A baby shower checklist follows a two-month timeline: the date, the budget and the guest list first, the invitations four to six weeks before, the food and supplies two to three weeks out, then a busy final week. Every task is below in that order, with what to buy for 20 guests and what it cost on October 15, 2026.
Every checklist below has a Copy button, to paste the list into your notes app or the co-hosts’ group chat. The timings are suggestions; a small brunch comes together faster.
In this guide
Your baby shower checklist starts two months out
About eight to ten weeks before the shower, settle the big questions with the parents-to-be. Everything else on this list follows from their answers.
Eight to ten weeks out
- Ask the parents-to-be whether they’d like a shower, or their partner or closest friend if it’s a surprise
- Agree on the kind of party: an 11 AM brunch, a 2 PM afternoon party or a backyard cookout
- Ask who’s invited: coed or not, kids or not, and roughly how many people
- Pick the date with them: often weeks 28 to 34 of a pregnancy, or after the baby arrives
- Settle the length: two hours suits most showers
- Ask what to plan around: stairs, allergies, foods they’re avoiding, family customs
- Ask whether they’ll open gifts at the party or later at home
- Ask about the extras: games, a diaper raffle, books instead of cards
- Check that their registry is ready: its link goes on the invitation in about a month
- Find one or two co-hosts, and decide which of you keeps the master guest list
- Set the budget: about $435 before tax for 20 guests at home with store-bought food
- Decide who pays for what: an even split, or one category each
- Open one shared spreadsheet with three tabs: guests, budget, tasks
- Put the shower, the RSVP date and every order deadline on a shared calendar
- Text a save-the-date to anyone who’ll need to travel, as soon as the date is set
The budget is broken down line by line further down. Planning a coed party? Our Jack and Jill baby shower guide covers it, and the diaper raffle wording guide has the lines for that extra.
Planning a surprise?
Pick the date
Showers often land in the third trimester, around weeks 28 to 34, but the parents-to-be have the final say. Adopting, or welcoming a baby through surrogacy? Plan around their timeline: our adoption baby shower guide lets the family lead.
And if the family would rather wait until the baby arrives, for cultural, religious or personal reasons, a party a few weeks after the birth works just as well.
Who hosts, and who pays?
Six to eight weeks out: the guest list, the venue and the theme
Six to eight weeks out, settle who’s coming and where, in that order: the head count decides the room, the food and the cost.
Six to eight weeks out
- Get the parents-to-be’s list, with a phone number or email for every name
- Add the people they’d want but might forget, then run the whole list past them
- Put every guest in the spreadsheet, one row each
- Collect mailing addresses if you’re mailing paper invitations, or if the parents-to-be will mail thank-you notes
- Count the seats: every guest and host, plus a comfortable chair for the guest of honor
- Choose the place: a living room, a backyard, a restaurant’s private room or a community room
- Ask a restaurant about a food-and-drink minimum and how long the room is yours
- Check the parking, a no-step entrance and an accessible restroom
- Check the fridge space, or plan on two coolers
- Confirm when you can get in to set up, and when you need to be out
- Make a rain plan if any part of it is outdoors
- Borrow or rent tables and chairs if you’re short
- Pick a theme, or just two or three colors
- Ask your baker and caterer how far ahead they need the order, and put that date on the calendar
- Ask a friend who takes good photos, or book a photographer
The guest list
Keep it in one spreadsheet, with a row per guest:
- Name, and who they’re coming with
- Phone or email, wherever they read messages
- Sent: the date the invitation went out
- Reply: yes, no or not yet, and how many people
- Gift: filled in at the shower, for the thank-you notes
Hosting in your own living room? Our baby shower at home guide walks through the rooms your guests will use.
The theme, if you want one
A theme is optional, but it makes the small choices for you: the colors, the cake, the favors, the invitation. Our guides cover three, from the palette to the favors: fall baby shower ideas, Japanese baby shower ideas and safari baby shower ideas.
Four to six weeks out: send the invitations
Send the invitations four to six weeks before the shower: early enough for guests to keep the date free, close enough that it stays on their minds.
Four to six weeks out
- Gather the details: the names, the date, the start and end time, the address, parking, the RSVP date and a contact
- Set the RSVP date one to two weeks before the shower, and before your caterer’s deadline
- Write a short message in your own voice
- Add the gift notes: the registry link, books instead of cards, a diaper raffle
- Ask guests to mention any food allergies when they reply
- Ask someone else to proofread the names, date, time and address
- Send it by text, email or the family group chat
- Mail a paper invitation to anyone who’d rather have one
- Call anyone who doesn’t do links, and note their answer yourself
- Write the date sent next to each name in the spreadsheet
- Send the parents-to-be a copy, so they can forward it to anyone you missed
Stuck on the message? The baby shower invitation wording guide has lines to copy, and our guide to sending baby shower invitations online has one for each channel. A short text to send with the link:
“Hi, here’s the invitation to Maya & Jordan’s baby shower, Sunday, April 18 at 2 PM: [link] You can RSVP on the page by April 4.”
Want the invitation to be a baby shower website? InviteByLink asks for the names, the date, start time and time zone, and the place (or “To be announced”), then, if you like, a message, the registry link, the RSVP date and a contact; an end time or a parking note goes in the message. Guests open the link in any browser, with no app or account, and RSVP on the page: their name, yes or no, how many people (up to 12) and a note. Your dashboard lists every reply and adds up the people coming. If a guest replies again under the same name, their newest reply replaces the earlier one in the total, and the list marks the earlier one.
Build and preview free, publish for $29, once. You can’t edit it after publishing, so check the preview first; spot a mistake later and we’ll fix it free. See a live example.
A baby shower budget and shopping list for 20 guests
A shower at home for 20 guests, with store-bought food, comes to about $435 before tax, or $22 a guest: food $215.72, drinks and ice $74.55, tableware $42.38, decorations $31.14, activities and favors $63.65, the host kit $7.98. These are Hy-Vee and Hobby Lobby prices, read on October 15, 2026; yours will differ by store and region.
The food is half the total, so that’s where to save: make it yourself, or ask a few guests to bring a dish. Hobby Lobby has the banner, balloons, pump, cards, guest book and treat boxes; Hy-Vee, everything else.
Food: $215.72
- A large fresh vegetable tray, serves 21 to 32: $55
- A large fresh fruit tray, serves 21 to 32: $55
- A tray of 36 King’s Hawaiian sliders, to warm before serving: $62
- A pound each of sharp cheddar and Swiss, cut from the block: $9.76
- A family-size box of Ritz crackers: $5.98
- 24 iced cupcakes, two 12-packs: $27.98
If the guest of honor is pregnant
Drinks and ice: $74.55
- 24 bottles of water: $3.99
- Three 52-ounce bottles of lemonade: $11.37
- A gallon of sweet tea: $3.27
- A 12-pack of sparkling water: $5.49
- A canister each of coffee and decaf: $20.48
- Three bottles of sparkling cider, about 20 small toasts: $17.97
- 40 pounds of ice, two 20-pound bags (add one if the platters sit on ice): $11.98
Tableware: $42.38
- 80 sturdy 9-inch paper plates, two a guest plus spares: $5.99
- 100 plastic cups, 16 ounces, three a guest: $8.99
- 26 insulated 12-ounce hot cups with lids, for coffee: $6.99
- 200 napkins: $3.19
- 48 forks: $2.75
- Two plastic-lined table covers, for the food and the gifts: $7.98
- 22 tall kitchen trash bags: $6.49
Decorations: $31.14
- A “Welcome Baby” banner: $1.99
- 50 latex balloons, 12 inches, two packs of 25: $3.18
- A hand balloon pump: $1.99
- Two wrapped flower bouquets, for vases you already have: $23.98
Activities, prizes and favors: $63.65
- 24 advice cards for the parents-to-be: $1.29
- 20 pens, two 10-packs: $4.98
- 100 index cards, for birth-date predictions: $1.99
- A guest book: $4.49
- Three prizes, $10 gift cards: $30
- 24 clear treat boxes, two 12-packs: $5.98
- A 30-ounce party pack of Hershey’s Kisses to fill them: $14.92
The host kit: $7.98
- Four pads of sticky notes, to label the dishes: $3.99
- A roll of masking tape: $3.99
- From home: scissors, a phone charger, paper towels, safety pins, serving spoons, a coffee maker, milk and sugar
Mailing paper invitations adds about $20: 24 blank cards with envelopes ($3.99) and 20 Forever stamps at 82 cents ($16.40). At an afternoon shower, between meals, skipping the sliders saves $62. Prices are before sales tax.
What to do the week before the baby shower
The week before is for confirming, shopping and delegating. By the end of it, every job should have a name next to it.
The week before
- Take the final head count from the replies and your texts
- Pass the number to the venue, the caterer and the baker
- Confirm every order and delivery: the time, the address, who collects it
- Buy the drinks and candy, and anything still missing from the shopping list
- Write the day’s schedule and send it to your helpers
- Give every helper one job: the door, the food, the activities, the gifts, photos, driving, cleanup
- Write a card for each dish saying what’s in it, for guests with allergies
- Fill the favor boxes and wrap the prizes
- Put a notebook and pen aside for the gift list
- Clean the rooms guests will use, the bathroom first
- Check the forecast, and the rain plan if any of it is outdoors
- Text guests any practical detail, such as where to park
For the schedule, copy one of the three in our baby shower agenda, from 90 minutes to three hours.
Give the jobs away
You can’t greet guests, refill drinks and write down gifts at the same time. Hand these out to friends:
Jobs to hand out
- The door: welcomes people, takes coats, points to the drinks
- The food: brings out fresh platters and keeps the table tidy
- The activities: hands out cards and pens, keeps an eye on the time
- The gifts: one person hands them over, another writes down who gave what
- Photos: anyone but you
- The driver: brings the guest of honor, and takes the gifts home
- Cleanup: two people who can stay after
Keep one job for yourself: running the schedule. That, and enjoying it.
The day before: set up everything you can
The day before, do everything that doesn’t have to wait, so the day itself is only finishing touches.
The day before
- Pick up rentals and anything you’re borrowing
- Set up the tables, chairs and decorations, if you can get in
- Blow up the balloons
- Clear a shelf in the fridge for the trays
- Make any food that keeps overnight
- Put the drinks in to chill
- Lay out every serving dish with a sticky note saying what goes in it
- Set the gift table beside the guest of honor’s chair
- Stock the bathroom: toilet paper, hand towels, soap
- Pack the host kit: tape, scissors, pens, sticky notes, trash bags, paper towels, a charger, safety pins
- Charge your phone, and any camera
- Send your helpers the start time and their job, one last time
- Send guests a reminder with the time and the address
The sticky-note trick
The day of the shower, from setup to cake
On the day, arrive early, finish the setup and let your helpers take their posts. Then keep things moving: food, an activity, cake and gifts, in roughly that order.
The day of the shower
- Pick up the trays and the cake at the times you booked
- Buy the ice last: two 20-pound bags
- Arrive two hours before the start with your setup helpers
- Finish the decorations and start the music
- Put out the drinks, cups and napkins first
- Keep cold dishes in the fridge until guests arrive
- Set the advice cards and pens by the door
- Start on time, even if a few people are running late
- Get the parents-to-be a comfortable seat and a full plate early
- Prop a phone on a video call for anyone far away, if the parents-to-be would like
- Warm the sliders until steaming hot, 165°F, just before serving
- Run an activity or two around the middle
- If gifts are opened at the party, start once everyone has eaten
- Keep a trash bag by the gift chair for the wrapping paper
- Swap nearly empty platters for fresh ones rather than adding food to them
- Serve the cake and pour the cider for a toast, before or after the gifts
- If kids are coming, pick up popped balloons right away: they’re a choking hazard for children under 8
- Hand out favors by the door
- Pack the gifts into big bags or boxes and load them into the guest of honor’s ride
- Refrigerate leftovers that have been out less than two hours; throw out the rest
- Clean up with the two helpers who stay
Two hours on the table, tops
Want the day minute by minute? Our baby shower agenda has three schedules to copy. Most of all, let the schedule bend: if everyone’s happily talking, that’s the party working.
After the shower: thank-yous and loose ends
After the shower, hand over the gift list, settle up and say thank you. Most of it fits into the next few days.
After the shower
- Give the parents-to-be the gift list, with a way to reach each giver
- Give them thank-you cards too, if you like: two packs of 15 with envelopes, $3.98 at Hobby Lobby
- Remind them to mark registry items that guests bought elsewhere as purchased, so nobody buys them twice
- Return rentals and borrowed dishes
- Settle up with your co-hosts, receipts in hand
- Thank your helpers, and the venue if it was a favor
- Send the photos to the parents-to-be first, and ask before you post anyone’s photo online
- Store or give away the leftover decorations
Questions
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