With the upcoming arrival of our new nephew, we started talking about ideas for the Sprinkle months ago, even before we knew the gender. Since this may be our last baby until our older kids start their own families, we wanted to make it as special as possible. If you know a second or third time mama and want to make it special for her, here are some ideas we talked about and eventually ended up moving forward with.

One thing I remember when I had my second child is I wanted to make sure that we didn’t celebrate any less just because it wasn’t my first. Every new baby is worthy of celebration no matter what order they fall in but you also want to make it uniquely special in its own way. Here are a few tips to get started in your planning.

First, keep it small. Oftentimes, the first baby is celebrated with a huge shower that includes extended family and friends but most of the time the second or third baby can be welcomed with just the closest family members and friends. Knowing we wanted to keep the group small, we initially looked at a beach picnic using one of the picnic event companies we had researched. What we quickly found out is that they are very expensive and many times require more expense with additional food. We talked about creating our own picnic experience at a lower cost but realized what we really wanted was to just enjoy the day without having to spend hours prepping and cooking.

With the picnic out, we needed to find a restaurant or location that could accommodate approximately 12 people and have some privacy. A couple of months ago, we had a girls brunch at a local spot, The Farmhouse at Rogers Gardens. Not only was the atmosphere and food delicious but we had our own private gazebo with a long farmhouse table and beautiful flowers. We instantly knew we wanted to come back and have the baby sprinkle event here as well. We reserved the table months in advance and secured it with a deposit to ensure we could have 3 full hours.

Since we opted to have it at a restaurant, we did have some limitations in terms of decorations, games and desserts but truthfully, we made the most of each one. With decorations, the restaurant only allows flowers on the table so we planned to bring some beautiful blue hydrangeas to make it feel more personal. We added a few small touches like the baby’s name in letters and some cute origami paper decorations.

Since this was a second baby shower, we had done all of the games at the first one and decided to keep it simple and just enjoy some good quality girl time. Since space was limited, we opted to have games that were easy to play at the table. We brought a sheet for everyone to guess the baby’s weight and height along with the due date and bet $1 on their guess. We also brought some clothes pins and played the don’t say “Baby” game. Such a cute and easy game to play with a small group.

Finally, when it came to dessert, we could have brought our own but the restaurant was planning to charge a per person fee. Knowing they already had amazing desserts, we opted to just order an array of sweet treats for everyone to enjoy as the mama to be opened gifts.

Overall, it was such a special afternoon where the simplicity of the event actually allowed it to be stress free and focused on what matters most, the mom to be and celebrating her new bundle of joy. I would highly suggest that if you are throwing a sprinkle, find a cute spot where you can all enjoy an afternoon of good food and even better company. I have definitely learned that while throwing the huge party and spending hours prepping and planning is fun, being able to truly spend quality time together is so much more worth it.