How to throw a freezer meal baby shower

I was recently asked to make a fill the freezer invitation for someone hosting a freezer meal baby shower, and it got me thinking about what a great idea this is for a baby shower theme!

When my oldest son was born, I remember thinking how nice it would have been to have an idea in advance about how LITTLE time you have to make real meals once the little one comes along. Or, quite frankly, how you’re simply just too TIRED to cook a hot meal some nights!

I think a stock the freezer/fill the freezer baby shower is a great idea for first OR second (or third!) baby showers – anyone with more than one kid knows how limited your time becomes.

These days, most couples already have everything they need well in advance of the little one’s arrival, so a fill the freezer party is great for even first-time parents.

There’s a couple of ways you can plan a stock the freezer party. Below, I’ll share some different ways you can organize a freezer meal baby shower, and I’ll also share some recipes that work well for freezer meals:

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Freezer meal baby shower idea #1: Hostess plans and shops for all ingredients

The baby shower hostess(es) decide on up to three recipes to make and buy all the ingredients. Guests are asked to chip in their share for the groceries prior to coming, and everyone shows up to the baby shower and it’s all hands on deck while everyone participates in making the dishes.

This is nice for a baby shower where you want to encourage everyone mingling and taking part in something memorable for the mom-to-be.

Just be sure to budget enough time for the recipes you have in mind – cutting, preparing, mixing and assembling everything will take more time.

Freezer meal baby shower idea #2: Hostess plans recipes; guests assigned ingredients to prepare and bring

This is another instance where the baby shower hostess(es) plan two or three different kinds of meals to make, but rather than having to worry about the grocery shopping, you divide all of the ingredients up among the guests that are attending and ask them to bring and prepare the ingredients in advance. For example, you might ask Aunt Judy to bring three cups of diced carrots and two cartons of chicken broth for chicken noodle soup.

Each guest gets a few ingredients they prepare and bring to the shower, then everyone gathers in the kitchen to assemble the dishes. It’s the same idea as the one above, except there’s less work for the hostesses, it frees up a bit more time at the shower since everything is already cut and prepared, and it still encourages everyone to mingle and work together to prepare meals for the family.

Freezer meal baby shower idea #3: Guests plan and bring their own assembled dish

By far the easiest type of freezer meal baby shower to plan, this type of freezer meal baby shower leaves it up to the guests to decide what kind of meal they want to bring and they take care of preparing, assembling and bringing the finished meal to the shower.

Be sure to remind guests on the invitation or when they RSVP to put everything in a freezer-ready dish like a disposable pan or large Ziploc bag. You don’t want the parents-to-be to have to worry about who brought which baking dish and returning it to them – they have enough to worry about once the little one arrives!

This is also a great way to go if you don’t have a big enough kitchen space to accommodate all the guests to assemble dishes or if you would like to provide a good variety of dishes for the family. The only downside is that you aren’t doing a hands-on activity with all the guests, but personally, I think you could do other baby shower activities or baby shower games instead and still have fun that way.

Freezer meal baby shower invitations

Once you’ve planned what type of freezer meal baby shower you’ll be having, your next step is to invite your guests. We have several freezer meal baby shower invitations in our Etsy shop that are perfect for this baby shower theme. We personalize for you and provide the PDF and JPEG file. All you have to do is email, text or print as many copies as you need!

Freezer meal baby shower invitation with blue gingham background

Blue gingham freezer meal baby shower invitation

Freezer meal baby shower invitation- navy and blush

Fill the freezer baby shower invitation - mint and coral

Mint and coral fill the freezer baby shower invitation

View all our fill the freezer baby shower invitations in our Etsy shop

Setting up your kitchen

Essential freezer meal baby shower tools — Our favourite essential freezer meal baby shower tools: measuring cups (top left); disposable pans (top right); mixing bowls (bottom left); measuring spoons (bottom right)

If you’re hosting a stock the freezer baby shower where everyone is preparing meals together, you’ll want to make sure you have these kitchen necessities on hand:

Aluminum pans with lids

Large Ziploc bags

Stainless steel mixing bowls

Ruibo baggy racks

Mixing/serving spoons

Oxo measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Cuisinart knife set

Preparing your assembly space

Remove appliances, clutter, etc. off of all counters, tables and preparation spaces. You want to make sure you have a ton of empty, open space to prepare food, set up stations, put finished meals aside, etc.
Sanitize and wipe down all preparation surfaces. Make sure to wipe down, disinfect and sanitize any food preparation surfaces so that food isn’t contaminated and working spaces are nice and clean.
Set out any kitchen utensils/tools that will be needed during preparation. Set up cutting boards, mixing bowls, pans/bags, etc.
Clean out the fridge and freezer. Even though the meals are going to the mom-to-be’s house, you’ll need to refrigerate or freeze the meals that are either being prepared or brought by guests while the baby shower is going on.
Have snacks and wine for guests! I mean, if everyone is working hard and smelling food all day, they’re bound to get a little ravenous and tempted to sneak some food, so have some easy-to-grab snacks out for guests to nibble on and wine or drinks to sip while they’re working away.

Have some good tunes. A good playlist will get everyone feeling upbeat while they work together.
Print off multiple copies of the chosen recipes. Have a few copies of each recipe lying around so that guests know what they need to do and how it needs to be assembled.
Label completed meals. Have Sharpies on-hand so that pans/bags are labelled with the meal name and cooking directions.

Great freezer meal recipes

Looking for some great freezer meal party recipes? Here are some of our favourites. These are all saved to our Freezer Meal Baby Shower Pinterest board, which also has more ideas than what’s listed here:

These are just a few ideas to get you started….again, I highly recommend perusing Pinterest for tons of freezer meal ideas and inspiration!

Other things to keep in mind

A freezer meal baby shower is pretty easy to plan and pull together. But there are a few things that should keep in mind when planning your fill the freezer shower:

Make sure the mom-to-be is aware and has a lot of freezer space available!
Have a couple of freezers available as back up and offer to bring over more meals once the ones in their freezer are used up.
Remind guests that they are participating in this or bringing a meal in lieu of gifts. You don’t want guests to feel like they have to bring both!
Ensure you have a lot of extra recipes printed, Ziploc bags and disposable pans on hand if you’re preparing meals together at the shower.
Have everything organized in advance of the shower to make sure things go as quickly and as smoothly as possible.

Labelling your freezer meals

One of the most important things that sometimes gets forgotten or overlooked is labelling your meals properly! Ensure all meals are labelled with:

The name of the dish
Oven temperature it needs to be cooked at
Any preparation instructions/directions (i.e. thaw before, cook from frozen, ingredients that need to be added, etc.)
The date the meal was prepared on

These meal prep labels make it easy for you and your guests to label your dishes for the parents-to-be.

We hope you found these freezer meal baby shower ideas helpful! We’ve also put together another post with other second baby shower theme ideas as well if you’re looking for other themes.