How to announce a baby shower without looking like a catalog

A baby shower fills up with clouds, bears and a pink you did not choose. The note can be tender without looking like a shop window. Tenderness is in how you tell it: who is expected, when you meet and what you would actually like. Icons, bows and round type are spare if the text is already clear.

If the name is here, it is the title. If it is not, use the nickname you already use at home. “The little one”, “the kicker”, a provisional name only you understand. That is more personal than “baby” in a catalog font. People who know you recognize the nickname. People who do not still understand someone is on the way.

Tenderness is not a pink template

Tell the plan as a meal, not as an event. “Sunday at one, at Ana’s, cake and coffee” is clear. “A magical gathering to celebrate the arrival” does not say the time or whether to take your shoes off. Baby shower guests are usually few and close. Talk to them the way you talk.

• The name or the household nickname, not the word baby
• The time and place said like a meal
• What to give, or that nothing is needed
• A photo from home, not a catalog set

The nickname, if the name is not here yet

Gifts are the part that makes people most uncomfortable and the part most often hidden. One clear line stops three identical onesies. You can say the size, a color you already have, or that you would rather have a book. You can also say nothing is needed. All three are better than a silence everyone interprets differently.

The picture should look like your house, not a newborn set. Linen, a flower, real booties, window light. If the photo could illustrate any baby-clothes ad, it is not yours. Leave it wide and whole: the vertical crop of template covers is what makes it look cut off and generic.

Tenderness is not a pink template. It is how you tell it.

What to say about gifts

Close with the date said out loud and with how to confirm. A small baby shower works better with “tell me if you’re coming” than with a form. The invitation has done its job when someone answers with a sentence, not with a heart emoji.