12 Steps to Hosting a Coed Baby Shower Both Parents Will Love

While some people love a traditional baby shower, the coed baby shower has become a popular alternative. These pre-baby celebrations invite both the mom-to-be and dad-to-be to be showered with love, wisdom, and gifts for the new baby.

If you’re ready to plan a coed baby shower, we’re here to help with our top tips and ideas, including themes, invites, and party games that both mom and dad will love.

Follow These 12 Steps for Your Coed Baby Shower

Ready to start planning a baby shower the two of you will remember forever? Here are some of our best planning tips and favorite baby shower ideas to help you plan and host the event of your dreams.

1. Make It a Joint Process

Before we jump into how to plan a baby shower, let’s mention the best way to approach it — together! Time as parents-to-be is precious, but planning your coed baby shower as a team makes the journey feel even more fun and special.

Sit down together and talk about what you’d like the baby shower to look like and how you’d like the event to flow. Save ideas to a shared Pinterest board or group chat. Gather inspiration from other events, blogs, and things you see as you go about your daily lives. Once you’re past the ideas stage, divide the tasks on your baby shower checklist so everything gets handled fairly.

2. Plan Your Ideal Guest List

Design: Bonjour Berry

With a coed baby shower, it’s typical for the guest list to be longer than a traditional baby shower. You’re both inviting your favorite people along, so it’s no surprise that you’ll be sending out more party invites.

Plan to invite your closest loved ones, family members, and dear friends. Talk about the guest list together, and make sure you’re on the same page when it comes to a final head count. As you build your list it’s important to remember that you’re both guests of honor and, like this the crew invite says, this is the perfect opportunity to get the crew together for a fun celebration.

3. Set Up a Baby Registry

People love to bring along gifts for the new baby or expectant parents, so be ready for this with a baby registry. Not only does this help cut down on duplicate or unwanted baby shower gifts, but it also helps your guests find the perfect gift for you without worrying about whether you want or need it.

Choose your favorite baby registry service and fill your list with things you’ll need or enjoy — like diapers, onesies, baby toys, adorable outfits, and baby bottles. Add a few higher ticket items too that your guests can perhaps buy as a group gift. Gift cards are another great baby registry idea as you’ll never know exactly what you need until the baby arrives.

4. Choose Your Coed Baby Shower Theme

Design: frau brandt

One of our favorite parts of planning any event is choosing a theme, and a baby shower is one of the most exciting events of all. Look for a gender-neutral baby shower theme that you’ll both love, or lean into a hobby or interest that sparks joy.

Some of the most popular baby shower themes include safari, baby animals, nautical, adventure, boho, and jungle. This woodland charm invite would be perfect for an outdoor party or woodsy-themed celebration. Of course, you can theme your coed baby shower around whatever you wish — from your favorite sports team, game, or character to cupcakes, bumble bees, or even monster trucks. Choose a theme you love for a fun way to celebrate this new chapter of your lives together.

5. Choose a Date and Time

Before you can tell guests about your big party, you need to settle on a date. Get out your calendars, check for any free dates, and work together to choose a date and time that’s well before the actual due date.

Most baby showers happen in the four to six week period before the baby’s due date, but there are no real rules around this. Baby showers often happen during the morning or afternoon, but you could always host an evening shower instead — especially if your theme is something atypical like gaming, Halloween, or red carpet.

6. Find a Venue to Suit Your Theme

Every party needs a venue, and with a coed baby shower you’ll want a space that feels cozy and comfortable. There’s a good chance your home (or a friend’s home) will be your venue, but there’s no reason you can’t host your shower somewhere else.

Fun alternative venues include your favorite park, lakeside hangout spot, or beachside retreat. You could also ask a local gallery, museum, or restaurant if there’s a space you can book to host your baby shower. If you can’t gather everyone in one place, a virtual baby shower is a wonderful way to celebrate with your loved ones.

7. Send Out Your Baby Shower Invites

Design: Creo Study

It’s time for one of our favorite steps — finding your dream baby shower invites and sending them out to your favorite people. Whether you have a defined theme or not, an adorable baby shower invite is a fun way to get people excited about your upcoming party. And if you don’t have a theme, browsing through baby shower invites — including this adorable baby is brewing invite — could inspire your theme selection. With Greenvelope, you can customize your digital invitations by changing the colors, layout, and wording so you have personalized baby shower invitations in moments.

8. Plan Your Baby Shower Party Decor

You have your baby shower theme and venue all figured out, which means you can start thinking about party decor. While you might dress a wedding or birthday party venue heavily, for a baby shower you can keep the decor more light and minimalist if you like.

Think about your theme and the space you’re working with, then borrow or buy decor to match. Hang garlands, create a balloon arch, and put up banners to complement your theme. Coordinating table linens, servingware, and other accents will help bring your look to life.

9. Plan a Delicious Menu

Design: Jen Montgomery

One area where couples tend to splash out is with their coed baby shower menu. It’s exciting to see fresh takes on what to serve shower guests, and it’s the perfect place to get creative if you love to experiment with food.

Plan a BBQ (or “Baby-Q”) as part of your outdoor baby shower, with burgers, hot dogs, and fries — and this matching Baby Q grill invite. Set up your own taco bar, or hire a food truck for a fun twist on catering. Swap a traditional baby shower brunch for a sophisticated sit-down dinner instead, or invite your guests to join you for a pizza and ice-cream party.

10. Serve Refreshing Drinks

With so much tasty food on offer, you’ll want to offer your guests something refreshing to enjoy alongside it. Pour some love into your drink menu to create a fun moment for guests seeking to stay hydrated at your coed baby shower.

Plan an exciting menu of mocktails with names that match your baby shower theme. Or create a coffee or hot cocoa bar where your guests can warm up with their own specialty hot drink. You could also put together a DIY home bar, with ice-cold cans and bottled drinks for your guests to enjoy.

11. Plan Baby Shower Games and Activities

Make your event memorable with some fun coed baby shower games. Stick with traditional printable baby shower games, or seek out more active or team-based party games instead depending on your audience and preferences.

Ask your guests to place bets on what the baby’s name will be, or play a round of trivia all about what new parents should know about parenting. Set up a blind taste test of baby food and see who can guess the most correctly, or put together an obstacle course or relay race where your guests have to make it to the finish line with a baby doll in arms. You could even adapt virtual baby shower games for an in-person event.

12. Hand Out Themed Baby Shower Favors

When it’s time to say goodbye to your beloved party guests, send them home with something to remember your baby shower by. Themed party favors are the perfect token of appreciation and are easy to DIY at home.

Hand out pacifier-shaped candy, or homemade bars of soap that match your party colors or theme. Pass out personalized cookies or cupcakes, or jars of cake mix or homemade preserves if you’ve had a food-oriented baby shower. You can also send digital thank you cards to let guests know how much you appreciate their support.

Celebrate Your Upcoming Arrival with a Fun Coed Baby Shower

Planning a coed baby shower is always exciting. You get to work with your partner and come up with party ideas to celebrate a very special upcoming arrival. Use this guide to help you plan and host a coed baby shower that the two of you (and all your guests) will remember.

When you’re set on your theme and party essentials, use our baby shower invites to spread the word about your celebration. Choose a design that you both love, then make it your own with our easy-to-use customization process. Add your guest list, then send or schedule your invite to hit your loved ones’ inboxes in sync.