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The baby shower glossary
Sprinkles, sip and sees, wishing wells and more. Every baby shower tradition and term, defined.
A
- Advice cards
- Cards guests fill in with a tip or good wish for the new parents, often kept as a keepsake.
B
- Baby pool
- A game where guests guess the details of the coming baby, such as the birth date and weight, with a prize for the closest.
- Baby shower
- A celebration held before a baby arrives, where friends and family gather to shower the parents with gifts, advice and good wishes.
- Baby sprinkle
- A smaller, lower-key shower, often for a second or later baby, when the parents need just a few things.
- Babymoon
- A relaxing trip parents take together before the baby arrives.
- Blessingway
- A ceremony focused on nurturing and supporting the mother, drawn from a mother blessing tradition, rather than on gifts.
- Book instead of a card
- A request for guests to bring a favourite children’s book, with a note inside, to start the baby’s library.
C
- Co-ed shower
- A shower for all genders, sometimes called a Jack and Jill shower, where partners and friends of any gender celebrate together.
- Corsage
- A small flower pin sometimes worn by the mother-to-be so she stands out as the guest of honour.
D
- Diaper cake
- A decorative cake built from rolled nappies, often the centrepiece of the gift table.
- Diaper party
- A casual gathering, often for the dad-to-be, where the entry ticket is a pack of nappies.
F
- Favors
- Small thank-you gifts that guests take home from the shower.
G
- Gender reveal
- A moment or event where the baby’s sex is shared, often as a surprise to the guests or even the parents.
- Grazing table
- A long spread of finger foods for guests to pick at throughout the shower.
- Guest of honour
- The person the shower is for, usually the mother-to-be or the parents-to-be.
K
- Keepsake
- Something saved from the shower, such as a book of guesses, notes or advice, to treasure later.
M
- Meal train
- A schedule where friends take turns bringing meals to the family in the weeks after the birth.
- Mocktail
- An alcohol-free cocktail so the mother-to-be and guests can toast together.
P
- Push present
- A gift given to the mother to mark the birth.
R
- Registry
- A wish list of gifts the parents have chosen, so guests know what is genuinely useful.
- RSVP
- A guest’s reply to say whether they will attend, from the French for please respond.
S
- Sip and see
- A relaxed gathering after the birth where friends drop by to meet the baby.
T
- Thank-you notes
- Notes the parents send after the shower to thank guests for their gifts and for coming.
- Theme
- The look and feel that ties a shower together, from the colours to the decorations.
- Time capsule
- A collection of notes, predictions or letters sealed to open on a future date, like a milestone birthday.
V
- Virtual shower
- A baby shower held over video so guests can join from anywhere.
W
- Wishing well
- A tradition where guests bring a small, practical item in addition to a bigger gift.
Common questions
Turn the wait into a game
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