So baby showers are so fun. I love it, especially when it’s outdoors, getting all the family and the friends together. But if you’re the host or the hostess, it feels like you’re running around restocking.
So what are some easy ideas so that the host of the party can also enjoy part of the event? Of course, opening the gifts.
1) Caprese Skewers
This is so easy. This is something that you can throw together the night before. You can use little cherry tomatoes and some string cheese, either cut up or the actual fancy mozzarella balls, and then a basil leaf, so you can easily skewer those all up the night before.
And if you want, right before the party you could put a little balsamic glaze on top or some olive oil on top and good to go.
2) Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
Nothing says baby shower more than tea sandwiches, so these ones are absolutely delicious. If you don’t know, you put some cream cheese on whatever type of bread you like. I feel like typically it’s white bread, but who says it can’t be wheat or sourdough or any type of bread that you prefer for your party.
And you’ll put a little cream cheese, that’s it. And then you could put dill. If you want to put some salt and pepper or lemon, you can. Then you put a cucumber on top and then the other bread slice and boom.
Usually these are cut into little squares, and it’s super fun because, believe it or not, the cucumber and the cream cheese go really well together. The cucumber is refreshing, gives it a little bit of crunch, and it’s really beautiful.
3) Smoked Salmon Bites
Okay, let’s get fancy. So again, you’re going to have some cream cheese with this and some cucumber and some smoked salmon. You can put dill if you’d like and some lemon if you’d like.
These are so good, and you can make a couple vegetarian if you’d like to as well. You could add everything but the bagel seasoning too, and I imagine even some capers would be delicious on this. Such a good flavor with smoked salmon, and that’s something you can make ahead of time.
4) Deviled Eggs
So you can absolutely make these the day before, boiling all those eggs, making sure to boil them at the perfect temperature so you don’t get that green ring. There’s a lot of different methods online. I tend to go by putting the eggs in cold water, boil it, and once it starts to come to a boil, shut it off and keep it on the stove covered for seven to eight minutes.
And it’s supposed to be perfect, so maybe you have a better method. But deviled eggs are always a party favorite, and you can add a little paprika on top to make it a little fancy, of course.
I would make sure that these stay cold if you can, or replenish them right before you’re going to eat. It’s a great high protein, low carb snack.
5) Cheese Pinwheels
Pinwheels are so fun, and there’s so much you could do with pinwheels. If you don’t know, it’s a tortilla. So you take any tortilla that you like, like a spinach tortilla, low carb tortilla, or flour tortilla, and you put your ingredients down on the open tortilla.
You can put cheese in there if you’d like, whatever ingredients you’d like to add. You could add some meat to this and you could put some veggies. I like hummus in mine.
If you’re keeping it simple with the cheese, you can roll it up and then cut it so that you have several pinwheels, depending on the size of your tortilla. You might have like five or six pinwheels made out of this. Super good, super cute, especially if you get some colorful ingredients inside there.
6) Chicken Salad Croissants
Oh yes, we had this recently at a shower that I was the host of, and such a popular item. They went very quickly. So you could make your chicken salad in your favorite recipe. I like to have a little mayo, mustard, or you could do yogurt, like a Greek yogurt in there. That would be good.
I love to have a little crunch in there, so you can have some celery, some diced apples, some dried cranberries if you’d like, and you could put this on some delicious croissants. We found mini croissants. If you can’t find them, no biggie, you can get the big croissants and just cut them in half. You could put a little toothpick through them to make it a little fancy if you’d like.
So delicious, and you could add some spinach leaves on top if you’d like to, but you don’t have to. Super good and complete, right, with the protein and the carbs in there.
7) Mini Quiches
Absolutely. I usually buy the frozen mini quiches. You know the ones I’m talking about. Half of them are green and half of them are yellow. Super good, both colors.
You could also make these yourself if you’d like. I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but there’s actually mini cupcake tins. So you can use pie dough at the bottom as the crust, and then you can easily just throw in whatever ingredients, like eggs, spinach, cheddar cheese, or feta cheese. You could do diced onions, or you could do a cheddar broccoli one.
So there’s so many possibilities here with the mini quiches, and then you just bake those and serve them warm or room temperature. Cold, it’s fine.
8) Cheese Straws
So you take some puff pastry right from the refrigerator section at the grocery store, add some cheddar cheese or some parmesan cheese and some peppers, some Dijon mustard if you’d like. And this is such a fun, elegant looking, but simple item that you can offer at the baby shower.
9) Stuffed Mini Peppers
So you can grab some colorful bell peppers and stuff these with ground turkey or ground beef. You could add some mushrooms to this, some carrots if you’d like to give it a little more veggies. You can make some vegetarian options if you’d like.
These are really cool because they are colorful, packed with protein, and they’re gluten-free. A lot of my friends are gluten-free these days, so this is a really great offering.
10) Spinach Artichoke Dip
Is there a better dip than spinach artichoke dip? I don’t think so. I love it. I love the artichokes in there, and of course, canned artichokes. You could also buy the packages that are already seasoned and then mix it with some spinach. I usually use frozen spinach in my spinach artichoke dip.
Of course, some cream cheese, sour cream, garlic, and lots of cheese. You’re going to bake this up, and you can serve this with some sort of bread, like a french bread or a crusty bread, or some Ritz crackers, and it is just delish.
11) Whipped Feta Dip
Oh yes, give me all the cheese dips. So you can have cream cheese or Greek yogurt with this one. Greek yogurt would give you a little bit more protein, which is nice, and you’re going to whisk that up and drizzle with some honey and some pistachios. Yum!
That’s great because it’s going to give you some crunch and give you some color and, dare I say, a little bit of healthy nuts in there as well. This is a beautiful dip to serve at your baby shower. You could dip some crackers or some bread in this if you’d like.
12) Party Meatballs
So you can make some homemade meatballs if you’re fancy like that. I’ve found it’s delicious because you can really add whatever ingredients you want, like beef or turkey, basil, some dried tomatoes.
Or if you want to take a page out of mine, I buy the frozen meatballs. They’re a crowd pleaser and they’re really good. You can buy some huge bags of them, or you can mix and match and get some half beef, half turkey. You can get Italian, you can get the tiny mini ones. Have little toothpicks on the side. Delicious.
I have a friend that always makes her meatballs in grape jelly for Halloween, and it is so good. Of course, serve those with some toothpicks on the side. So good.
13) Chicken And Waffle Bites
Yes, I’ve definitely seen this at a shower before, and they’re so good. So think mini tiny waffles with a little chicken nugget. You could use the bear nuggets that you get from Costco, or you can get the Costco brand, just as good, and you’re going to skewer those together.
Of course, you’re going to serve this with a side of maple syrup. So yummy. Got the sweet and the salty in there. Super tasty.
14) Bruschetta
Delicious. There’s so many different ways that you can make bruschetta. There’s the classic version, there’s a version with mushrooms, there’s so many things you can do with bruschetta. But basically you’re going to have some tomatoes and some basil, of course some garlic. I love balsamic vinegar and olive oil on mine. It just brings out the flavors.
Of course, you could serve this with grilled cheese and tomato soup, that is delicious. Or you can just take that bruschetta and serve it right on top of a French roll that’s maybe been sliced up and toasted and drizzled with a little bit of olive oil. That’s delicious, and scoop that right on top.
15) Grilled Cheese And Tomato Soup
Yes, this is so cute. If you’ve never seen it at a shower before, little bite-sized grilled cheese sandwiches using whatever bread you like. Sourdough would be my choice in this one, and a nice sharp cheddar, and then little tiny bowls or cups or shooters of tomato soup. You could put a little shredded basil on top if you’d like. So yummy.
16) Bacon-Wrapped Dates
This is fun because it’s like a sweet and salty meal. So you’re going to take that bacon and wrap it around the date. You could put some goat cheese or your favorite cheese inside the date if you’d like, and so now you have three flavors.
Then, of course, you’re going to cook it so that you can cook that bacon, and when you bite into this, it’s going to be salty and sweet, creamy in the middle. Super good.
17) Veggie Platter And Dip
Of course, you have to have a veggie platter, right? This is a wonderful thing to have because it’s just going to take limited work, especially if you buy it from the grocery store. Or you can make it yourself and really personalize it.
Personally, I am envisioning hummus in the center of this, but you could absolutely do the ranch dipping dressing if you like that as well. You can make your own special dip inside if you’d like, and then I would serve it with some cucumber spears, some jicama, some carrot sticks, and some broccoli. That would be really good and colorful, and it’s nice to have an option for the vegetarians at the party.
18) Mini Baked Potatoes
How cute would this be? Oh my gosh, getting tiny potatoes, baking them, and then letting everyone add whatever ingredients they want on top. So cute. Sour cream, chives, little tiny bacon bits, some shredded cheese. That would be so fun and delicious.
19) Ham And Cheese Sliders
This would be a really fun idea to have if you want to do it on sliders. I think the Hawaiian sweet rolls, the little tiny ones, they make them in sliders now, so you can buy the regular one and cut it, or you can buy the sliders version. You can add some ham and cheese in there.
I’ve actually made a really great recipe before with ham and cheese inside, and then I used some Dijon mustard and some sort of a delicious dressing that I made at home, poured it all on top, and baked them, and then brought them out, and they were so good. So if you find a recipe like this, it’s so yummy. Then you just easily cut it all apart, and they are so flavorful.
20) Mini Taco Cups
Yes, I love this idea. I’ve seen this at a shower as well. You could layer up these little taco cups, so you could put a little bit of taco seasoned meat in there, such as ground turkey, or you could do chicken or beef, and then you could put some refried beans in the next layer.
Then whatever layers you want, I would probably do some sour cream, a little bit of salsa, some black olives, a little bit of shredded cheese, and some diced onions on top. Then you’re going to serve that with a side of chips, like tortilla chips.
21) Hummus Phyllo Cups
So phyllo, or phyllo dough, you can buy at the grocery store, and then fill them with hummus. You can add some roasted red pepper, olive oil, and parsley on top. This is super quick and really delicious, a different item to offer.
22) Shrimp Cocktail Cups
Yeah, delicious. Who doesn’t love shrimp cocktail? I love it, especially dipping in the cocktail sauce, it’s so good. So you can get little shrimp, you can actually buy shrimp already cooked, or you can buy them frozen and cook them yourself.
Then, of course, you’re going to want to serve them cooled with shrimp cocktail. This is awesome. It’s a high protein, gluten-free, delicious item that you can serve.
23) Crab Rangoon Dip
This one sounds so good, with some cream cheese and some crab, of course some scallions, garlic, and Worcestershire. Mix it all together and serve with some wonton chips. This is so good and so fancy, but not difficult, right? It’s so good and different.
24) Garlic Knots
Now you’re making me hungry, this one sounds so good. You can use pizza dough with some melted butter, some garlic, some parmesan, and some parsley on top.
You’re going to have to have some marinara or pizza sauce on the side to dip this in, and it’s such a fun item. Any bite-sized items for showers are so fun.
25) Mini Sausage Rolls
So here I’m picturing some pigs in a blanket. You can take the crescent rolls from the grocery store, and I usually cut those into three little pieces, and then take the little smokies and wrap the little crescent rolls around them. You’re going to bake those according to instructions, and then have some ketchup and mustard to dip them in. So good.
26) Cornbread Muffins
Yes, if you’ve never made cornbread at home, it’s really not hard. You can buy the box as well, and even better if it has some chunks of corn in there. I just love it.
You could serve it with a little bit of honey whipped butter, it’s my favorite on top of cornbread muffins, or you can serve it on the side and let people put it on themselves. Of course, this goes really well with chili, and that could be vegetarian chili or meat chili, either one’s great.
27) Fruit Salad Cups
Yes, chopping up all the seasonal fruit items and putting them all in a bowl. You could put some sort of dressing or mint in there if you’d like to add a little bit of flavoring, but honestly fruit is amazing. It’s amazing as it is, and especially beautiful and colorful when you mix them.
Definitely avoid bananas, right? We all know that bananas look pretty for about 30 seconds after you cut them, so just avoid that, and make sure to put a little lemon juice on those apples so they stay nice and bright on the inside.
28) Chocolate Covered Strawberries
This is something you can definitely do the night before, taking some strawberries and dipping them into melted chocolate of your choice, white, dark, or milk chocolate. Then you’re going to let these go in the refrigerator to harden up, and then you’ll serve them just in time for dessert.
It looks fancy, but it’s not hard at all, and it’s got the fruit but also chocolate, so a nice sweet treat.
29) Mini Cheesecakes
I love mini cheesecakes, I have to tell you. I haven’t met a cheesecake that I haven’t liked, and cheesecake is such a delicious dessert. With a graham cracker crust on the bottom, you can buy that in the store and cut them into mini pieces, or you can make these on your own using a cupcake tin.
You can shred up graham cracker if you want to and put that right in the bottom, and then of course make the cream cheese filling, and you can top it off with berries. You can mix each one so that some have raspberries, some have blueberries, some have a little shredded chocolate on top or lemon, and make these really fancy.
30) Lemon Bars
Ah yes, we always have lemon bars at our family get-togethers. My grandma makes the best lemon bars. They are so delicious and refreshing, and you can either buy the box from the grocery store or make them on your own.
You can make them the day before and chill them. This is such a great, refreshing dessert for a celebration.
31) Crispy Treats
So rice crispy treats, right? Especially if you’re having some kids at the event, this is a great one to offer. You could definitely make these the night before using rice crispy treat cereal, some melted butter, and some melted marshmallows. So good.
Then you can shape these into whatever shapes you like. It would be fun if you did them in different shapes to go along with the theme of the shower. Super yummy.
32) Brownie Bites
All right, now I’m coming to this baby shower because I love brownies, it’s my favorite dessert. So you can buy these in the grocery store, the little tiny bite-sized brownies, or you can make them yourself even easier at home.
And if you have some sort of a stencil, like a circle stencil, you can cut them into shape, or you can put them into a cupcake tin and bake them that way. Delicious.
There’s different flavors of brownies that you could bake, like a dark chocolate. You can have chocolate chips inside, or you could do like a brookie mix. Super good, lots you can do with that.
33) Sugar Cookie Cutouts
Right? Like the ones you make at Christmas time. So this would be really fun. I see a lot of people doing this at showers now, especially hiring an outside company to make really fancy ones. But you could also make these a day or two ahead of time, using royal icing on top of the sugar cookies.
And then you can stick with the theme here. So say it’s a nautical baby shower theme, or a pink bow sort of shower theme. Really going with whatever the theme is of the shower and making easy little sugar cookies is so fun. You can even bag these up and have these be a favor to take home.
34) Mini Cupcakes
So much you can do with cupcakes, right? You can take the cupcake tins, there are mini ones, and I don’t know if you know, they are so cute and tiny. You can make whatever flavor cupcakes you feel like, red velvet, vanilla, strawberry, whatever kind of goes with your theme.
And then put some yummy frosting on top of that. You could put some sort of decorations on top of these cupcakes to stay in theme with your party.
35) Yogurt Parfait Cups
Yes, absolutely. So adding whatever type of yogurt you like into small little cups. A clear cup would be really pretty because you can see the different layers. I would like to use Greek yogurt, and I would prefer plain personally because you’re going to be adding the berries on top.
You can have the berries separate or let people add them themselves, having different berry offerings. Then I would keep the granola separate and let people add that at the last second so they don’t get soggy. You could put a little honey on top, and you could even offer different types of granola to make it fun.
Pantry & Tools I Reach For When Hosting a Shower
This allows the host to not have to do labor to make the table look designed. Affiliate Links: HomeViable gets a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you buy through the links.
- MALACASA 3-Tier Porcelain Serving Tray Set. The display piece that takes a tray of mini cheesecakes from “buffet” to “actually planned this.
- Wuyituart Tulip Cupcake Liners. The tulip-fold liners give the mini cupcakes, brownies, and cheesecakes that bakery-window look without any extra effort.
- ThermoMaven Instant-Read Meat Thermometer. Catches the party meatballs at safe-to-serve, the bacon-wrapped dates at deep-golden, and the chicken salad starting protein at the right pull point.
