Before the delicious cake and fun baby shower games come the baby shower invitations! Sending these invitations and organizing your guest list is one of the most important steps in making your baby shower a success and following baby shower etiquette. Whether you’re inviting only 25 loved ones or hosting a celebration of 50, addressing and sending out baby shower invites are always a must.
Step by Step: How to Address Baby Shower Invitations
When addressing your envelopes for a baby shower invitation, make sure that you’re using the appropriate titles and formats for all of your invitees. Follow these rules on how to address baby shower invitations below before sending out your beautiful invites:
- Use black or blue ink to address envelopes.
- Use titles. When addressing your guests, use titles since a baby shower is a formal occasion. Rather than writing, “John Doe”, write “Mr. John Doe”, or rather than writing, “Jane Doe”, write “Mrs. Jane Doe”.
- Address married couples as “Mr. and Mrs. John Doe” for tradition or use “Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Doe”.
- Address an unmarried couple that lives together as “Mr. John Doe and Ms. Jane Doe”. Always use the word ‘and’ to join names in this scenario.
- Address a single woman as “Miss Jane Doe”.
- If you are unsure of a woman’s marital status, address her as “Ms. Jane Doe”.
- Use professional titles. For doctors, members of the clergy, or elected officials, use their professional title. For couples, always begin with the higher titled person. For instance, write “Dr. and Mrs. John Doe” or “Dr. Jane and Mr. John Doe” for a married couple in which only one person is a doctor. If they are both doctors, write “The Doctors Doe”. If the doctors have different last names, write “Dr. John Doe and Dr. Jane Brown”.
- Use a family title if children are invited. For instance, write “The Doe Family” if the entire family is invited. You can write the individual names of the family members inside the card.
- Spell out full addresses. Avoid abbreviations for common road names like “Street”, “Circle”, or “Avenue”, and states.
- Write all house numbers, apartment or suite numbers, and zip codes, in numeral form. The only exception is if a house number is a “1” – always spell out the “1” as “One” in this case.
Address Examples:
Addressing an envelope to a married couple:
Mr. and Mrs. John Doe
000 Maiden Lane Way
New York, New York 12345
Addressing an envelope to a professional doctor:
Dr. Jane Doe
000 East Park Circle
New York, New York 12345
Addressing an envelope to a family:
The Doe Family
000 Maiden Lane Way
New York, New York 12345
Addressing an envelope to an unmarried couple that are cohabitants:
Mr. John Smith and Ms. Jane Doe
One Cherry Way
New York, New York 12345
Whose Return Address Goes on the Baby Shower Invite?
Answer: The host’s address should go on the baby shower invite as the return address. Since the host will likely be keeping track of RSVPs and is sending out the baby shower invitations, it is proper for the host’s address to serve as the return address. Save time on writing return addresses for large guestlists by using custom address labels that match your invitations.
Follow the above guide on how to address baby shower invitations to avoid any mishaps! This is a process that is often overlooked when planning out baby shower party themes and ideas for the honoree but can easily be a stress-free task if you follow along. If you need a bit of help with what goes inside a baby shower invitation, you can use our articles on baby shower invitation wording, baby shower messages and even baby shower quotes to complete your invitation process.
