vintage birth announcements & invitations

In the spirit of this historical election, last Fall we started our own Vintage Election 2008. We asked for your vote to select a new design to be incorporated into our line of vintage-inspired birth announcements and baby shower invitations at The Baby Gardner. Voting ended on Election Day, November 4th, and we announced our winner!

Now, we’re pleased to introduce and inaugurate our brand new design, Baby Bells! We liked your choice so much, we decided to create coordinating thank-you cards as well. 

Thanks to all who participated in our election! Let us know what you think of the results!

Your votes have been counted in our Vintage Election 2008! Our brand new invitation design for the shop will be Baby Ringing Bells! Thanks to all who voted. Look for the new design to be revealed and inaugurated into the shop in January 2009!

On a national level, last night was a historic election night. Regardless who you voted for, there’s an undeniable sense of hope for the country moving forward. I think expectations will be really high, and I hope our new president and Congress will be able to exceed all of them. And TGIF! Thank Goodness It’s Finished! I’m so over this whole (2 years+) political election cycle. Can we talk about something else now?

We still have our voting taking place to select a new invitation pattern for the shop. Be sure to cast your vote! In the meantime, I’ve been working on a few other vintage designs. I’m excited to introduce you to our two newest patterns: In the Treetop and By the Seashore.

The nautical little boy on the seashore was a request from my friend, Renee — you know the one who wanted the vintage / nautical / Navy – themed nursery? Luckily, designing a birth announcement for Baby James was a much easier assignment. She’s due 11/11 and is in serious nesting mode. Let’s just say she did a really good job of ‘nudging’ me along to get this done. Hey, if it eases her mind to know it’s finished (even before the baby gets here), then what kind of friend would I be if I procrastinated? (I’d be the exact kind of friend she’s had for the past 20 years — she knows me too well.)

On a personal note, I’m having minor outpatient surgery on my wrist tomorrow. It’s a long story. I won’t bore you with the details (ok, well maybe I will if I get really desperate for posting ideas). I just wanted to mention it in case you guys start wondering if I disappeared. We’ll catch up next week! If you need to place an order over the next few days, no worries. The elves are still working.

Looking for ideas to throw a vintage-themed baby shower? We’ve got a few. You can modify these ideas for a baby girl or boy. Don’t know what the expectant Mommy is going to have? Neither did the mommies of the 40s and 50s! Determining the sex before baby was born was unheard of back then! So baby shower invitations and favors were designed to work for either gender. Hard to fathom that nowadays, right?

Where to start? Well generally I like to start with the vintage baby shower invitation and use that as my inspiration for the entire shower. Lucky for you, The Baby Gardner has an assortment of exclusive vintage baby shower invitations (and vintage birth announcements) you’ll want to explore. Here’s some of our best sellers that might spark some ideas.

Feeding the masses: In my humble opinion, the biggest job is the food prep and the presentation. And for a vintage baby shower, there’s nothing like the classic petit fours. Most bakeries can offer an array of decorating options from monograms to baby booties and rattles. They are perfectly vintage and absolutely yummy!

Another idea to infuse vintage into your feast is vintage planters. These can be very easy to find if you know where to look. Try antique shops, flea markets and even thrift stores. Heck, your mom may even have one that she kept when you were a baby. Give them a good soaking and use them to hold mints, nuts, small favors and more.

You can also find crepe napkins or doilies that coordinate with your invitations and your colors. Fold them to look like diapers and pin a safety pin through the center. Add these to your food table to add another charming hint of vintage.

Can you do me a favor? Of course. And The Baby Gardner has a vintage baby shower favor exclusive. Check out our Proud Papa Pins. Hand these out as guests arrive at the shower. They’re charming and can even be kept to wear on delivery day as well!

Decorating delights: Decorations don’t have to be over-the-top. Place them in key locations and they will really pack some punch. Place adorable garlands like the ones at the beginning of this post (available at The Baby Gardner) above the entry way or behind the banquet table. Choose a beautiful centerpiece of fresh flowers or vintage-inspired millenery bouquets for the banquet table as well. People tend to graze, so the banquet table is usually where the biggest crowd will form. Make your biggest visual impact there.

Games anyone? Some love shower games; some think they’re torture. But here’s a really cute one that goes way back — and the embarrassment factor for the expectant mom and the guests is relatively low. Did you make a mental note about the diaper napkins we talked about above? Well you can alter this idea for a party game as well…

Before the shower, make sure you’ve made enough napkin diapers for each guest. You don’t want to use the same napkins that you’re using on the food table. Trust me. It will help avoid confusion. In just ONE of these napkins, take a small dot of creole mustard and smear just a bit on the inside fold of the diaper. Pin up each napkin diaper with a safety pin. When it’s time for the game, you’ll want to make sure each guest has been given a napkin diaper. Have everyone open their diapers at the same time. The person with the ‘dirty’ diaper wins a prize. Not too humiliating, right?

Thank you, thank you, thank you! If the shower hosts really want to be on the ball, give the expectant mom a gift of thank-you cards that coordinate with her vintage baby shower invitations. That way she’ll be ready as soon as the event is over to get cracking on all those many thank-you notes for her guests. She’ll thank you for it!

An unexpected gift for the expectant mom: Here’s a treat the new mom won’t be expecting. Assign one of the shower hosts to be ‘photographer’ for the event. Get shots of all the great moments. Check out our one-of-a-kind small albums at The Baby Gardner. These are the perfect size to hold all the special photos from her shower — even better, it conveys the whole theme of her ‘vintage’ baby shower. Put all the great moments in her album with captions under each one. Present the album to her on delivery day! It will be the gift she treasures forever.

UPDATE: The Baby Gardner has introduced an entire collection of Vintage Baby Shower Party Ideas that include a variety of themes, favors, banners, and more. View all of our shower offerings here.