I first read about this ideas in Taste of Home magazine. (Great magazine with easy recipes!) There was an article about a baby shower given for a new Mom-to-be with MS. She was a first time Mom, but I know this idea would be just as helpful for 2nd or 3rd (or more!) time Moms as well.
She threw a "food shower" where guests brought a dish to be frozen in her freezer! After the shower, the new Mom had a freezer full of goodies to pull from once baby came. This is a GREAT idea to reduce the number of visitors after baby arrives. Though the meals are great, sometimes visitors daily or even every other day can be overwhelming when you can't hardly fine time to shower!
Though I've never thrown one of these, here are some ideas I have on how to make it happen!
-Be sure it is near enough to the Mom's due date so the meals will still be good once baby arrives. Typically showers are thrown earlier in the pregnancy (my first was at 31 weeks), but that would mean the food was already in the freezer for more than two months by the due date! About 3 weeks before the due date might be more reasonable.
-On the invite, you can ask guests to avoid certain foods that Mom (and Dad) may not prefer or "breastfeeding friendly" foods as well.
-Ask the guests to use disposable containers so Mom does not have to worry with returing them.
-Provide permanent markers, paper, tape, stickers, etc. for guests to write cooking/reheating instructions on their meals if they forgot.
-Asking guests ahead of time to provide a copy of the recipe and cooking instructions with their meal would be helpful too. You could even include a recipe card in the invite for this.
Have any of you ever thrown a shower like this? Have any other ideas to make this successful?
10 comments:
What a neat idea!!
This is a good idea, but.. I like the visitors:)
That is such a great idea! I might have to do this for my sister in law! Her babies will only be 13 months apart and she is having another boy so this would be great for her!
Personally, I didnt love the visitors. With close friends I really did, but we had some random people from Church who stayed forever, I was in bad shape from my C-section so this was not fun.
Its also good to remember that when taking meals to new moms it might be a good idea to leave our children at home. It was really stressful for me to have kids running around my house touching everything that was my new daughters.
I know this post totally wasnt about that, but I just thought I would throw it out there. :)
(I dont want to offend anyone, it was just my experience)
Great idea I am going to do this my sister has 2 girls 22 month and 10 months and she is 18 weeks pregnant with a little boy she would love this!
http://mealbaby.com/
I saw this website recently and like the idea. Do you think it is okay to initiate help from others? I have my church group who would like to help by bringing meals, but there are a few people outside of church who have mentioned the same desire. I guess their names could be plugged into the rotation as well.
With a 2nd baby about to arrive any day, I'd rather have meals prepared than more "stuff" around the home. : )
I should mention it is our 2nd daughter so we don't need much more clothing, etc at first.
This is a great idea for a shower for a mom having a second baby of the same gender! I'm having my second girl in a few weeks...but I'm not suggesting this to anyone! BUT...I will do it for others in the future!
Have you heard of foodtidings.com? I have used it for both my babies and manny friends. It is great because you can see what others around you are bringing so you don't repeat. There is also a place for special instructions.
our church uses the takethemameal.com website for all meals. it is wonderful! I never thought I would like such a service, but it's amazing. i recently coordinated meals for a new mom and it was a dream to just create that account and send out the password!
i did lots of freezer cooking when i was pregnant with my second, so now, I take along muffins or a loaf of pound cake, or frozen homemade waffles to a new mom. it's a nice twist when the baby is 4 weeks old and meals have ceased.
great topic, ladies!
Good point, Amy! I've taken breakfast items to new Moms as well. Once I did a breakfast casserole and muffins to freeze.
Apparently there are tons of websites for this purpose! Leah F was going to write about mealbaby and foodtidings later this week - or has she? :)
All this talk of yummy food that I don't have to cook makes me want another baby. :)
I was given one a food shower shortly after the birth of my third child (second boy). It was a tremendous blessing!
We have several severe food allergies, so the friend that coordinated the shower actually asked me for recipes for meals we could eat. With a couple of the recipes I even bought the ingredients so that we would know they were safe. In the end it was great for the whole family to eat the meal and not worry about any allergic reactions.
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