Baby Shower Bib Decorating Ideas

Baby Shower Onesie Decorating

A baby shower onesie decorating station that's actually cute? You betcha. No puff paint here, folks. Just a whole bunch of tricks you've never seen before for the ultimate baby shower activity idea.

One of my best girlfriends is having a baby! We celebrated her recently with a baby shower and I was put in charge of the baby shower onesie decorating.

I was kind of stumped at first, because I didn't want my sweet friend to end up with a pile of onesies with smeared puff-paint all over them. We can do better than that, right?! Right. I really wanted to make a baby shower onesie decorating station that doesn't suck.

So I thought and thought and came up with a few ideas so that guests could make quick, easy decorated baby clothes that would look cute enough to actually put on the kid. Hopefully this helps a whole generation of baby shower planners to dodge the puff-paint bullet. Read on to see what we put together.

Psst! Here's another onesie decorating idea that I used when we were having Henry!

Supplies You'll Need

Printable Baby Shower Onesie Decorating Instruction Sheet
Plain baby clothes with no designs, in varying sizes
Fabric dye
Fabric markers
Fabric Fusion sheets
Iron-on vinyl
Iron-on letters
Iron
Optional: Cricut machine
Scissors

A Baby Shower Onesie Decorating Station that doesn't Suck!

My first and favorite tip? Use more than just onesies! We had the idea to branch out and include other pieces so that our girl didn't end up with an overabundance of any one style. We used onesies, t-shirts, leggings, shorts, and headbands.

Use clothing pieces in a variety of sizes as well, so that baby can grow into some of them and use them for a while to come.

Repurpose Onesies

A good number of the onesies we used came from another mama's stash whose kids are now grown. We salvaged the ones that were in good shape and I gave them a dye job. We used a few different colors to mix it up. I used some good old fashioned RIT dye in bright colors, leaving the onesies in the dye bath for various amounts of time to create different saturations of color.

Four Ways to Decorate Onesies

I planned a few different mediums and methods for guests to use while they were decorating the onesies. The key to baby shower onesie decorating? Leave the puff paint out of it.

Fabric Markers. We provided fabric markers and stencils so guests could either freehand designs or use stencils to make them a little more tidy.
Iron-On Letters. We got a bunch of iron-on letters and had an iron on hand. These are super easy to use (just like we did in this post!) and make for fun designs. Just peel off the letters and iron them on.
Iron-On Vinyl. Because I have a Cricut machine, I could easily prep some designs in the iron-on vinyl material and have them ready for guests. Guests just cut out the piece of the design that they wanted and ironed it right onto the clothing. It was fun to see what they would mix and match! If you have a Cricut too, you can just upload some quick designs and cut them out of a 12″ x 12″ piece of vinyl. A few designs go a long way.
Fabric Fusion Sheets I got a few sheets of Fabric Fusion Sheets and prepped them ahead of time. To do this, peel off one side of the backing on a sheet of Fabric Fusion and stick the sheet to the wrong side of a rectangle of fabric. Give your guests scissors to cut shapes out of the prepped fabric. Once a shape is cut, peel off the other side of the backing and adhere it to your onesie. That simple! Running it through the dryer will set the adhesive.

Be sure to Leave Instructions

I prepped a sheet of instructions to leave on the onesie decorating table so that guests could make sense of everything.

DOWNLOAD THE ONESIE STATION PRINTABLE

Click below to download the instruction sheet. It's a perfect way to give your guests instructions on how to decorate the onesies and not have to monitor the area the whole time!

Supplies for Baby Shower Onesie Decorating

I stocked the table with a few extra supplies: scissors, pens/pencils, scrap paper, a couple of irons, and a small ironing board.

I was so happy to see the results of all this planning! Baby ended up with a whole pile of clothes that are definitely cute enough to wear for a good long time. Everybody had a good time figuring out how to decorate their pieces, and it was all pretty quick and easy. And I'm still feeling pretty smug for making a baby shower onesie decorating station that doesn't suck. xoxo

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Materials

Plain baby clothes
Optional: fabric dye
Fabric Markers
Iron on vinyl
Fabric
Iron on letters
Fabric fusion sheets

Instructions

Start by dyeing any baby clothes that you'd like.
Prep iron-on vinyl sheets by pre-cutting cute designs
Prep fabric by applying Fabric Fusion sheets to the back of it.
Print out our Onesie Decorating Station Instructions
Set up your station. Supply blank baby clothes, fabric pens, iron on letters, iron on vinyl, and prepped fabric on a large table with space to work. Set up an iron if anybody needs it. Set out the instructions for guests to read.
Let guests get creative and make baby some fun attire!