With our first child, we did not have a baby shower. It was the beginning of COVID and it honestly never crossed our minds. However, with this pregnancy and no COVID I really wanted to have a baby shower or baby “sprinkle” (basically a more low key shower). Who doesn’t want an excuse to throw a party? Read below for all the details and how you too can plan a baby sprinkle at home.
Baby sprinkle vs baby shower – what’s the difference?
A baby sprinkle is essentially a more low key, smaller baby shower. Usually first-time parents have baby showers while second or third time parents have baby sprinkles (although this is not a rule). There really isn’t a big difference, but since we are second time parents and wanted to host a smaller scale event in our home, we referred to our event as a sprinkle.
When to have a baby sprinkle – In what week of pregnancy?
With my due date April 15th, we planned the sprinkle for March 24th — my 37th (almost 38th) week of pregnancy. We had the sprinkle so late because I wanted to wait for my mother to arrive in Berlin from Boston. If you think there is a possibility you may have an early birth, I would definitely plan your shower or sprinkle before week 36 of pregnancy. I still felt good and energetic, so for me, the timing was good. But every pregnancy is different and for some, after week 36 may be a no-go.
How to plan a baby sprinkle at home – can you host it in your apartment?
We decided to host the baby sprinkle in our apartment. Since the weather in Berlin is still cold in March, we knew that we would need to host everyone inside. We have a 100 square meter apartment with a large open kitchen/living room/dining room space (round 50 sq. meters) where we planned to host everyone. With the space constraints in mind, we aimed for around 20 adult guests plus 5 children. While we had some places for guests to sit (bar stools, benches, our sofa), the idea was more finger food and mingling rather than a seated meal. I can say that everyone fit quite easily, though some of the adults used the child-sized tables and chairs to sit and eat. My advice would be to still have some small tables and chairs on hand so that guests can sit and eat if they get tired of standing.
What type of food and drink to serve at your baby sprinkle
We decided to host our baby sprinkle on Sunday at noon, so brunch time. With this in mind, we served all brunch type food and drinks. We also tried to serve as much finger food as possible since we weren’t hosting a seated meal. Think bagels, hand pressed orange juice, mini pancakes with fruits and chocolate, yogurt, chia pudding, cheese plates, donuts, coffee and mimosas. We had both alcoholic and non-alcoholic sparkling wine. We had all the food and drinks catered from a favorite breakfast cafe in our neighborhood, Cafe Ewig Freunde. If you live in Berlin, specifically Prenzlauer Berg, I would highly recommend paying them a visit. We set up a separate low table for the kids (our tv bank) with kid friendly food: pretzels, fruit, smoothie pouches, etc.
How to plan a baby sprinkle at home – best games to play at a co-ed baby sprinkle
When planning a baby shower or baby sprinkle, besides the food and drinks, the games are the next most important! We wanted to have games that appealed to both the guys and girls. Also, we wanted to have a mixture of activities and games, so that everyone could have fun without feeling pressure to ‘compete’. We chose the following for the ‘activities’:
Have guests:
Write a message for the parents on diapers
This activity is pretty simple: have guests write a silly or sweet message with a sharpie on a diaper for the new baby for those late night diaper changes. It was pretty funny to read messages like “Dad’s turn” and “that was a BIG one” when changing our new daughter’s diapers at night. Anything that can bring a smile to the parents’ faces when they are woken up in the middle of the night to a crying baby!
Create a photo collage of what baby will look like
To do this activity, print out photos of both parents’ faces and cut them in strips. I cut them in 4 strips: one for the hair, one for the eyes, one for the nose and one for the mouth and chin. Then ask guests to combine the photo pieces to imagine what the new baby will look like. Will the baby have dad’s eyes? Mom’s nose? It was pretty funny to see the combinations, especially my features with my husband’s beard!
Decorate baby bibs
This activity is great for kids too! We bought this kit at Amazon complete with white baby bibs, fabric markers and stencils. Since we invited friends of our daughter to the sprinkle, we set this activity up for the children on the small kids’ table. You could also do it with baby onesies. Some adults also decorated bibs, so it really is appropriate for all ages.
For the games, we played the following:
Baby bottle beer chugging
For this game we bought 6 baby bottles and filled them halfway with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer. The competitors then had to ‘chug’ the beer in the bottles. It is really difficult to chug out of a baby bottle! My husband definitely struggled. However, it was a lot of fun to cheer on the participants.
Diaper changing relay race
We set up our changing table with two stuffed animals, both with diapers on. We then had two teams, men vs. women, and a referee. The first person on each team had to remove the stuffed animal’s diaper and put on a new one, all while blindfolded. When the referee said the diaper was correctly on the toy, the next person on the team could take their turn. This game was a lot of fun and very competitive! You could also do it with baby dolls.
My water broke! With baby ice cubes
For this game, we purchased small babies from Amazon and put them in ice cubes. Guests then could add the frozen babies to their drink and when the ice melted they had to shout “my water broke!”. If they forgot to say it, someone else could steal their baby. I would say that in the end, the kids were the most interested in the baby dolls and made it a game to collect the most. We had fun hiding baby dolls throughout the apartment for the kids to find.
How to plan a baby sprinkle at home – should you ask for gifts?
One of the main reasons to host a baby shower is to receive gifts. But a baby sprinkle is usually for second ime parents, so the assumption is that they already have most of what they need. So should you ask for gifts at your baby sprinkle? There isn’t a real ‘rule’, but in general, I think it also depends on the age gap of your children. For example, if you have a big age gap between children, it’s safe to guess that you don’t still have a lot of baby gear. I added things we could use a refresh on, such as: clothes, diaper pail, baby bottles, etc. I used My Registry to create our baby registry. I preferred it to an Amazon registry, because you could add items from any online shop (including Amazon). You can see our registry here.
I hope this post helps inspire you to plan your own baby sprinkle! Let me know what other types of games and activities you did at your baby sprinkle in the comments below!
