Hosting a baby shower can be exciting and challenging. Whether the theme of the shower tends towards the classic, or whether it's more modern, serving a brunch can make your job easier by catering to any taste with a wide variety of food options.
Classic Baby Shower Brunch Menu
Classic baby shower themes include traditional baby toys like wooden blocks or teddy bears, beloved children's books, and vintage decorations such as lace or mason jars. This brunch menu incorporates dishes traditionally served at baby showers which will mirror the sentiments of any classic baby shower theme. Utilize decorations that highlight if the guest of honor is expecting a boy or girl to enhance the way your menu is presented to guests.
Main Dishes
When menu planning, keep in mind that main dishes for a baby shower brunch should include proteins and feel hearty. Set up an attractive buffet for a simple serving solution.
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Tea sandwiches: Offer at least three different kinds of small sandwiches on a platter. Classics include egg salad sandwiches, club sandwiches and smoked salmon roll-ups:
- To make the smoked salmon roll-ups, spread a tortilla with cream cheese. Place layers of thinly sliced smoked salmon and watercress on top and roll up. Slice into bite-sized roll-ups.
- Sliced ham: Ham is a quintessential brunch staple that is both simple and delicious. Deli sliced ham or slices of a baked ham both work.
- Quiche: A vegetarian quiche offers a source of protein from eggs for guests who don't eat meat.
Side Dishes
Classic side dishes should complement the main dishes while also serving as a snack for guests who don't want a meal.
- Salad bar: For a super-simple side dish, serve up a classic iceberg lettuce salad with a choice of toppings like tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers. Offer a variety of salad dressing options as well.
- Fruit: Stick with the classic theme by serving a fruit salad, but give it a modern twist by serving it in carved watermelon decorated to indicate the baby's gender (if known).
- Finger foods: Add a selection of easy finger foods appropriate for brunch, such as tortilla roll-ups or deviled eggs, as well as other fun baby shower recipes.
Breads
Breakfast menus often include specialty baked goods. Be sure to serve butter, jam and similar toppings with a tray of scones, croissants or other pastries. Consider featuring a couple sweeter selections like muffins, or traditional homemade cinnamon rolls.
Beverages
Traditional drinks for brunch are typically non-alcoholic and lean toward breakfast menu options.
- Punch: Nothing is quite as nostalgic as a bowl of classic baby shower punch made from a mixture of juice and soda.
- Mimosas: This bubbly drink is generally made with champagne and orange juice, but you can substitute sparkling cider for the champagne in a traditional mimosa recipe.
- Coffee: Serve hot coffee throughout the event with cream, milk and sugar.
Dessert
Cake pops and cupcakes are adorable and modern, but a classic baby shower brunch menu must include a traditional sheet cake for dessert.
Nature Theme Brunch Buffet Menu
There is an endless array of baby shower themes that include elements of nature. Garden parties, spring, summer or floral themes, bugs like ladybugs or bees, and animal themes all incorporate some form of nature. This menu works particularly well served buffet-style and is appropriate for brunch or lunch. It includes foods and drinks in their purest form along with healthier dishes that are often seen as natural. Foods heavy in carbohydrates and sugars don't fit into this theme so bread and sweets should be avoided as much as possible. If you have organic foods or farm fresh ingredients available to you, they can enhance the natural theme of this menu.
Appetizers
With a focus on healthy eating, small portions work great in this brunch menu. Offering a variety of foods that make snacking easy gives that grazing element to your natural menu.
- Caprese Skewers: Layer mini mozzarella cheese balls, small basil leaves, and grape tomatoes on a kabob skewer. Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over top and you have a snackable version of Caprese salad.
- Mixed nuts: Choose a variety that includes at least three different kinds of nuts to mix in a bowl. Just be sure to choose the raw or unsalted versions to stay true to the theme.
- Kale Chips: These crunchy chips will give guests that potato chip feeling without the bad reputation.
Main Dishes
Natural main dish options should have very few ingredients and feel fresh:
- Carved Meat: Choose no more than two different types of meat to serve in slices after they have been roasted. Beef, turkey, and ham are well-liked options, but lamb, veal, or wild game might feel more natural.
- Vegan casserole: Vegan diets are often associated with being natural and the beans in a mango salsa vegan casserole offer the protein desired in the main dish.
- Huevos Rancheros with salsa fresca: While not vegan, a farm to table dish of huevos rancheros with homemade salsa fresca fits the bill. Healthy and light, this main dish packs a punch of flavor.
Side Dishes
The side dishes served in this brunch menu take center stage because they highlight ingredients in their most natural form.
- Edible vegetable arrangement: Skewers of fresh vegetables look great and offer guests an easy way to dip veggies.
- Yogurt parfaits: Offer guests a selection of yogurt, some homemade granola, and a few varieties of berries so they can create a parfait. For a fun baby-specific flair, use blueberry yogurt or toppings if the baby will be a boy and opt for strawberry or raspberry for a girl.
- Quinoa Confetti Salad: Mixing this super food with crunchy veggies and a light dressing will give guests a blast of flavor in a healthy way.
Desserts
Natural desserts may sound like an oxymoron, but the idea here is to offer sweets low on sugar and big on natural ingredients. Mini Gluten-Free Fruit Pizzas are a great option for this menu. Replace the sugar in this recipe with an equal amount of honey and load up on the fruit to keep bold flavors. Display them on a cupcake stand for a more elaborate presentation.
Beverages
A juice bar full of unexpected juice blends is a fun way to keep with the theme and still give guests options. Herbal teas are also a great choice to complement this menu.
Gender Reveal Brunch Menu
Gender reveal baby showers are a rapidly growing trend. Planning a menu for such a fun event gives the hostess a license to be creative. The excitement of discovering baby's gender makes this type of shower one big surprise for the mom-to-be along with the guests. A brunch menu full of surprising foods paired with some fun gender reveal party games will help guests get in the spirit. From unexpected combinations to dishes with a surprise middle, this menu highlights the sense of adventure that comes with a gender reveal baby shower.
This menu lends itself well to a sit-down meal or a progressive buffet where the options are changed throughout the event. These formats will enhance the surprise factor of the meal.
Starters
Starters for this menu play off of pregnancy myths as well as surprising ingredients.
- Deep fried pickles: Guests will enjoy this modern, unexpected twist on the classic pregnancy craving. Use a simple tempura batter to coat pickle spears before frying in oil. Dill pickles work best for this dish and spears should be patted dry to help the batter stick. This is particularly appropriate for a southern baby shower.
- Samosas: This Middle Eastern dish is like a deep-fried pierogi, filled with a spiced potato mixture.
- Sushi Rolls: Different varieties of seafood and vegetables hide inside these rice and seaweed bites.
Main Dishes
This menu highlights main dishes that hold a surprise inside.
- Stuffed chicken: Chicken Cordon bleu is the most iconic stuffed chicken recipe, but this menu calls for something a bit more modern to go with the theme. Ingredients like kale, pancetta, or feta cheese liven up stuffed chicken breasts.
- Bacon-wrapped scallops: Offering a seafood option is standard these days. While this dish is not unexpected, it does fit with the theme as the bacon hides the scallop.
- Breakfast Casserole: Breakfast casseroles are open to interpretation and could include any variety of ingredients. Part of the surprise is finding out which breakfast ingredients the cooks used this time.
Side Dishes
- Donut holes: Serve a platter of donut holes containing jelly or cannoli cream fillings.
- Jello: Hide fruit with a mandarin orange Jello recipe. Use a contrasting color of Jello to up the surprise factor.
Desserts
Molten Lava Cakes can be decorated and displayed like cupcakes while offering guests a surprise inside. To insert a pink or blue filling into the cakes, use a decorating tip to insert a mixture of tinted white chocolate through the side.
Beverages
Consider providing a bartender for the event who can mix non-alcoholic drinks for guests. Watching different juices and sodas mix can provide a surprise factor for guests. You could also use frozen bits of fruits or herbs inside ice cubes for guests to add to their drinks for an unexpected twist. Consider offering a blue punch if the baby will be a boy and a pink punch for a girl.
The Best of Both Worlds
Brunch menus afford baby shower hosts the opportunity to serve the best foods from breakfast and lunch. The brunch menu suggestions provided here are appropriate for a morning or early afternoon baby shower, and they're just as appropriate for showers hosted in the home as for a brunch baby shower in a restaurant. Guests are sure to appreciate your efforts to accommodate every appetite. Once you select your menu, the next step will be to brainstorm for baby shower brunch decoration ideas you can use to carry the theme throughout the event. Your food display just may channel Martha Stewart and your decorations are sure to be Pinterest-ready!
