Expectant fathers are now being honored along with mothers at couples baby showers. It's a really new concept for a celebration that has “female” written all over it, so extra attention has to be paid to the little details that are often taken for granted, like invitations, for example.
First of all, it has to be made clear that the baby shower is for the mother and the father, as having couples as honored guests are still not quite the norm. Printing out on their names on the invitations will make it clear. It should read something like, “Please join us for a couples shower for Fred and Wilma.” And addressing the invitations to the female friends and her significant other should be stressed as well. Men are more courageous in groups, and having just one male friend there will definitely make the father-to-be much more comfortable.
Another way to make the males feel more like it's a couples baby shower is to actually change the name of the celebration. Showers are inherently female, after all, so it's all right to take some poetic license with the names here. You can call it a “Backyard Cookout in Celebration of the Soon-to-be Family” or a “Celebration for the Baby” if that sounds easier on your ears.
Ok, now that the wording is out of the way, let's get down to packaging the invitations themselves. You can, of course, opt for ordered invitations sent in the traditional envelopes, if you like. But since we're breaking with tradition here, why not signal that to the guests with the invitations themselves? That way, they'll know to expect something out of the ordinary at your party.
If the baby shower is to be a small celebration and you can hand deliver the invitations, a fun idea is to put the invites inside a balloon and then bring it to be filled with helium or oxygen. The idea is to pop the balloon to get the invitation out. The invitation can have a line or two on it that says, “Let's celebrate before she pops!”
Another idea is rolling up the invitation and sticking it in a baby food jar that is filled with jelly beans or maybe chocolate kisses. If those types of candy don't appeal to you, ask the expecting couple what their favorite sweets are and fill the jars with those. The invitations can have wordings that refer to the candy, like “Join us for a sweet adventure to welcome our little jellybean to the world.”
While you're dreaming up the invitations, think of the accompanying thank you notes that would be suitable. It's a big help for the expectant parents if you can slip in the envelopes with the invitations, with the request that they address the envelopes to themselves and bring them during the shower. That would be another load off the couple’s backs.
There's so much that you can do with baby shower invitations, what
else can you think of?