If you're looking for ways to help parents take better care of their
children, consider organizing a baby safety shower -- a baby shower with a new twist.
A baby safety shower is a learning party where all the activities revolve around
home safety themes. Parents and caregivers have fun -- and leave with new ideas about
keeping their babies safe at home.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Gerber Products Company developed
this baby safety shower initiative to help good parents become even better ones. After
all, no parents are born knowing about safety for their babies.
Baby safety showers have been organized in all kinds of communities for all kinds of
audiences. As First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton said when she attended the kick-off Baby
Safety Shower in Washington, DC, "I hope families all over America will have baby
safety showers (to) educate each other about what we need to do to keep all of our babies
safe and healthy." These showers are an especially good way for local organizations
to reach new parents and parents-to-be with important safety information.
You can arrange a baby safety shower for any number of people -- from 20 to 200. At
larger baby safety showers, parents can visit a variety of workshops where volunteers
illustrate important safety information with games, prizes, and other activities. At
smaller showers, a few volunteers can lead the group in safety games.
Your theme can focus, like the material included here, on keeping your baby safe at
home -- or you can include additional issues, like nutrition and health.
Baby safety showers are also a good way to create and promote public-private
partnerships among many different organizations. By offering, for example, to distribute
donated baby products or health information, you can enhance your ties with the local
business community and build your relationships with local health and social service
organizations. All this creates community goodwill -- and provides your invited parents
with welcome information, products, and services.
The materials you'll need to get started are included in this
Baby Safety Shower
How-to Kit. Take special note of the Baby Safety Checklist, in both English and
Spanish, which provides 12 important home safety tips that all parents should know.
Baby Safety Shower How To Kit
USCPSC Baby Shower
Use your imagination to create a baby safety shower for your specific situation. The
key to success is providing important safety information in a festive and inviting
setting. So, roll up your sleeves -- and have fun!
The Baby Safety Shower How-to-Kit was developed by the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission and Gerber Products Company.
Baby Showers favors and supplies
1. Getting Organized
A baby safety shower should be fun for all involved. But it's
important to be well-organized.
As your first task, put together a planning committee to help
you. The more assistance you get, the easier your job will be.
Recruit representatives from groups and organizations that are
interested in baby safety issues and can do the job well.
Discuss early on:
o Who and how many people you want to invite to your baby
safety shower.
o Where you can hold the shower.
o Who in the community -- volunteers, organizations,
businesses -- can help you.
o How you will cover any costs.
o What theme and safety messages you want to convey.
o What games and activities you can use to make learning fun.
o Whether you want to enhance your shower with food, exhibits,
gifts, and publicity.
o How you will schedule the shower day.
Suggestions and ideas for all of these topics are included in
this How-to Kit.
Delegate responsibility for broad categories of shower-related
activities (getting sponsors, publicity, food, program,
decorations, etc.) to your committee members. Keep in touch
with everyone regularly to ensure that everything gets done.
Think about how you can use contributions from many different
sources. For example:
o Your partners can help you plan and organize the event --
and form the core of your working committee.
o Your sponsors can contribute most of the goods and services
for the event.
o Your volunteers -- recruited from your organization and
those of your partners and sponsors -- can staff the actual
event.
Start planning early -- and enjoy yourself!
2. Following a Timetable
Planning and organization are crucial to the success of your
baby safety shower. This timetable should help you plan a
large event. A smaller shower can be organized more quickly.
16-18 weeks ahead:
o Recruit baby safety shower partners
o Form a planning committee
o Select tentative shower dates
o Decide whom to invite
o Select site and confirm exact date
14-16 weeks ahead:
o Choose shower theme, programs, activities, and workshops
o Recruit volunteers
o Recruit local businesses and organizations to underwrite
expenses or donate shower goods, exhibits, and services
o Estimate costs
o Develop master "to-do" list
o Invite VIPs
12-14 weeks ahead:
o Develop activity, game workshop, and program materials
o Plan refreshments
o Plan site logistics with building management
o List needed equipment and supplies
10-12 weeks ahead:
o Plan opening ceremony
o Plan schedule of shower activities
o Plan publicity
o Make transportation and parking arrangements
8-10 weeks ahead:
o Arrange baby-sitting or child care
o Recruit greeters, workshop leaders, food preparers and
servers
o Prepare invitation list
6-8 weeks ahead:
o Assign volunteers to shower activities
o Begin collecting donated items
o Make, print and/or duplicate shower materials (e.g., signs,
fliers, posters, invitations, games, Baby Safety Checklist)
4-6 weeks ahead:
o Invite shower guests
o Publicize shower through fliers, posters, and local media
o Confirm food arrangements
o Finalize activities and workshops
o Order publications (see attachments section)
2-4 weeks ahead:
o Finish collecting donated items
o Reconfirm shower arrangements with partners and sponsors
o Hold orientation sessions for volunteers
o Distribute news release and broadcast ad
1 week to 1 day ahead:
o Make final media arrangements
o Check with volunteers to ensure that everything is on track
o Remind invited celebrities, partners, sponsors, public
officials about the event
o Assemble workshop materials and equipment
o Reconfirm food arrangements
o Prepare gift bags for shower guests
Day of the event:
o Set up
o Enjoy the event!
o Clean up
1 week after:
o Thank everyone who helped
o Evaluate the event (what went well, what didn't, what you'd
do differently next time)
o Complete and send in the evaluation form from the
attachments section in the back of this How-to Kit
3. Inviting Your Guests
Decide which group you want to reach with safety information.
For example, you may want to work with teen mothers,
parents-to-be, low-income parents, low-literacy parents, or
non-English speaking parents. The shower activities work best
if developed around the special needs of one group at a time.
Work with organizations and groups that serve the people you
have targeted. They can help you decide whom to invite and
plan an appropriate program. They also can help you determine
how many shower guests to invite. For example, you can hold a
shower for 20 people in someone's living room or for 200 in
your local high school gymnasium.
Make your guests feel special by inviting each one personally
-- and encouraging them to RSVP. This will communicate that
you really want them at the shower and will help you plan for
the number of guests actually attending.
4. Choosing the Site
Choose a site for the shower that's familiar and convenient to
your invited audience and offers a warm, friendly environment.
Depending on the size of your shower, the site could be a
community center, public library conference room, church
social hall, hospital or clinic reception area, school
cafeteria, gymnasium, auditorium, or a similar space in a
professional office building. Check the following points.
o The site is available at a convenient time for your invited
guests.
o The space in the facility: can accommodate your audience for
a variety of activities (greeting/reception area, opening
session, game workshops, refreshments, and exhibits);
has sufficient lighting and electrical outlets, a kitchen,
conveniently-located rest rooms, and telephones; and has
building staff to assist you when needed (e.g., to unlock the
kitchen or rest rooms or control lighting, heating/air
conditioning).
o You can provide transportation for your guests, if needed.
If your guests drive to the shower, be sure the site has free
and safe parking. If your guests take public transportation,
nearby bus or subway stops should be safe and convenient.
o The space in the facility can accommodate child care, if
needed, during the shower.
o Any costs can be covered.
No matter where you hold your shower, keep a list of emergency
or medical services telephone numbers handy, just in case you
need them.
5. Recruiting and Working With Volunteers
You'll need plenty of volunteers to prepare for the shower and
then help on the day of the event. Start recruiting early.
Decide how many volunteers you want and what they will do.
Volunteers can head committees, solicit sponsors, collect
donations, set up equipment, make decorations, greet guests,
run game workshops, serve food, clean up, and much more. Plan
to line up more people than you need, in case some drop out
before the event.
To help volunteers, be very clear about what they must do.
Provide orientation sessions. If needed, schedule a dry run
close to the event so all involved feel comfortable about
their assignment.
After the shower, be sure to thank everyone for making the
event a success!
6. Working with Businesses and Organizations
Baby showers involve games, gifts, and edible goodies. Start
early to enlist the help of interested health and safety
organizations, companies doing business in your area, and
volunteers. There are probably many in your community eager to
help.
Good places to start:
o Trade groups, local manufacturers, and merchants (e.g.,
grocery, drug, department stores, and companies in the health
care or safety business). Contact the community relations
managers for possible donations of baby-related goods and
services, refreshments, prizes, free advertising, etc.
o Community organizations (e.g., hospitals, auxiliary leagues,
chambers of commerce, foundations, local print and broadcast
media). Contact community relations or public affairs managers
about speakers, or baby-sitting help.
o Government organizations (e.g., local CPSC offices, state
and local health departments, local offices servicing the
community with federally-sponsored health and safety programs
for children). Contact public affairs or public relations
offices to alert them and solicit support.
o Local elected officials (e.g., mayor, city or town council
members). Invite celebrity guests with an important link to
the community you're serving.
Tips for working with other organizations:
o Target organizations that have goods or services relevant to
the safety and health of babies, young toddlers, or new
parents.
o Provide the company or organization with an incentive for
contributing to your event (e.g., good community public
relations, potential new customers)o When contacting a company
or organization, describe the purpose of the shower and what
valuable role this group can play.
o After an organization makes a commitment, send it a letter
spelling out your understanding of the agreement.
o Identify a contact person (and a backup individual) who can
get you the needed goods or services in the time and
quantities required.
o Keep in touch with the contact people about how plans for
your event are developing or changing.
o Try to arrange for these groups to deliver their goods to
the event site.
o If an organization is providing an exhibit, get the name and
phone number of the person staffing it at the shower.
o Make arrangements at the shower site to receive and store
deliveries for the event.
o Make arrangements with either staff at the shower site or
the organizations providing exhibit booths to have the
materials and props removed or thrown away at the conclusion
of the event.
o Following the shower, write or call to thank everyone
involved. Let them know how important they were to the
shower's success.
7. Covering Your Costs
A baby safety shower need not cost a lot, but you'll probably
have some expenses. Your partners and sponsors may be able to
underwrite your expenses or donate most of the goods and
services.
Here is a list of possible
expenses:
o Facility (electricity, janitorial services, tables, chairs,
etc.)
o Game and program materials (game workshops, exhibits, etc.)
o Duplication and mailing of invitations (see Part Four:
Attachments)
o Transportation for shower guests
o Food (snack or meal)
o Decorations
o Prizes
o Audio-visuals (television and VCR, overhead or slide
projector)
If you can't cover these costs or arrange for donations, you
may need to modify the shower activities. For example, you can
make your own invitations or duplicate the one in this How-to
Kit and hand-deliver them. You can ask volunteers to donate
homemade food. You can design your own decorations. Be
creative! What's most important is developing a warm and
friendly atmosphere where your guests feel comfortable and
motivated to learn.
8. Arranging Publicity
Publicizing your shower can have many benefits. It can
announce details of your upcoming shower to your target
audience. It also can alert businesses, local elected
officials, media celebrities, and other community leaders to
your efforts and attract their support.
Notify the local media about your event. The sample press
release and broadcast advertisement in Part Four: Attachments
should help you get started. Follow up with personal calls to
the news or community events director.
It helps if there is a well-known person associated with your
shower. For example, you may want to invite a well-known VIP,
like the mayor or a local TV personality. Try enlisting a
radio or television show or local newspaper as a sponsor of
the shower. These organizations often are interested in
supporting community efforts important to their audiences.
Don't forget the value of fliers posted in grocery stores,
drugstores, libraries, bus stops -- any public location where
your targeted audience is likely to see them.
Baby shower invitation idea:
Send a newborn baby one-sie to each guest. As the
guest to please use their creative talents to decorate the one-sie as a
decoration for the baby shower and gift for the mother to be. Once done
ask that they send the one-sie back to you a.s.a.p. Then use the one-sies
as decorations at the baby shower.
Offer ideas for the guest to use to decorate the one-sie.
Puff Paints
Store bought iron on
Computer generated iron-on
Embroidery
Tie-die
Rhinestones
