DECOR AND FOOD

• Pretty bunting in pink or blue with matching cupcakes are cool.

• Feeling fancier? Fill balloons with small toiletries such as handbag-sized tubs of bum cream or little packs of ear buds, then inflate with helium and let them fill the room. The balloons will start to sink as the treats inside weigh them down – allow Mom-to-Be to prick those in reach with a baby safety pin. If budgets are tight (and whose aren’t?), the host needn’t make the whole spread.

• Cut out large speech bubbles, and use a magic marker to write down anecdotes from the parents-to-be’s own childhoods. Guests will see them as they come in and discuss whose childhood the stories are from.

• A picnic-style potluck (in your garden or at the botanical gardens) where everyone brings one dish works just as well. But don’t theme baby shower foods around items that pregnant women can’t have, such as sushi, soft cheese or alcohol. Incorporate gifts into the decorations if you like.

• String up a washing line of cute baby clothes held with plastic clips or baby hangers, make a nappy “cake” (tiers of rolled-up cloth nappies arranged to form a “cake”), or fill baby bottles and sippy cups with your drinks. Let your inner child out to play – you’ll have fun!