Baby Shower Themes That Are Not Pastel Animals

Scroll any list of baby shower themes and count how many are for the baby. Pastel elephants. Small grey clouds. Tiny shoes lined along a cake table like a shop window. Sweet, all of it, and aimed at a person who is not in the room, cannot see, and holds no opinions on eucalyptus.

The woman in the room is the one being celebrated. She has a favourite decade, a sense of humour, and a lounge room she would not put a single felt cloud in.

None of this is a swipe at anyone who loves a pastel animal. If that is honestly her, it is the right answer, and there is a section below that says so. The swipe is at picking a theme before anybody asked what she is like.

How to pick a theme that is actually hers

The test takes four seconds. Picture her at forty, at a party thrown by someone who knows her well. What is playing, what is on the table, and is she in the middle of the room or off to one side with two people she loves?

Whatever you pictured is the theme. It is almost never a nursery colour. It is a decade, a food, a place she talks about, or a joke only her people get.

Eight themes, one for each kind of woman

Read down until you hit the one that sounds like her. If two fit, borrow a detail from the second without running both.

1. She has hosted everyone else's everything and has never been hosted

Her house is where the engagement drinks happened, and the wake. She owns four trestle tables and has never once sat down at her own gathering, because she is up getting more ice.

The theme: Waited On. Not that she does less, that she does nothing. She arrives, she is handed a drink, and every job that would normally be hers belongs to someone else.

The detail is the ban. She is not allowed in the kitchen, and one person blocks that doorway with warmth and a full glass. Hold it somewhere other than her place, or she will be hunting the good serving spoon by two o'clock.

Where it falls down: twenty years of hosting makes being served genuinely uncomfortable, so give her one tiny fake job, choosing the music.

2. She is very private and would rather not be looked at

She said yes because her mother wanted one. A room turning to face her while she unwraps a bunny rug is her idea of a long afternoon, and there is a whole guide to celebrating someone who does not want a fuss.

The theme: The Non-Event. A very good lunch, eight people, no signage, no moment where everybody turns around. A nice afternoon that happens to be for her, because for her that is the luxury.

The detail: no toast and no moment where the room goes quiet and turns around. Anyone with something warm to say says it to her at the table, in a normal voice, and the afternoon carries on around it.

Where it falls down: whoever wanted the full production will feel cheated, and somebody has to absorb that for her. A quiet lunch also flattens out around ninety minutes, so it wants great food or a change of scene.

3. She is genuinely funny and would rather the day was a laugh

She replies to serious news with something so wrong you have to leave the room. Handing her a soft pastel afternoon is like handing a comedian a fern.

The theme: The Deliberately Daggy High Tea. Played completely straight. Tiered stands, teacups, a printed menu, everyone dressed for a garden party in 1962. Then the food is party pies, fairy bread and a supermarket sponge with her name spelled wrong on purpose.

The detail is the commitment. Nothing winks at the camera. The invitation is formal, the table is beautiful, and the cocktail sausages arrive on the good china.

Where it falls down: comedy needs a room that already likes each other. If half the guest list is her mother in law's friends, the joke reads as confusion, so put one line in the invitation.

4. Her whole identity is her garden, or her kitchen, or her music

There is one thing she talks about with her hands. It was true long before this pregnancy and it will be true long after, which is why it belongs on the day.

The theme: Her Thing, Turned Up. Garden: every guest brings a cutting from her own place with her name on the tag, and a whole garden of people goes in over the next month. Kitchen: one handwritten recipe each, same size card so they fit in one box, and it has to be something she genuinely cooks rather than something impressive. Music: she picks the decade and the playlist does the decorating.

The detail: it goes on the invitation as the ask, so people arrive holding their contribution and the first ten minutes are warm instead of stiff.

Where it falls down: it tips into a demonstration the moment she starts teaching, and it has to be a real love. A garden theme for a woman with three sad pots on a balcony is a joke at her expense.

5. She is on her third and has done all this twice already

She has the cot, the pram, two boxes sorted by size and a very clear memory of week three. She does not need a themed afternoon about the miracle of new life.

The theme: The Restock. Nothing about the baby. The day is aimed at her and the practical part happens quietly underneath: nappies, freezer meals in containers nobody wants back, somebody taking the older two to the park.

The detail: the invitation says no gifts for the baby. It sounds blunt, it is a relief to everyone reading it, and it stops six people buying wraps she already has nine of.

Where it falls down: some guests find it flat to arrive with a lasagne and no ribbon, so leave a lane open for the small soft thing an older relative wants to give. And do not assume a third baby means low key. Ask.

6. She has had a hard road to get here

You know some of it, you probably do not know all of it, and it is not yours to narrate. What you can do is pick a theme that does not press on the sore spot.

The theme: Not A Countdown. The day is about her now and the calendar is nowhere in the room. Something with a bit of pace beats a long seated afternoon, because a room with nothing happening in it fills up with the same three questions.

The detail is what you leave out. No countdown board, no due date on the invitation, no guessing the arrival, no measuring anything, no speech recounting what she has been through. Brief one person to steer conversations, and make sure she can leave early without explaining herself.

Where it falls down: it only works if she wants a gathering at all. Some women would rather wait until the baby is here, and that is a complete answer, not a problem to solve.

7. She is doing this on her own

The theme: The Whole Team In One Room. The guest list is the theme. Not the widest circle, the working one: the sister who answers at 2am, the neighbour two doors up, the friend with a spare key, the workmate who has already offered.

The detail: name cards saying how each person knows her, so the uni friend and the neighbour have a way in. Small thing, and it turns a collection of individuals into something that still functions in six weeks.

What to avoid is simple. Nothing that needs a plus one, no seating built around couples, no toast that mentions who is not there, no admiring her for coping. She came to a party, not a tribute.

Where it falls down: it drifts into a logistics meeting if three organised people get talking. Keep the music up and let those conversations happen in the corners.

8. She wants the pastel animals

She has had the mood board since she was twenty-four. The soft greys, the little bunnies, the whole gentle production, and she would like it done properly.

The theme: Pastel Animals, Committed To. Give it to her without a raised eyebrow. The only change worth making is to narrow it. One animal repeated with confidence reads as a decision. Six species and a rainbow reads as a shopping trip.

The detail: pick her animal for a reason and say the reason out loud on the day. The dog she had as a kid, the elephants from the trip she still talks about. Now it is a theme about her that happens to be pastel.

Where it falls down: it is the most photographed theme going, so without that specificity it looks like every other table on the internet.

Where a Paint Juicy session fits

A theme is only a theme if it survives past the invitation, and a paint and sip carries one all the way to the thing everyone takes home.

The accurate version: every artwork comes from the Paint Juicy catalogue, so you choose from a range rather than commission something new. There is no bespoke artwork from scratch and no custom artwork fee. What we do free of charge is tweak the colours and details of a catalogue piece to suit the occasion, which is usually all a theme needs. Her grandmother's blue instead of the standard blue.

Session themes include the 80s and 90s Singalong, ABBA Night, Aussie Rock, Movie Magic, Star Signs and Tarot, Paint Your Pet and Textured Art. So the music-obsessed woman in theme four gets her decade, and the woman who has hosted everything finally sits down while somebody else runs three hours for her.

Two ways in. Under ten of you, book seats at a public session at $59 AUD a head and everyone pays her own way. From ten up, a private booking is $700 AUD flat for the first 10 guests, then $65 AUD per additional guest, minimum 10 paid seats, and we come to you, which is the point of a mobile paint and sip at home. The baby shower paint and sip page covers the day itself, and the private paint and sip parties page has the add-ons in full.

Where it does not fit: the private woman in theme two. This is a lively room with a host and a microphone in it. If she wants eight people and a long lunch, book the lunch.

Baby shower themes FAQ

How do you choose a baby shower theme?

Start with the mum to be, not the nursery. Picture the party she would love if the baby were not part of it and you will land on a decade, a food, a place or a joke that is genuinely hers. Then run that one idea through the music, the food and the invitation wording.

What are good baby shower themes that are not pastel animals?

A deliberately daggy high tea for a funny one. A theme built around her garden, her kitchen or her decade of music. A day where she is waited on if she has hosted everyone else for years. Or no styling beyond a very good lunch if she hates being looked at.

What theme suits a third baby shower?

Aim the day at her rather than the baby, since she already owns the cot and the pram. Nappies, freezer meals and a few hours where nothing is asked of her beat a themed table. Ask her first, because plenty of women on their third are delighted to finally get the fuss.

Can a baby shower theme carry through to a paint and sip?

Yes, within one limit. Every artwork comes from the Paint Juicy catalogue, with no bespoke artwork from scratch and no custom artwork fee, but the colours and details of a catalogue piece can be tweaked to suit the occasion at no extra charge. Pair that with a session theme such as ABBA Night or Movie Magic and it runs to the canvas everyone takes home.

How much does a baby shower paint and sip cost?

Public sessions are $59 AUD a head and everyone books her own seat. A private booking is $700 AUD flat for the first 10 guests, then $65 AUD per additional guest, minimum 10 paid seats, and Paint Juicy comes to your venue or your home. Sessions run 3 hours.

The baby will get decades of parties thrown in their honour, most of them with an animal on the cake. This one is hers. Pick the theme that sounds like the woman you already know, and she will spot it the second she walks in.

Trent & James