one of my sisters recently had her 2nd child. She had a long commute to and from work, and her husband’s job requires some evening hours as well, so we decided that they needed a boost that would save them some time. We decided to host a “nesting shower” where friends and family would get together to prepare freezer meals for them to use during the last couple of months of her pregnancy. People will typically think to bring meals AFTER a baby is born, so we figured they could use the meals sooner rather than later.
Since this was a shower for a 2nd child, we did have a smaller group of people. We also didn’t focus as much on decorations and treats as we usually do for a shower, as we wanted to emphasis to be on the food preparation. Obviously those details could be customized however you wanted.
Here is the invitation that I designed (contact me at leesyk214@gmail.com if you would like this design customized for you!)
We had a group of 7 women, and in just a few hours we were able to prepare 25 meals and 2 dozen muffins to use over the next month (baby made her arrival a few weeks early).
For decorations, we used some grapevine wreaths that my mom had already and lined them with brown tissue paper to make a “nest.” We had to add a few touches of pink here and there (it was her first girl, after all!). We also made some “bouquets” of twigs inside some pink gift bags. The nests and bouquets were decorated with little items that Hannah could use for the baby (cute AND functional).
Each guest was given this tea light candle as their favor
(simple, but very cute!) The tag read:
Burn this tea light on the night
Once the Stork has made its flight
With a flicker of the flame
Please say a prayer in Baby’s name
The refreshments were pretty simple as well. I did make some birds’ nest cookies (Chow Mein noodles covered in melted butterscotch chips, then mold them into a nest shape and add egg-shaped candies). Other than that, we just did some veggies and dip and crackers.
We tried to choose recipes that we knew would freeze and thaw well. Some were ones that we were familiar with, others were Pinterest finds.
Stuffed pasta shells
Chicken Enchiladas
Cilantro/lime chicken dish and Carrot Applesauce muffins
One of the ladies put together a recipe for some FANTASTIC black beans and rice after visiting Costa Rica (shhh- the secret is green bananas!) So we put together some plates with leftover seasoned chicken from the enchiladas.
(hint- canned chicken saves a LOT of time. Pre-cooked and shredded! Make sure you find it on sale)
we had stuffed pasta shells, chicken enchiladas, white chicken lasagna, a Cilantro/Lime chicken dish, Apple Butter pork chops, Chicken Broccoli Rice bake, Black beans and rice, and a few batches of muffins (Carrot Applesauce and banana.)
this picture doesn’t even show all of the meals that we were able to prepare!
that’s me on the far right- had to wear my bird sweater! it fit the theme 
This is a great idea if you are hosting a shower and looking to do something a little different than the traditional shower of gifts, games, and cake. Hannah and her husband loved have the meals ready to go with little to no prep work on their end. The meals were packaged so that they could be put right in the oven, or be put in a crock pot in the morning and ready to eat when they came home in the evening. Most pans even had enough in them for one or both of them to take leftovers to work for lunch the next day. It was a great way for us to help her out during the last several weeks of her pregnancy without being right there for her (they live a couple of hours away).
If you have a larger group, you could definitely make even more meals (or not take as much time, I think we were working for about 2 1/2 hours). One thing you want to consider is how much freezer room your guest of honor has! They did have a small deep-freeze so it worked out great for them. We had enough guests pitch in for food that all of that cost was covered (we spent less than $100 on all of the ingredients).
Feel free to comment if you have any questions! Or let me know if you host a nesting shower for someone and what ideas you used or came up with! I see plenty of shower-hosting in my future, so I’d love to hear what works for all of you
