What to Write in a Baby Shower Card (For Every Situation)

Baby shower cards are harder than birthday cards because the situation varies so much. A first baby, a fourth baby, an adoption, a pregnancy after loss, a friend you are close to, a colleague you barely know. The same message does not cover all of it.

Here is what to write for each, and what to leave out.

The basic structure

  1. Congratulate them.
  2. Say something specific about them as a person, or about the baby arriving.
  3. Offer something concrete, if you mean it.
  4. Sign off.

The third point is where most cards could improve. “Let me know if you need anything” puts the work on a person who is about to have very little capacity. “I will bring dinner on the first Tuesday, no need to reply” is a card that becomes an actual meal.

For a close friend

  • You are going to be so good at this. Not in a vague way — I have watched you with your nephews and I know.
  • Cannot wait to meet the small person who is about to run your life. Congratulations to you both.
  • I will be round in the first fortnight with food and no expectation of conversation.

For a colleague or acquaintance

  • Congratulations to you both. Wishing you a smooth few weeks and lots of sleep, eventually.
  • So pleased for you. Enjoy every bit of the mad first year.

Keep it warm and short. A long personal message from someone they know only slightly reads as odd.

For a second, third or fourth baby

People often skip the card for later babies, which parents notice. The angle shifts from excitement about the unknown to acknowledging what they already know:

  • Congratulations. You have done this before, so I will not tell you anything. Just delighted for all of you.
  • Number three. You are outnumbered now, officially. Congratulations, and let me know which night I am cooking.
  • Wishing your growing family every happiness, and wishing the older two a little patience.

For an adoption or surrogacy

Focus on the family arriving rather than the route taken:

  • Congratulations on your son. What a lucky boy.
  • You have waited a long time for this and it could not have happened to better people.
  • Welcome to your family, however it was built. Delighted for you.

After loss or a difficult journey

If you know they have had a miscarriage, a stillbirth, or years of fertility treatment, a card that acknowledges it lightly usually means more than one that does not:

  • Thinking of you and holding my breath alongside you. Congratulations.
  • You have carried a lot to get here. Wishing you a gentle few months.

Do not name the loss unless you know they speak about it openly. Warmth without detail is the safer register.

What to leave out

  • Birth stories. Yours, your sister's, or anything from the internet. Nobody at 34 weeks wants them.
  • “Sleep now while you can.” Written on approximately every card ever given, and untrue.
  • Advice. Unless asked. The advice cards at the shower are the place for that.
  • Comments on their size. No version of this lands well.
  • Assumptions about the baby's sex if they have not shared it.

If you are hosting rather than attending

The host's card usually goes with the gift, and it is worth writing something longer. You are the person who organised the day; a line about why you wanted to do it is worth saying.

Printing your own

Our baby shower cards and thank you cards are editable Canva templates, so you can print a set at once and write the messages at your own pace. Print on 250 to 300 gsm cardstock so ink does not show through from the written side.

If you are the one hosting, the baby shower printables collection covers the whole event, and the advice and wishes cards are where guests can write the longer messages.

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