A baby shower is one of those gentle, joyful days that is all about the details. The good news is you do not need to overdo it, because the right space does most of the work for you. But a few thoughtful, well-chosen touches turn a pretty room into a proper celebration. Here is how to get there, working with what The BarnYard already gives you rather than against it.

This is a practical styling guide, not a generic Pinterest list. It assumes you are decorating one of our three baby shower spaces, so the advice is specific to what is actually in those rooms: the fairy lights, the flower wall, the courtyard, the oak beams. If you are still deciding where to host, this will help you picture each option dressed for the day.

Start with the roomChoose the space that matches your theme

The single biggest styling decision is which of our three spaces you book, because each one has a completely different starting personality. Decorate with the room rather than over it, and you save yourself money and effort.

  • The Mezzanine is our pink, soft and pretty space, set under oak rafters and beams with voile curtains for privacy. It seats up to 24, which makes it the natural choice for a smaller, intimate shower. If your theme is pastel, floral or classically "baby shower," this room is already most of the way there.
  • The Roost leans rustic and warm, with copper accents and fairy lights through the oak beams, and large picture windows looking onto our festoon-lit CourtYard. It seats up to 46, so it suits a bigger guest list. A botanical, greenery or neutral-and-gold theme sits beautifully here.
  • The Apple Barn is our characterful converted barn, draped in hundreds of fairy lights with original oak throughout, seating up to 36. Choose this if you want a more dramatic rustic backdrop with plenty of room to make your own.

Match the room to your colours first, and every decorating decision after that becomes easier. You can see all three spaces here and picture your theme in each.

Pick a threadLet one theme tie it all together

A theme is the thread that pulls everything else into place: your colours, your flowers, your table and your cake. Let the parents-to-be lead it, and let the season help. Soft florals and pastels feel right in spring, while warm woodland tones and foliage suit autumn and winter, and they happen to complement our oak and copper interiors beautifully.

It does not need to be elaborate. Even a simple two-colour palette, chosen well and carried all the way through, from the napkins to the balloons to the cake, looks far more put-together than a dozen clashing ideas competing for attention. Pick your palette, then be disciplined about it.

The quiet heroYou already have the lighting

Lighting is the thing that makes a space feel warm, intimate and special, and it is usually the first thing people try to add and the easiest to get wrong. Here is the part that saves you the most effort: all three of our baby shower spaces come draped in fairy lights as standard, and The Roost looks out onto a CourtYard strung with festoons. You are not starting from a blank, bright room. You are starting from a glow.

That means you can spend your decorating budget on the things that are personal to you rather than on trying to warm up a cold space. If you do want to layer in more light, one important note: like most venues, we do not allow real candles, for fire-safety reasons. The good news is that LED candles and a few extra strings of warm-white fairy lights give you exactly the same soft, romantic effect with none of the risk. Battery-operated lights tucked into a table runner or a floral centrepiece do a lot of quiet work.

The photo momentBuild the day around one backdrop

Every baby shower wants a spot where guests gather for photos, and it is worth deciding where that is before you decorate anything else. If you are in the Mezzanine, the decision is made for you: it has a lush flower wall and a neon sign built in, which is the kind of photo backdrop people otherwise hire in specially. Style your dessert table or your gift table in front of it and you have your hero shot sorted.

In The Roost or The Apple Barn, create your own focal point: a balloon arch, a fabric backdrop, or a cluster of foliage and lights against the oak. Keep it in one defined corner rather than spreading decoration thinly around the whole room. A single, well-styled feature wall photographs far better than a dozen small touches scattered about, and it gives your guests an obvious place to take pictures with the mum-to-be.

Make it personalThe details guests actually remember

The touches people remember are the personal ones, not the expensive ones. A few framed photos, a guest book, a little keepsake to take home. Our favourite idea is a photo timeline: the parents-to-be from their own baby pictures right up to today, strung along a wall or pegged to a length of twine. It is a lovely talking point, a sweet way to tell the story of the day, and it costs almost nothing to put together.

Other small wins: a wishes-for-baby card station, a simple table of predictions, or a single beautiful centrepiece on each table rather than clutter. Choose two or three personal elements and do them well. A baby shower does not need to be busy to feel thoughtful.

Style the food tooLet the table be part of the decor

Your food is one of your biggest visual elements, so let it earn its place. Everything at a BarnYard baby shower is cooked and prepared by our own restaurant team, and the two most popular choices both happen to look beautiful on a styled table.

The Special High Tea arrives on tiered stands: finger sandwiches, warm fruit and plain scones with clotted cream and jam, a selection of our chef's homemade cakes, chocolate-dipped strawberries and our marvellous marshmallows, served with ground coffee or English breakfast tea and homemade lemonade with fresh mint. Tiered stands give your tables instant height and prettiness with no extra styling required. The Mediterranean Grazing Board is the other favourite, a generous sharing board of cured meats, English cheeses, olives, crudités with caramelised onion hummus, fresh fruits and warm flatbreads, designed for the table to share (minimum eight guests). A grazing board is decoration in its own right, so let it be the centrepiece rather than hiding it.

Whichever you choose, leave the food room to be seen. Crowding the table with props takes away from the thing your guests are most looking forward to.

Comfort firstPretty is lovely, comfortable is what they remember

Pretty gets the photos, but comfortable is what makes people stay, relax and actually enjoy themselves. Think about the flow of the day and create little zones for it: a comfy armchair for the mum-to-be to sit and open her gifts, soft seating for catching up, and a clear, dedicated table for the food and the cake so nothing has to be shuffled around mid-celebration.

If your shower falls in the warmer months and you are in The Roost, remember the CourtYard just outside is an enclosed sun-trap through wide glass doors, a lovely overflow space for guests to drift into. And if someone wants to bring the family dog along, they are welcome in the CourtYard too, just not inside the main buildings. Get the comfort right and the celebration rather looks after itself.

Before you startA few practical notes

A handful of things worth knowing as you plan your styling and your day:

  • The team handles the setup. Our restaurant team takes care of baby showers from start to finish, so you are not setting up and clearing down alone. Tell us your vision and we will help you bring it to life.
  • Confirm dietary needs when you book. Any allergies or dietary requirements need to be flagged at the time of booking, as they cannot be sorted on the day. Vegetarian, vegan and children's options are available.
  • Take-away for anyone who misses it. If a guest cannot make it on the day, High Tea take-away is available for non-attendees, so nobody misses out.
  • The bill. Prices include VAT, waitressing, napkins, crockery and cutlery, with an optional 10% gratuity, and we issue one bill per table.

However you choose to style it, the best baby showers feel warm, personal and unhurried. Pick the space that matches your theme, lean on the lighting that is already there, add a few touches that mean something, and you are most of the way to a beautiful day.