Download our templates for the cupcake flags, thank you tags, and more here:

• DIY Baby Boy templates in baby blue & orange (seen above)
• DIY Flags in blue, orange and yellow (seen above)
• DIY Baby Girl templates in pinks
• DIY Baby Neutral templates in yellows and greens

You can download the animal shapes here:

• Bird Silhouette courtesy of the Brides Cafe
• Elephant & Giraffe Silhouette courtesy of Daffodil Design

Next I will show you how to create the circular fan decor.

When buying a stroller, considering having one that has a bassinet plug-in. That way, you can get out of buying a crib for a few months. This is especially helpful for us since we’ve been trying to find a house in this hot Toronto housing market, and still haven’t found a place to call our own to set up a proper nursery. The bassinet will allow us to move easily and get a crib later when we want.

Don’t go crazy, wait for the baby to arrive to select certain items. Some items some babies will love and others will hate and never use. Some babies hate pacifiers, and just don’t want to be swaddled. Oh, and they grow out of 0-3 months clothes fast. Some babies come out already pass that clothing size!

Some things you simply won’t need: Hooded towels sometimes are too thin or not absorbent enough. A regular large but thin towel will do, you want something thin enough to make it easy to manoeuvre.

Toys. Newborns don’t need a lot of toys, so keep it simple in the beginning. At this stage, they are fascinated by your voice, your face, and when they can grasp, a box can be a thing of wonder. Enjoy the time when simple items can fascinate your kids for hours.

Consider playing natural white-noise on your laptop or via a CD player, instead of a sleep-sheep toy. Bonus, you don’t need to buy extra batteries because those things run on plug-in electricity.

Consider buying items second hand! Kijiji is a great place to go for second hand maternity clothes, baby toys, and the likes.

Guess the song – Play the first few seconds of a pop song with the word “Baby” in it and have guests guess song name.

Wacky Baby Food Tasting Challenge – instead of doing the tired old canned/jar food, create wacky combinations for your guests to guess. Think wasabi infused pea puree. Really adventurous? How about wasabi maple-syrup squash? You will need: small Dixie cups for pre-scooped servings for each guest.

Baby Relay Race – Have guests in team do baby challenge with a doll, like swaddle a baby, change a diaper, and so forth. The only con to this game is that you will require a doll for each team. This is hard especially if you have large groups, you will need a couple of dolls.

Balloon Mom – Have men at your shower? Have them wear a balloon under their shirt and race them to do challenges like put on boots with shoelaces.

Best time to visit

As with most trade shows, the best times to visit (for least crowds): late afternoon 3:30 onwards, and Sunday (last day of the show). If you have lots of items to buy, I would recommend going over 2 days. The show is big. Another tip: the bags get heavy! I had my husband to carry all the swag and purchases, and many women simply latch their bags to their strollers.

Moms and moms-to-be will find lots for both toddlers and newborn. There were also great seminars on, great demos from experts (the Medela booth was particular helpful in seeing how the different pumps work), and good deals compared to regular retail price. We also sampled some organic baby food, so if you bring your toddler along it’s great way to see if they will like the food; plus we entered many contests (fingers crossed). There were also some play areas for newborns, changing stations, and more.

And yes we did get a lot of samples, which were mostly geared towards newborn and new moms. Here’s a list of what we got:

• Newborn size diapers (Fisher-Price and Huggies)
• Full size newborn formula (Similac and Nestle)
• Rice cereal, ideal for 6 months and up (Nestle)
• A fold up cosmetic-bag like pouch for wipes etc (Similac)
• Mom’s supplement drink
• Picky eater toddler supplement drink
• Diaper rash cream (Sudocrem)
• Baby powder (Life brand)
• Baby wipes (Life brand)
• Playtex drop-in bottle, 4 oz (for new borns)
• Medicine dropper
• Vitamin B supplement
• Single pack saline booger wipes (Babies R Us)
• Sample size Cocoa Butter body cream and lotion for mom (Babies R Us)

We look forward to seeing how our experience will chang in the spring after our baby is born. The Spring show is in April!

Babytime Show
Friday, Nov 11- Sunday, Nov 14
10am-6pm
Toronto Metro Convention Centre

Tickets: $16 online or at the door (Thyme Maternity is giving away $2 off coupons, available at their counters, as well as discounts available on babytimeshow website)
babytimeshows.ca

Babytime Spring show is on in the Spring at the Toronto Congress Centre in Mississauga.
Stay tune for our post-show wrap up.