We decided to have a co-ed baby shower for a few reasons, which I’m going to talk about below! I think it’s a great option for everyone :) When deciding on the location and theme of our shower, we picked our friends parents house ( they were nice enough to let us have it there) because their backyard is super pretty with a pool and vineyard views. Sadly, a big storm decided to show up the day of our shower forcing us to be indoors. Thanks to my bffs and our moms, we moved things inside and made it equally as cute! As far as the theme goes, desert vibes was the OBVIOUS choice. I didn’t want a gender related theme or a baby related theme, I just wanted something that made sense with our style. My good friend Jess and my sister in law Jenae put together this amazing cactus balloon sculpture which I wish I could have taken home with me and kept forever haha. Adam’s mom picked up the cactus cookies, my mom made macaroons, and our family friend Mary made her delicious Kahlua cake. We had Fiesta Taco for lunch (our favorite mexican restaurant in Pleasanton), which was so yummy and filling. I wanted substantial food for everyone, not just little snacks. We set up a table with baby related photos we’d taken throughout pregnancy and on that table people grabbed a sheet of paper where they had to draw an item related to that letter of the alphabet. It’s really cool because now Fischer’s first ABC book was made by our friends and family. We had some other fun details like custom acrylic drink stirrers, Fischer’s name and the Baby Poff cake topper thanks to Pluma & Pine, velvet tablecloths from Party Crush Studio, and my bestie Kaylia (Tumbleweed Floral Truck) put together some floral arrangements and of course brought cactus too. I found all the other random decor, like the cactus banner, OH BOY balloons, palm leafs, etc from Amazon, and a few of us brought decor from our houses to add in as well. (shop the items at the bottom of this post)
Reasons why we wanted a co-ed baby shower
We have super small families, so we knew the shower would mainly be friends (just like our wedding was), and because we’ve been together for 12 years, we have all the same friends and thought it would be way more fun to celebrate with all of them!
Just because I’m the pregnant one doesn’t mean only I should be celebrated or get to celebrate with everyone. It’s Adam’s baby too and it just made more sense to have us both there, opening gifts, getting excited for baby, seeing our family and friends, etc.
When we first started talking about the shower, we both instantly wanted a co-ed shower. We didn’t even think twice about it, and I was so happy that Adam wanted to be part of it!
I’m not big on anything cheesy (which I’m sure you all know by now). I didn’t want to play typical baby shower games, I just wanted this baby shower to be an excuse to get all of our favorite people together and celebrate! I love any excuse for a party, so I wanted Adam there too and all of the guys in our life.
I started thinking about my outfit for the shower a while ago, but waited to buy things until I knew what size my belly would be. I found this silver sequin duster jacket from Nasty Gal and that was where I started! I’m a huge burnt orange fan, so when I found this fitted mini dress on their site too, I knew it would be perfect with the jacket. Both happened to be on sale so I bought them right away, esp. because the jacket was almost out of stock. You can’t really tell in the photos, but I’m wearing over the knee grey socks and the same combat boots I wore at our maternity photos. I added a Free People choker and my talented wedding industry friend Bay Area Beautiful did my makeup :)
How to pick out the perfect baby shower outfit:
Find a statement piece and start with that, like I did with my sequin jacket
Wear something fitted so your belly is obvious but the rest of your body still looks slim
Don’t think too much about the time of year/weather, esp. if you’re having your shower inside
Play off of your baby shower theme and make it feel like your outfit goes with it. Because ours was desert/palm springs themed, I knew this sequin jacket and the color of my dress fit in perfectly with that boho, desert vibe.
Get your makeup done! By this time in pregnancy (I was 30 weeks), I was feeling larger and getting my makeup done just helped me feel so much better about taking a ton of photos that day.