Baby shower food sign-up sheet

Light food, mid-afternoon

Showers usually run two to three hours in the afternoon, so guests expect finger food rather than a meal. Plan about 8 to 10 bites per guest. For 25 people:

• Two trays of sandwiches or wraps
• Three savory finger foods: mini quiches, sausage rolls, skewers
• A fruit platter and a veggie platter with dip
• Cheese and crackers
• One decorated cake, plus a couple of other sweets
• Mocktails, lemonade or iced tea

Two sweets lines are enough. The cake is the star, and cupcakes on top of a cake tend to go home uneaten.

Food the parent-to-be can eat

Pregnancy rules out a few party staples. Soft unpasteurized cheese, raw fish, runny eggs and cold deli meat are the usual ones. Put a short line in the description so helpers can plan: "Please skip sushi, soft cheese and cold cuts." A guest of honor who cannot eat half the table is a sad sight.

Make the drinks alcohol-free, or at least have one good alcohol-free drink. Mocktails on the sheet signal that it is a thought-through choice.

The cake gets one slot

Give the cake to one person, and say what is needed: serves 25, theme or colors if there are any, and whether names or a reveal are involved. If it is a gender reveal, keep that detail private and send it to the baker by message.

Setup and cleanup

Decorations, setup and cleanup are real jobs. Put two people on each, so the host is not left alone with the folding chairs at 5pm. A friend who is not a cook will happily take decorations.

Timing

Share the sheet three weeks ahead with the co-hosts and close friends. A reminder two days before lets people shop, and one on the morning can say when to arrive to set up and where to put things in the kitchen.

A ready list

The starter list above covers a shower of about 25. Paste it into Dibs and each line becomes a slot with its own limit. Helpers claim a line from a text or group chat with no account and no ads, see what is covered, and can swap their dish later from their confirmation email.