Baby Shower
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Is It Acceptable to Serve just Cake and Punch? Or should you serve more Baby Shower Foods? Maybe appetizers, finger food, or maybe a meal. It is really a personal choice for the hostess to make.
Serve cake and punch (fruit punch, tropical punch), a simple brunch, a lavish sit-down meal, or a buffet filled with finger food for the shower. It is entirely your choice. Consider your budget as the hostess first. Then plan the time of the party around the Baby Shower Appetizers you will serve.
But these are just simple thoughts, however, today anything goes… Just try to add a little creative touch to whatever you choose. You will be much admired and appreciated for all your efforts. A good light music and scented candles will surely brighten up everybody invited.
It doesn’t matter what you serve. So much as how to serve, and here comes your creativity. Remember no one is here to get the meal. The guests are here to share the happiness of the mom-to-be and her family. Roughly, around half the baby showers generally serve cake and punch. This is considered to be very appropriate for a shorter party.
If you are planning a longer party, than a meal is a must (but again strictly up to the hostess). If an entire meal is served, plan on buffet-style. Remember to provide either real dishes or sturdy paper goods. Otherwise the the plate gets heavy making it difficult to hold. But, if the party is held at some restaurant or dining hall, real dishes will probably be a given.
However, present day baby showers don’t restrict themselves to any fixed rules and etiquettes. Here are some menu suggestions, baby shower appetizers (and recipes) to help you get started:
To prepare fruit salad you can cut different fruits in many attractive shapes and size and serve them instantly to keep them fresh. You can even use frozen fruit mixtures if you choose. You can serve this either in a nice bowl, or if you are preparing the fruit, hollow out a melon (such as watermelon, honeydew or cantaloupe) and use that to hold the chopped fruits. Remember, nothing stops you but your imagination and creativity.
Veggie Tray:
Again, you can prepare this yourself, or buy one ready made. You can use ranch dressing for dip, or you can make a dip or two on your own.
Finger Foods:
If you opt for the snacks and appetizers, there are many options as to what you can serve. If you want something with a little more substance. Make some finger foods. Some popular dishes are mini-quiches, pasta salads, stuffed mushrooms and mini-pizzas. Try to make something that the mother-to-be likes to eat. The important thing is to have a variety of foods so nobody goes hungry.
Last but not the least, don't forget beverages. You can serve just coffee, tea or soda. Then there is the traditional shower punch. Any eatables you serve depend upon many things. First your budget, then the time the baby shower is to be held. The venue along with other specialties. Cakes and punch are fine for shorter baby showers. Whereas sit-down meals are perfect for comparatively longer parties and a bigger budget.
Sit down and full meals tend to be more complicated. They also are much more expensive. They are often served at baby showers with family attending or co ed baby showers. But nowadays, “ladies only" have been replaced with “everyone invited" baby showers. Fathers and the father-to-be are also being invited these days. We are witnessing couple entries; generally close friends of the expectant couple. And they say rightly, the way to a man’s heart goes through his belly. Because men are not as likely to enjoy playing cutesy baby shower games, the party will revolve more around the food.
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The best way to serve Baby Shower Appetizers is to get the guests inter-mingling. One way to do this is to set up a buffet-style spread or place plates of appetizers around the room. Many hostesses deliberately scatter plates of food around the room to get people up and moving about. This often encourages everyone to circulate and mingle with people they are meeting for the first time.
