A little while ago I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw that a friend had held a “Sip and See” party following the birth of her beautiful baby girl, Avaya. My first thought was “What’s a Sip and see Party”? You might be having similar thoughts! It’s definitely not something I’ve heard of before!
I did a little googling and I found that a Sip and See Party is an intimate gathering of your closest friends and family to meet your new bundle of joy. It’s an informal setting which is usually held in a home environment that allows loved ones to fawn over your new addition, but under your terms. The idea of an informal “welcome baby” party is becoming a lot more popular and it’s ideal for those who don’t necessarily love the idea of having a baby shower. Not everyone enjoys being the center of attention, after all. Plus, how fun is it to have a bash with the baby everyone’s been so eager to meet?
At the time of writing this blog we are under strict lockdown procedures due to the spread of Covid-19 and social gatherings are banned. This means that sadly, many pregnant ladies are missing out on baby showers. I’ve been to many baby showers and they are all fun and a lovely bonding experience between Mum-2-be and her friends and family and it’s such a shame this can’t happen for a while. It got me thinking that the Sip and See Parties could be a perfect replacement for the baby showers once we are over the lockdown! You can indulge your creative side with themes, invitations, decorations, or involve your best friends to do this for you (they too might feel they’ve missed out!). You can plan menus, games and of course DRINKS! You are only limited by your own imagination!
I created a Pinterest board to help you plan your own Sip and See Party >>CLICK HERE
I asked Hollie to tell you all about her own Sip and See Party…
Why did you decide to have a Sip and See Party?
I decided to have a sip and see party instead of a baby shower because I wanted the gender to be a surprise with my 3rd baby, and as much as I would have been grateful for neutral toned baby gifts I knew if my baby was a girl there would be no chance I would dress her in greys or beiges. I decided to wait until the big day came where I found out the gender of my baby and then set about planning a “welcome to the world party” where I could plan my colours according to the baby’s gender and have things with her name on and people could meet the baby.
How did you first hear about a Sip and See Party?
I was in the card factory one afternoon and noticed invitations that said “sip and see” on them and it was for parties to meet babies, I hadn’t heard of a sip and see before but I thought it sounded quite cute and shorter than welcome to the world party. I thought it’s a nice way to celebrate her safe arrival with my close friends and family and get a cake made with her name on and instead of having lots of staggered visits in the new early days of having a newborn baby it gets all the visitors out of the way in one go.
I loved having visitors, don’t get me wrong but sometimes it was overwhelming when I had my boys, getting round to seeing everyone and tidying the house before each guest arrived was hard work in the early days. I was recently watching yummy mummies on Netflix and the girls on there all had “sip and see” parties so it must be a big thing in Australia.
Tell me more about the decorations, the food and the little special touches
I really enjoyed the fact that I got to dress her for her first party and that she was there to enjoy her welcome to the world party even if she did sleep through most of it. I loved that I matched my hairband to her dress and was excited for people to come and meet her as though she was my little royal princess. I decided to do a vintage afternoon tea theme for my little lady, and although she couldn’t enjoy the finger sandwiches and cakes I know the guests really enjoyed themselves and it’s nice for my little Avaya to look back on in years to come and see the effort we made to celebrate her safe arrival into the world.
I got my friend over the night before and we set about making balloon garlands that my Mam and I ordered off Amazon and made three different ones, one for the balcony cascading to the front door, one for round the window and one round the back patio doors, all pastel colours and rose golds. I got a beautiful cake made by Lolly’s kitchen (check out her Facebook page she’s great) and then I ordered cake stands off Amazon and my Mother made handmade wax melts to go in burners, handmade bath bombs wrapped in vintage paper, handmade wish bracelets with my daughter’s name on and I made and decorated biscuits for the event and bought all different flavoured prosecco lip balms for our guests to take away with them. We made MAM-mosas (get the pun haha) and bought lots of prosecco. We ordered our sandwiches from porkies catering on the coast road, well worth the money. We bought scones with clotted cream and jam cupcakes, macaroons and brownies to name but a few. It was lovely and felt so rewarding after all that hard work of pushing a baby out! And the best thing was I got to let my hair down whilst others cooed over the baby and I could finally after 9 months enjoy a good old drink!!
What would you say to anyone thinking about a Sip and See party?
I would certainly recommend having a sip and see especially if you missed the chance to have a baby shower, decided you didn’t want a shower then regretted it, or your having a surprise gender and would rather wait so you can dress your party accordingly and if people are kind enough to bring gifts at least it will be for one gender or the other rather than lots of plain colours. Sip and see parties are the same as baby showers but people have a little sip and a little see and you don’t need to play any silly games if you don’t want to haha! Also a good tip is to put a time limit on invite we said 3-5:30 as that way you don’t have people still there at the end when all you want to do is relax with your new baby and eat leftover cake.
Thank you so much to the lovely Hollie for sharing her Sip and See party with us! I am sure you agree both her and Avaya look beautiful and the decorations were amazing!
I really hope the current restrictions are over soon and I am sending everyone lots of love!
Karen
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