winners the costs add up quickly.

Find cheaper alternatives to gifts for your baby shower game winners like a $5 Starbucks gift card or making something yourself. It’s also acceptable not to give a gift at all. Simply announce the winner of the game will have bragging rights for all events to come.

Make it a potluck

One of the largest expenses of any event, including a baby shower, will be the event. This cost increases as your guest count increases. This cost can add up quickly, especially if the parents-to-be have large families or lots of friends.

A potluck is where attendees bring a dish to share with the group. This lowers the cost of your event because the host doesn’t have to provide all the food for the event. For a small event, you can request that everyone bring one dish to share. For a larger baby shower, ask a few attendees if they’d be open to preparing a dish for the group instead of bringing a gift.

Grab a grocery store bakery cake

Cakes can get massively expensive in a world where baby showers are expected to be Instagram-ready. It’s not uncommon to pay $200 or more for a cake that serves 20-30 people a high end bakery.

Order an all-white cake from a grocery store bakery as a low-cost option for baby shower desert. Add a beautiful cake topper to match the baby shower theme from Etsy.

Skip decorations (or reuse decorations from previous events)

I’m a huge fan of remembering what the purpose of the event is. Friends and family are coming to visit you – not coming to see how you decorated your space. While the decorations make the space look pretty, they can get pretty expensive.

Search the thrift store for items you need

Before you head to the store to purchase baby shower décor or display items brand new, see if you can get them used from the thrift store instead. A few ideas of items to check a thrift store for are:

• Blankets for a picnic themed baby shower
• Decorative serving bowls, punch bowls
• Picture frames for signage
• Table cloths

At our baby shower, we played a game of changing a baby diaper using a baby doll. We were able to purchase two baby dolls from a thrift store for $2 each. Brand new the dolls would’ve costed much more.

Don’t buy party favors

At the end of an event, it’s common to receive some kind of gift from the host for attending. Whether it’s a container of bubbled with the parent’s name on it or a bag of candy, there’s usually some kind of parting gift. Many of these end up in the trash or in that junk drawer that no one ever comes back to.

Party favors or “goodie bags” can run a baby shower host $2-3 per person, which can get very expensive for large events. Instead of giving out party favors at the end of the baby shower, simply say “thank you so much for coming” and give guests a hug. Your guests are attending to share a gift with the parents to be and welcome this new baby into the community – not for the party favors.