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The baby shower theme, time of day and guest list all influence the type and amount of food you'll want to serve.

Some shower themes need certain foods to carry the theme. For example, a Tea Party shower calls for tea, petite sandwiches, and bite-sized sweets.

If the shower will be held between meal times, snacks, including cut fruits and vegetables, cheese and crackers, and chips and dips, are sufficient. Just add drinks and dessert. If the shower is held at mealtime, serve an appropriate meal, such as sandwiches and deli salads for lunch or pasta, bread, and green salad for dinner.

Fruits and salads are generally popular with women, while more meat and cheese may be appropriate for a shower attended by men. If children will attend, be sure to includes some kid-friendly foods, such as macaroni and cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, baby carrots, and apple slices.

In general, don't serve alcoholic beverages at a baby showers. Tea and coffee, juice or fruit punch, and sparkling cider or sodas are good choices. An exception to the non-alcoholic rule may be justified if you have a shower theme where alcoholic beverages are an especially good fit, such as frozen drinks for a Tropical Luau or cold beer for a Wild West barbecue. Check with the mom-to-be to confirm that she won't feel left out or be tempted to partake.

What Kind of Foods?
Shower foods can range from just cake and drinks to full meals. Full meals are more work and expense. However, cake and drinks can seem a bit skimpy. Having a variety of snacks available during the shower for guests to eat as they like is a good compromise.

Everything should be ready to serve before the party. You won't have time to cook during the shower and you'll want to be with the mom-to-be and guests. Sometimes it makes life a lot easier to buy pre-prepared, take-out, or delivered foods for a shower.

How Much Food?
After several parties with way too many leftovers, I've learned to scale back the amount of food I make. People tend to eat less that usual when they're busy socializing.

However, because I wouldn't want to be caught with too little food, I buy extras that I can use later (cheese, crackers, and chips). What doesn't get eaten at the showers goes back into the pantry for snacks and lunches. Plan on 2 drinks per guest and have extra on hand.

Buy or Make?
This decision depends not only on what kind of menu you plan, but also how much time and money you have. Try to strike a balance between pre-prepared and home made foods.

Conventional wisdom says that making food costs less than buying pre-prepared foods, but many deli and restaurant foods are very reasonably priced. However, sometimes a food you really want for a party just isn't available pre-made or is outrageously expensive. Other times the quality of pre-prepared may not be up to your standards.

Once you've planned your menu, review it to identify the foods you can purchase pre-prepared that will be of acceptable quality and not cost too much. Focus your cooking efforts on the remainder of the list. Of course if you really don't like to cook or know you don't have time to spend on the kitchen, you can design the menu to rely on pre-prepared foods.

Cake & Treats
Cake or other sweet treats are expected for baby showers. Bakery departments in large grocery stores can provide a wide assortment of decorated cakes on relatively short notice. Cakes from independent bakeries are often better quality, but expect to pay more. Leave a party napkin with the baker and they'll usually do a pretty good job of matching the cake colors and decorations to the napkin design.

Cakes from store-bought mixes taste pretty good, but you need to have an appropriate pan and some basic ingredients (eggs and oil) to pull off a home-baked cake. I personally think home-baked and decorated cakes are more charming than the overly perfect bakery cakes. Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart have fun baby shower cake ideas.

If you're not an experienced baker, consider making cupcakes instead of a layer cake. You don't have to worry about a crumbling cake and cupcakes are fun and easy to decorate. Simply tint the icing a pretty color and top with sprinkles or a small piece of candy. Other advantages to cupcakes are that you avoid messy cake cutting and don't have to provide cake plates and forks.

Popular Foods
There are some foods that are a hit with just about everyone. To be on the safe side include at least some of these in your menu:

• fruit - strawberries, grapes, melons
• cheese - cubes and spreads
• crackers and breads
• carrots with ranch dressing
• cookies
• chips and pretzels
• sandwiches
• pasta and pizza