How Michaels Helped Me Throw a DIY Baby Shower for My Best Friend

When I learned that my best friend is expecting her first baby, I was overjoyed. Bronwyn and I had befriended each other rather sweetly and awkwardly on the first day of grade nine, thanks to a cringeworthy gym class conversation we still joke about years later. As we caught the bus at the end of that first day, she and I discovered we lived just one street away from each other—and the rest is history, filled with Friends marathons, lunchtime Booster Juice runs, goofing around in band practice, and talking about the boys we liked (who all received code names).

Fast forward 18 years. I was thrilled when Bronwyn asked me to host her baby shower in my party room, but with an undercurrent of worry: I had zero experience planning baby showers. I've also never attended one as an adult (my other friends are still taking their sweet time on the babymaking business).

I'd thrown many parties in high school, university, and beyond, but these just required a Bluetooth speaker, snacks, and BYOB instructions. When it came to hosting an event like this, I was pretty much lost—especially with the decorations. I'm a creative writer, not a party planner.

Since working with brands and retailers is central to my role at Today's Parent, I reached out to Michaels to see if they'd be interested in helping. They were happy to. From balloon displays to the welcome sign to the tableware, the craft store most Canadians know and love delivered and then some. Here's how I threw an easy, relatively low-key baby shower with no experience whatsoever.

The mommy-to-be's requests: gender neutral, casual, and not too filled with activities

As Bronwyn would say, she is not a fancy lady. You'll catch her wearing a loose, comfy top, jeans, and sneakers most days. She didn't want a high-end, over-the-top baby shower. Since she and her partner are keeping the sex a surprise, the baby shower was to be genderless. Bronwyn also wanted the party to be relatively laidback. She chose a nostalgic, folksy playlist with artists like Tom Petty and Tracy Chapman. She advised me not to plan too many games and activities, as she wanted ample time to chat and hang out with her guests.

We went with a purple, yellow, and gold colour scheme, since these seemed pretty and gender-neutral to me. I was working with a $400 budget and expecting 15-20 guests. To save money, I sent digital invites through Evite.com, which cost me nothing. I planned four activities: a baby bodysuit/bib decorating station, a "Wishes for Baby" exercise and two easy-to-play games: "Mommy or Daddy?" and "Guess How Big the Bump Is" (more on these later).

The baby shower decorations: fresh flowers, a banner, a welcome sign, photo frames and balloons galore

Since money was tight, I went with two smaller floral arrangements: a cheaper one from a nearby Asian grocery store, and another from my favourite Queen West florist, Poppies, placed in a few vases I already had at home. Since Michaels didn't stock any baby banners in my colour scheme, I ordered this "oh baby" gold glitter sign and hung it from the ceiling.

On the morning of the shower, I realized that, in the chaos of party planning—and in typical forgetful Amy fashion—I'd forgotten to order the welcome sign and three photos I planned to print for a tabletop display (oops). The baby shower was set to start at 2 pm, so I ordered a 24x36 photo enlargement from Staples for the welcome sign, which was then taped to a Bristol board and mounted on this easel. Phewf.

While at Staples, I also printed out two photos of the expecting parents and a recent sonogram image to be displayed and framed. Michaels conveniently shipped most of the decorations and all of the tableware right to my house, so I only picked up a handful of items in-store, including the Bristol board, fabric markers, the balloons, and this adorable TY Beanie Boos Owl as an extra baby shower gift (Bronwyn is and has always been obsessed with owls).

When it came to the decorations, the balloons stole the show, 100%. By the time I arrived at Michaels the morning of the shower, they'd already blown up 25 of these purple latex balloons, this cheerful sun-shaped foil balloon, and two of these gold star-shaped foil balloons. They were artfully grouped in five sets, and I added balloon weights to keep them from floating up to the ceiling at the event.

I was incredibly grateful when two Michaels store reps packed the balloons in large bags and walked them to my Uber—28 balloons, a windy day, a busy Toronto street... That could have been a disaster, but thankfully, it wasn't. It also would have taken ages to blow up the balloons and arrange them, so their work saved me precious time on the day of the shower.

Drinks, appetizers, and baby-themed cupcakes that I'm delightfully shocked to have actually tasted good

Since the party was set for 2 to 5 pm, I knew people wouldn't be drinking heavily or eating much before dinner. I tried to strike a balance between keeping people imbibed and adequately fed without being stuck with leftovers or overspending.

For drinks, I went with sparkling wine, alcoholic cider, and sparkling water (both flavoured and unflavoured). We sipped the Champagne-like beverage in these plastic wine glasses—gone are my days of hosting parties with red Solo cups, as much as they fill my heart with fond memories. While there was a fridge in the party room, for ease of access, I ordered this plastic bucket and filled it with ice.

I settled on finger food from the grocery store, paired with these gold paper plates and poppin' bottles cocktail napkins. We sampled puff pastries filled with spinach and ricotta, vegetable spring rolls, sausage rolls, honey-garlic chicken wings, a vegetable platter, four dips, pita chips, and a basic charcuterie board. As for dessert, I'd only made cupcakes a few times about a decade ago and was a mediocre baker at best. I found this chocolate cupcake recipe online and figured I'd give it a go. After mixing all the ingredients, the batter seemed too runny. I panicked, turned to Google, and realized the batter was supposed to be that way. Thanks, Google.

All in all, the cupcakes turned out really well, especially with the chocolates on top as the pièce de résistance. They took the pretty basic cupcakes up a notch. With this silicone candy mold, all I had to do was chop up baker's chocolate, melt it in the microwave, pour it into the mold, stick it in the freezer for 20 minutes, then pop them out.

By the time guests started arriving, I finally began to relax. The flowers were arranged, the balloons were in place, and somehow the cupcakes were edible. More importantly, Bronwyn walked into a room filled with people who love her. Seeing my best friend—aka the platonic love of my life—so happy and excited for this next chapter made every bit of planning stress worth it.

The baby shower activities: adorable, entertaining, and emotional, all in one

Baby bodysuit/bib decorating station

A week before the event, I ordered this 15-pack of Gerber onesies and this 12-pack of baby bibs, both in plain white. For the sake of simplicity and to keep mess to a minimum, I gave guests two options: decorating the bodysuits and onesies with fabric markers or selecting an iron-on decal from this baby-themed set.

We used my iron and mini ironing board from home for the pressing station. ChatGPT generated basic instructions for the activity in the baby shower colour scheme, complete with images and decorative flair. The AI had become an assistant party planner, in a way.

A few of Bronwyn's more artistically inclined friends considered the decorating station one of the highlights of the shower. One person went so far as to describe it as a "therapeutic" experience. I loved watching the designs come to life, ranging from bright florals to comic-book-style graphics.

"Wishes for Baby" exercise

Of all the baby shower activities, this one was my personal favourite, since I love to write—but not everyone considers themselves creative or able to generate thoughtful written content on the fly. So, to get the ideas flowing, ChatGPT provided some prompts and designed the sheets.

"I hope you always..." "I hope you learn..." and "I hope you never forget..." Pondering the answers hit me hard. I was overcome with emotion, imagining a grown-up version of Bronwyn's baby reading it. I picked my brain for the most worthwhile lessons I'd learned so far—some easy, some painful—and which ones I hoped this child would carry with them.

"Mommy or Daddy?" game

If you've played "Bride or Groom?" at a bridal shower, this game is very similar—guests must guess which scenario fits mommy or daddy best, and it's focused exclusively on parenting. I'd had Bronwyn and her partner settle on their answers beforehand. Nearly half of the questions turned out to be trick questions (meaning the answer was mommy and daddy), which made things more challenging.

This baby shower game garnered the most laughs. Bronwyn and her partner insisted they would both be the fun parent. The parents-to-be already knew who would be changing more diapers and how they planned on divvying up duties. There was a comedic level of overthinking due to the trick questions. It was an entertaining preview of how they intended to co-parent (whether real life will match their answers remains to be seen).

"Guess How Big the Bump Is" game

Guessing the size of Bronwyn's bump was a fun challenge. Everyone wrote down their answers on a shared piece of paper, and the guesses became skewed by previous ones. Everyone was questioning their judgment. By the time we reached the end of the paper, the guesses were far from accurate. We wrapped a measuring tape around Bronwyn's belly at belly-button height. At a little over six months pregnant, she measured 38.5 inches around, and some of our guesses went higher than 50!

A milestone event and a day I'll never forget

Sure, we didn't have a catered meal or specialty cocktails. The decorations paled in comparison to the lavish baby showers of acquaintances and celebrities that periodically pop up on my Instagram feed. But that's not what really matters, is it?

What mattered was how loved and celebrated Bronwyn and her partner felt. It was the chance for her Toronto-based friends to come together in one room, something that rarely happens these days. It was the laughter over "Mommy or Daddy?", our wildly inaccurate guesses about the size of her bump, and the tears she shed throughout.

For weeks, I worried about getting every detail right. In the end, the flowers, balloons, tableware and cupcakes were just the backdrop. The real highlight was celebrating one of the most important moments in the life of someone I love dearly. I'll take that over a picture-perfect baby shower any day.

Baby shower shopping list

afiandina Oh Baby Glitter Golden Banner

ISFORU Easel Stand for Wedding Sign & Poster 63'' Tripod

Michaels Simply Essentials Griege Frame with Mat by Studio Décor

Michaels 30-Colour Fabric Ink Marker Set by Make Market

Michaels Ty Beanie Boos Austin White Owl

Michaels 11" Standard Latex Balloon

Michaels SuperShape XL 29" Sunshine Sun Foil Balloon

Michaels 19" Metallic Star Foil Balloon

Michaels 5.25oz. Foil Balloon Weight

Michaels Plastic Wine Glasses by Celebrate It, 40ct.

Lifewit Large 6.5L Ice Bucket

Michaels Hoffmaster 9" Solid Paper Plates, 24ct.

Michaels Gold Baby Bottle Beverage Napkins, 20ct. by Celebrate It

SOLEADER Appetizer Tongs

Michaels Baby Shapes Silicone Candy Mold by Makery

Gerber Unisex Baby 15 Piece Grow with Me Onesies in 3 Sizes

Benoxine 12-Pack Baby Bibs

Teling 36 Pcs Iron-on Decals Baby Shower Games Iron-on Transfers