Latest Blog Posts

Jo Fazel of Best Baby Shower in Top 100 UK Mumpreneur List!

What a fantastic start to 2012  - I've just been informed that I'm on the MumpreneurUK Top 100 mumpreneurs in the UK!  I am amongst some fabulous company on the list and it's lovely to receive recognition for the hard work I put in to make Best Baby Shower a vibrant and fresh business that gives it's customers what they want.

If you are thinking about starting up your own business go check out MumpreneurUK site for really helpful tips and details of their annual mumpreneur conference, packed with useful business seminars and opportunities for networking.

Onwards and upwards for the rest of 2012!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas!

We are now officially closed for the Christmas holidays!  We are very much looking forward to Christmas this year with our family and taking a break from work - it's certainly been hectic this year!   

Orders can be placed during the Christmas period although we won't be processing any orders until we re-open on Tuesday 3rd January 2012 when orders will be processed in line with the relevant product lead time from that date. 

We hope you all enjoy the holidays and make the most of time spent with family and friends - A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year from us at Best Baby Shower!  See you in 2012!

Best Baby Shower Christmas Cut-off Dates

Well it's that time of year again!  Christmas is just around the corner and although we've not yet had any of the white stuff round our way yet we do have our christmas tree up and (mostly) all our presents bought.   This year we'll be having some well-deserved time off with our family so we won't be processing any orders between Monday 19th December and Monday 2nd January.  But if you are at home during the holidays and having a browse round the site & see something you love, don't worry as you can still place orders, we'll have them waiting for us to process when we open again on Tuesday 3rd January 2012!

If you are looking for some last minute items please have a look at our delivery page which will give you info on the cutoff dates for orders in order to receive them in time for Christmas.  Please note that some items, notably many of the handmade plaques, have already passed the point of guaranteed Christmas delivery so if you want something but aren't sure if you will get it in time drop us a line on customerservice@bestbabyshower.co.uk or give us a call on 08444930610 and we'll let you know!

And don't forget to visit us in the New Year as the site is getting a re-vamp and we can't wait to unveil it in January!

xx

Lily Allen Gives Birth To Baby Girl

Our heartfelt congratulations go out to Lily Allen this week as she tweeted about the birth of her baby daughter although she hasn't yet officially announced the name.  We are so pleased for Lily who's had a heartbreaking time on her road to becoming a mother, with two miscarriages occuring previously.  Lily is proof not to give up on that happy ending and we wish her and her family all the very best on their new journey together.

Win a Fab 'My First Holidays' Child's Record Book!

This month we've got a great new competition for you - a gorgeously bright & colourful hardback book in which to record up to 20 of your baby or child's first holidays.  Sure to be looked back on fondly and a lovely memento to share with their own children when they are older. 

This time we are running the competition over on the brilliant new twitter competition site called Competwition.  You will need a twitter account in order to enter but you will then be able to get our twitter updates so you don't miss any news like our new products, offers and discounts and of course future competitions.  Click HERE to go to the competition page and enter!

Closing date is 14th December 2011 and the winner will be chosen at random.

Are You Pregnant? Maverick TV Wants You!

Are you pregnant or know someone who is?   We've been contacted by Maverick TV who are looking for pregnant women who may have worries or concerns and would benefit from the advice of a top midwife.  If this is you then please contact Emma on the number or email address on the flyer.  Don't forget - if you do get involved with this programme let us know - we'd love to share the good midwifery advice that you receive :)

'How I Set Up My Business' - Jo at BabyBeads-UK

Here at Best Baby Shower we love to find out the story behind our suppliers' business ideas and how they came to produce the fab items that we love to offer to our customers.  Here's Jo Rumary from BabyBeads-UK with her entrepreneurial story:

"I successfully created babybeads-uk over 5 years ago making  hand-crafted unique breastfeeding necklaces and reminder bracelets specifically with safety at the forefront in order to make feeding your baby a more relaxed and enjoyable experience.

My baby was very easily distracted whilst breastfeeding, he would also pinch me; pull my hair and other unpleasant things like pull at my top to expose me in public. He was also fascinated with my jewellery, but after breaking one necklace I was unable to wear any. I looked into the idea of a safe necklace that was strong enough for my baby to pull on and be stimulating enough to engage him. I experimented with the use of colour, texture and shape of beads, and found great success with him and my own feeding experience. Other mums saw my necklace and how relaxed my baby was when feeding and wanted to order. The concept quickly took off and I found myself running a very successful small business with over 3000 happy customers worldwide.

It soon became apparent that my necklaces had other uses. They became a bonding tool that Dad or Granny etc. could wear around their neck whilst the baby played with the beads. They also became invaluable for bottle-fed babies too.

As my son grew up and stopped breastfeeding he taught me different and unique ways in which my necklaces could be used. We played games with them, talking about colours, shapes and different themed beads. I attached them to his pushchair, car seat, supermarket trolley and he would play with them, feeling the beads or ringing the bells. They occupied him whilst waiting in queues.

My son is now 6 and still a huge fan! He takes every opportunity to wear them, and use them to tow his trucks around! He has several of his own, and although he understands that I make them for other peoples babies I think he is a little sad to see them go.

I receive many emails on a daily basis from very happy mums explaining how the necklaces have had such an impact on their lives.  Most of all though I am extremely grateful to my wonderful son who introduced me to this lovely concept which has not only meant that I have been able to help other mums, but more importantly it has enabled me stay at home with my son for these very important years".

Jo runs her business at www.babybeads.co.uk and her wonderful and practical breastfeeding necklaces are also available of course from us too! 

Babybeads-uk necklaces have been safety tested and conform to BS EN71 (1995) + A1 +AC1 Part 3, EN71 (2005) A9 Part 1 & EN71 (2005) Part 1 standards.

Top 5 Baby Shower Games You Can Play With A Toilet Roll!

Are you hosting a baby shower and looking for games ideas that won’t break the bank?  Here are our top 5 baby shower games you can play with an item everyone will already have in their house – a toilet roll!

1.                Fancy a baby shower á la Victoria Beckham?  How about playing the ‘create a dress’ game.  The guests should split into 2 teams and are then given one or more toilet rolls each.  Each team will nominate one member of their     team to be the ‘model’ and the rest of the team will race against the clock to create the best dress design around their model with the toilet paper.  Don’t let each team take too long – about 5 minutes should be enough.  If you want your guests to be really creative let them choose from different colour toilet rolls for a truly ‘creative’ look!  Let the mum-to-be be the judge as to which team created the best look.

2.                   A twist on the ‘create a dress’ game is the ‘dress the baby’ game.  Again the guests should be split into teams and each team should be given a doll or teddy as the model and one or more rolls of toilet paper.  Racing against the clock again, the teams should attempt to create baby clothing for their model out of the toilet paper.  This game can require a little more skill as the clothing will need to be on a much smaller scale!  Again around 5 minutes is the maximum the teams should be given.  If you know the sex of the baby you can go for pale blue or pink toilet paper to blend in with the overall theme.  Mum-to-be gets to be the judge of the best outfit as she is the guest of honour!

3.                   Looking for a good ice-breaker for your baby shower?  The ‘toilet paper words of wisdom’ game is a twist on a popular ice-breaker used by many trainers to warm up their delegates.  The idea is that everyone takes turns to pull off a length of toilet paper – it is up to each guest how much they pull off.  They may want to take just one sheet or many but the critical point is that they are not told what the game is about or given any indication as to how many sheets they should take off.  Once everyone has their sheets the host explains that each guest is required to give as many pieces of advice on pregnancy, birth or looking after babies/children as they have sheets of toilet paper.  This is where the guests who only took one sheet of paper look relieved!  The game doesn’t have to have a winner but if you want to make it more competitive you can have the mum-to-be judge which piece of advice she has found the most useful.

4.                   If the mum-to-be is up for a laugh and doesn’t mind her bump then the ‘measuring mum’s tum’ game is a classic.  Each guest should tear off a length of toilet paper that they think is equivalent to the size of mum’s bump.  Once everyone has their length of toilet paper the host can measure the bump (it doesn’t have to be with a tape measure – just a length of string or wool will do) and then compare this to the lengths of toilet paper.  Obviously the winner is the guest whose length of toilet paper is the closest.

5.                   Are your guests a little bit crafty?  Test their skill with a game of ‘toilet paper origami’.  The idea is that each guest should attempt to create a baby related item using one or more sheets of toilet paper – let them use their imagination and creativity to see what they come up with – clothing, bottles, nappies, bibs, dummies etc.   Time the game to add a bit of extra pressure and have mum-to-be judge the most realistic item.

If playing baby shower games with toilet paper isn’t your thing then don’t worry, there are lots more ideas for baby shower games in our baby shower guide available to our newsletter subscribers at Best Baby Shower.  Or if you'd rather buy some ready-made games come and check out our range including our exclusive baby shower games that you can only find here at Best Baby Shower!