Another thrifty baby shower: a 1950s tea party

Following my post about baby shower crafternoons, here’s another thrifty baby shower idea. 

Remember Naiomi? This talented Miss Thrifty reader kitted out her baby’s beautiful nursery on a slashed budget. She also masterminded her own baby shower, in keeping with the thrifty theme, and it looks like so much fun.

Naiomi writes:

I wanted something very special, that would be a treat for me as I wasn’t able to drink at all or go out much for nine months. So I decided on a 1950s tea party. I’m a big fan of cake and the 1950s look, so this was perfect.

I trolled charity shops for around two months, every time I popped into town. I bought vintage china tea sets and oddments. Sets of six cups,saucers and side plates were as little as £3.50 – and if they were too much, I would always barter a little.

I found everything i needed, including lace tablecloths. I also used very old 1970s floral patterned sheets, and cut these up to make bunting! 

I wore a 1950s navy blue dress with white butterflies, which was £1.50 from a local charity shop.

I had Pimms for guests, and non-alcoholic wine (the best I found was from Sainsburys) when everyone arrived.

With help from a few friends, I made all the cakes and my mum made sandwiches. Even my friend’s teenage daughter baked scones. 

On the day I had a few quizzes, all of which were baby related. Completing nursery rhymes, for example, which was harder than it looked. Only one person got them all right. I just typed up a sheet and printed copies off.

For prizes I found the closest Body Shop discount shop (note from Miss Thrifty: if you don’t have one of these nearby, the Body Shop also has a discount outlet online) with products marked up to 40 per cent off. I got lovely bars of soap for just 49p each and body lotion for 80p a bottle. I added some chocolates from a pound shop and wrapped them up with cellophane and ribbon. But anything can be used. The Home Bargains stores are popping up everywhere now and lots of little, inexpensive goodies come in every day, Last Christmas i picked up Shilpa Shetty perfume for only 99p! 

I bought these beautiful red polka dot paper bags for only 22p each! I filled them with the soaps and also homemade cookie mix.

I used pink cellophane cone bags and filled them with the ingredients for 12 cookies. I layered the mix: white sugar, brown sugar, flour then chocolate chips. I added a note to the gift tag to add one egg, the amount of butter required and the oven bake time. It looked very pretty.

I had a lovely time and getting dressed up made me feel a little normal again.

I hope you like the photos. I felt like I went back in time, and my baby shower was perfect. 

This looks like so much fun, and I’d like to thank Naiomi for sharing it on this blog. Presumably all that china and pretty linen can be packed away, ready for another old-fashioned tea party at a later date? In fact, why keep it all for baby showers…?