Even if you’ve decided that the sky’s the limit for the shower you’re about to plan, you will then need to define “the sky.” Every shower has a bottom line. The question is: How much money can you spend on this event?

Protect yourself and your cohostess from shower sticker shock by putting it down on paper first, while there’s still time to say, “No thanks, let’s skip the caviar.” Be realistic, and then get moving—you have a party to plan!

Budget Basics

While your plans for the baby shower will be unique and personalized, the main budget categories will be surprisingly similar. Most baby showers will include food, drinks, décor, music, entertainment or games, and invitations. The cost of these items, when added together, will be your total budget.

The largest expense category is food and beverage, which generally accounts for 40 to 50 percent of your budget; decorations require 25 percent; with most of the balance going toward games, music, or other entertainment. And don’t forget 10 percent for incidentals. You should always have a miscellaneous category to cover all those little things that mean so much but cost so much more than you thought.

There are several ways to approach the issue of budget. If you have never planned a shower before, use the following worksheet to determine a preliminary budget. Is the total what you wanted or can afford to spend? If it is, move forward; if not, write your bottom-line budget number down and work backward.

Budget-Planning Worksheets

Shower Budget

Estimated Number of Guests:

Cost Breakdown