I’m just going to go ahead and admit this…I’m guilty of indulging in shows like The Real Housewives of…oh, it doesn’t matter what city, I’ll watch it and Southern Charm. Mindless television is my guilty pleasure that I like to use to decompress from a long day. I did, however, learn something useful from Southern Charm. During one of the episodes, they hosted a “sip and see”. I thought to myself, “What a great idea!” Maybe you’ve heard of it or attended one before. This is a wonderful way for couples to host a party to let everyone see their new bundle of joy.
The parents, family members or friends host a sip and see. The best part is that it’s on the parents’ terms when they are feeling up to having visitors. I can remember being a new parent and in the beginning it was hard to get acclimated to feeding schedules, no sleep and most days I wasn’t really feeling up to having a lot of visitors (especially since I found taking a shower to be challenging in the beginning). The sip and see is ideal, because well-wishers know they will have an opportunity to see baby without surprising the new parents. Another advantage is it helps take the attention off mommy and onto the new baby. I don’t know about you, but I always felt a little awkward about being the center of attention at one of my baby showers especially since I had gained 70 pounds with my one! To say that I wasn’t feeling like myself was an understatement. The sip and see is perfect because mommy decides when she feels her best for visitors.
What exactly do you do at a sip and see? Well, you literally sip and see the baby. Guests have a drink. Something like champagne is appropriate or whatever you choose to serve and check out the new baby. The best part is you don’t have to plan any baby shower games.
So you’ve decided to host a sip and see. Now what? Once you’ve decided on a day and time. You’ll need to send out invitations. Something like this cute invitation with a champagne glass and baby bottle. 
Next up is deciding on what you’ll serve guests. Remember, the time of day determines the scale of food you need to serve. If you’re hosting a morning event, say around 11:00 am it is customary to serve brunch. If you’re hosting at 2:00 pm you can get by with serving light snacks and anything after 5:00 pm you should consider serving heavy hors devours or dinner. A sip and see is typically less fussy and is considered more of a come and go kind of thing. Think of it in terms of an open house.
Now comes my favorite part….decorations! The whole idea of a sip and see is to keep it casual and relaxing so if you’re not really into a lot of decorations this is perfect for you. You don’t even have to decorate if you don’t want to, but I like to add my own little extra something special.
• For any gathering, a mimosa bar is fun and adds a little pizazz to any event. This is easy to accomplish and looks amazing. I also love it as it works twofold, because it doubles for people that drink alcohol and the people that don’t. Display your selection of juices in pretty containers, fruit selections in bowls and then add champagne bottles. This allows guests to drink with or without alcohol and allows them to control the amount of alcohol in their drink. This mimosa bar is the perfect backdrop for any party.
• To create this look you’ll need crepe paper streamers and paper lanterns. Plastic champagne glasses are an excellent alternative to the real deal and helps to avoid doing dishes all night.
• A great way to utilize balloons is this cute “Hello baby” backdrop.
• Set out framed newborn pictures for guests to see.
• Set up a table with notecards and pens for guests to leave personal notes to the baby. After the party, place the notecards in a shadow box for a baby keepsake.
Don’t forget to set up a gift table even if you’ve requested no gifts many people will want to bring something. Typically, at a sip and see gifts are opened after the guests leave.
Of course, you’ll want to have a camera handy to snap pictures with your guests and baby.
The absolute most important thing to remember about a sip and see is to relax and celebrate your beautiful new addition to your family with friends and family.
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