When a baby shower is planned, what is often overlooked is the baby shower background music. It's rather unfortunate since that is what truly sets the mood of the shower. It's as important as the other aspects of baby shower planning, and may be even more so. However, it does require some thought and you may want a guideline so you can choose the best music possible.
First of all, the music that you choose is dependent on the theme of the party. Whether you have a traditional high tea as the basis of your baby shower or a rollicking backyard barbecue, you'll want to choose the music to match the mood. And it would be a disaster if you exchange the playlists for these parties!
After the theme is settled on, what kind of mood would you like to set? For example, the backyard barbeque may be a laid-back patio gathering where songs like “Hey, Soul Sister” by Train or “I Just Haven't Met You Yet” by Michael Buble would hold sway. A Western backyard barbecue would have music by Garth Brooks and Biily Ray Cyrus tapping their feet in the background. A backyard luau would of course have hula music and maybe Brudda Iz crooning interspersed with theme songs from “Lilo and Stitch” to add to the fun.
So you see that the beat of the music is just as important. Upbeat music would definitely be the best choice, even if classical music is to be the main background music. Nix the lullabies and go easy on the techno. That just might be too upbeat, unless your baby shower is also a rave.
Consider the age of your guests as well. It's quite possible that you'll have a really diverse mix of ages at the baby shower. It would be best if you pick music that would appeal to everyone. So, rap music would probably be out at this point. Choose the music according to the beat but pick from both old and new artists, or covers of older songs done by modern artists. As an example, Train would fuse very well with Joni Mitchell or Hall and Oates. It's the beat that will bring them together.
Last, how important will the music be to the gathering? If you're having a beachside baby shower, you wouldn't want to have the music front and center but filling in the background silences in the conversation. If you want background music for the games, choose popular dance music that is familiar to everybody so they will be willing to move.
Just because it's a baby shower doesn't mean that you have to stick to nursery rhymes and lullabies. These are great for the baby, but may not really be the mommy-to-be's cup of tea.
Something else to do with this music would be to burn a CD for the mommy-to-be of your playlist for her baby shower. It would definitely make a great gift that she would know took a lot of thought and may be in use for a longer time than that pack of disposable diapers.