Shower budget?

goodgalpal

I know everyone has different financial situations, but would like to see what ranges are typical.

pandadair

Are the people throwing it for you asking you to pay for it?

RedInLove

I have no idea. My sisters, mother, and MIL are hosting and planning my shower as a gift to me. I'm not involved in the planning in any way, I don't even know when it is yet or where.

amroke

I don't know what mine cost because I didn't throw my own. I threw a small one (about 16 people) in my house for a friend and it cost $350.

ErikaLynn75

I really don't know what the budget is for my shower, because it's not really my responsibility to manage that. (You're not throwing your own shower, are you?)

I think there's probably a wide range depending on how big your guest list is and whether your host has to rent a hall or have it at someone's home. Mine will be at my mom's house, and she is getting sandwich/fruit/veggie trays and cupcakes for dessert. I doubt she'll do a whole lot of decorating, so I'd say the budget is pretty low - whatever the food costs for about 25 people, plus a few decorations.

goodgalpal

No, I don't have to pay for my own. I unfortunately am more involved than I wanted to be though and I keep being asked a lot of questions by the hostess. Things got a little crazy because there were 3 people trying to host together. It might end up just being one of them in the end. But this is more of a curiosity question.

At this point, I know that my shower is being held at a banquet facility and will be buffet style. The estimate of people that will actually come is 25, but who knows really until RSVP are done. I doubt there will be much for decorations (which is my preference anyway, I don't like overly fancy things, and am eco minded).

RachelCA29

I think for a house-hosted party (I.e. not held at a hall/rented space) that $10-20 person is a reasonable budget to cover food, favours, decor, etc. for something that isn't a full meal type of event.
But your hosts could obviously spend less if they wish, or a whole lot more if everyone involved in planning like super fancy things and has the money.
The Christmas open house we threw last year worked out to about $18 per person including alcohol (not a full bar, but we had wine, beer and a few liquors mixed drinks).

spinsoffresonance

I have no idea, I never had a shower or hosted a shower. But I can't imagine you'd want to spend more than $20 per person. Ways to keep the budget down: have it at your house instead of a hall , have it in the afternoon, not lunch time and only serve snacks and cake, keep decorations minimal, etc.
DH and I bought everything for DD (except the car seat which was a gift from all of our friends) and we spent $1000. So the shower budget can't be anywhere near that or it kind of defeats the point of the shower, doesn't it?
If I was throwing a shower for a friend of mine I would definitely want to keep it around $200 or less

britab

My mom and I spent about $100 for my sister's shower. We did a brunch with an egg bake, fruit, little smokies, fake mimosas, juice and a friend made the cake for $25. We had about 15 people at my mom's house. They can cost a little or a lot. I'm in a crowd where we don't go crazy!

jfletcher3113

I have no idea about mine but know it's going to be a very mellow house party. So I'm hoping my sweet hostesses (who are my aunts on one side and mother in law on the other) don't spend a lot of money.

I hosted a shower with a friend and the grandma-to-be and there were definitely some expectations we felt we had to meet as far as decor, style, etc. The three of us spent about $700 on the shower with grandma-to-be picking up some of the more expensive items. There were 35 people there.

We got lucky that we did not have to spend money on a venue because we had it at the clubhouse where the grandma-to-be lived and it only required a security deposit. If we had to spend money on that, the price would've been way more.

lauralou3x3

I'm not sure. My best friend is throwing me one where I'm from, and she is on a tight budget. I told her not to do anything special, I'm just excited to see my long time friends.

My MIL is throwing me one where I currently live. I told her not to spend a lot of money on it but she goes over the top, which I don't want her to do.

But there are a lot of ways to cut corners (make things yourself, buy stuff at the dollar store etc).

ABColeslaw

I do not understand catered/hall type baby showers.  I mean a small cheap hall if there is nowhere else to have one, but why do they have to be so expensive?  My baby shower for my son was held at my aunts house and all the aunts, cousins, my sister and a couple friends brought food. It was awesome. 

I guess my point is that this will vary wildly depending on the type of shower being thrown. 

kramja01

My mom is hosting at my aunt's house. She said she was expecting to spend about $1000, but she is from out of town and will most likely be having everything catered. Probably about 15-20 people.

ajsweeton

Umm I hosted a shower for my sister and I spent about $300. I ordered a special cake though that was $75 on its own. I used a cricut to make all the decorations and just bought the prizes from there. We had about 30 people there.

sarahjanisse

I feel obligated to help my BFF pay for it. I just hate for her to carry the whole financial burden....am I the only one? But this may be because one minute she is so excited about planning it and the next telling me how her husband has so many accounts that aren't paid up in full (her husband owns a business that is financially up and down all the time) I really don't mind helping though...I'd feel bad if I didn't. We will see what happens.

CamrynnsMommy

I spent maybe $200 on my BFFs shower, granted I shared costs with her mom and the cake was free.

mileswithmyles

I am hosting one this spring that will probably cost around $700 for 35 people. I am doing it at a restaurant because I don't want to have to setup/cleanup/cook all that at 7+ months pregnant. I'm paying for that convenience, but I certainly think something just as nice can be done for less.

operaghost

I do not understand catered/hall type baby showers.  I mean a small cheap hall if there is nowhere else to have one, but why do they have to be so expensive?  My baby shower for my son was held at my aunts house and all the aunts, cousins, my sister and a couple friends brought food. It was awesome.  

What's wrong with having a shower at a hall?  My husband has a HUGE family (there were 100+ people at my wedding shower) and there's no way they would fit in someone's house.  Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Mimaloo

I think mine is up there as far as costs go - my mom chose the restaurant and it's around $35pp (I only know because she's planning from out of town and came here so that we could go try their brunch before she booked it).  The guest list is about 30 people...she likes over the top.  

Pinkinboca

Mine is at the country club, we're doing a luncheon the food cost is around $30-$35 a head with tax & gratuity. Not sure what decorations, cake, favors etc will cost. You can definitely do it for way less at home!

Jillzy86

My dad had 15 brothers and sisters. My shower is being thrown by my cousin and we invited my dads and moms side a total of 90 invites for just Aunts and cousins. It has to be at a restaurant, I'm not sure how much it all is going to cost but it's very kind of my cousin to host ALL of our female relatives. I think it's best to let who ever is hosting to make most of the decisions. When my cousin calls to ask what I would like I agree with what ever she wants to do, I think it's a blessing that someone wants to throw such a large shower for my first LO.

MaryX81

My sister is throwing mine and says her budget is $1000

operaghost

Kimbus22 said:

operaghost said:

I do not understand catered/hall type baby showers.  I mean a small cheap hall if there is nowhere else to have one, but why do they have to be so expensive?  My baby shower for my son was held at my aunts house and all the aunts, cousins, my sister and a couple friends brought food. It was awesome.  

What's wrong with having a shower at a hall?  My husband has a HUGE family (there were 100+ people at my wedding shower) and there's no way they would fit in someone's house.  Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Holy shit I would die if there were 100 people at a shower. It's supposed to be just super close friends and family.  Who the hell wants to sit through opening 100 presents, as a guest or the honoree?  I had 35 or so that that was excessive and took forever.

I had an assembly line at my wedding shower.  Two friends partially unwrapped the gifts, loosened bows, etc. and then handed them to me and I unwrapped them the rest of the way, then another person set them aside for me.  Saved a ton of time.  Yes that's a lot of people, but trust me if I didn't invite DH's family members it would be considered extremely rude in his culture. 

ckandi007

For my own shower? Only the gifts for the hostesses. When I've hosted for other people, they've been for very close friends out of state so I spend at least a couple hundred on airfare and probably another couple hundred for everything else. 

caballo718

My whole family is chipping in from my sister, mother in law, sister in law and husband. We booked the venue ourselves and put down the deposit. We're looking at $1500 for 35 people. I live in Brooklyn so everything is expensive here. That's actually a good price for having it at a restaurant.

Bayberry12

My shower was fairly large, Sunday brunch at a country club. $19 per person plus the cost of one type of alcoholic drink, and custom cake and cupcakes. Favors were personalized honey jars and cute little chocolates that looked like bees with personalized tags on the boxes. About 45 invites were sent out. It was amazing and more than I could have ever imagined.

keeumm

My best friend is hosting my shower at my house. We just met for her to run some ideas by me yesterday. It will be a co-ed, open house or "Come and Go" shower because there are 50+ people invited. She is planning on having small sandwiches and snacks, and is going to be keeping it pretty informal (which DH and I are grateful for). She mentioned that some of our close friends had already offered to bring food, which will help to take out a lot of expenses. My friend's total budget is $200. 

Side note: We used to be roommates and loved baking together, so we are going to get together to bake cupcakes for the shower the night before. That will be my one contribution, and I am so excited for it! (It's possible I asked to be involved in baking because then I get to eat more cupcakes and frosting. No judgment.)