HELP! I have to throw a baby shower

[joelsgirl]

IN THREE DAYS, and I have no ideas for what to do. Well, that's not totally true, I have Teresa's cute little Baby Shower goodies to copy, but I don't even know what goes ON at a baby shower, since all my girlfriends have been having babies while we've been overseas. So can you gals PLEASE help me out???

I'll take anything you got...games, activities, anything to make it special.

Big hugs!
Kellie

[krystalhartley]

Baby showers are so not my thing, but I have found other great party games/themes suggestions at Party 411

http://www.party411.com/babyshower.html

Good luck!

[brooke22]

A naming game is always fun. Hand out bits of paper and pens, get everyone to write down their top funny baby names (not serious ones) about 3 to 5 depending on how many people you have. Then they all get handed to the mother and she has to read them out and guess which one of the guests made the suggestions.

Also get a large square of material, any sort will do, a couple of packets of cotton balls, a large metal spoon, a bowl and a blindfold. Scatter the cotton balls on the material, blind fold a guest and get them on their hands and knees with the spoon. Get the guest to use the spoon, and only the spoon to scoop the cotton balls up and put them in the bowl. Its REALLY hard because cotton balls weigh about nothing and when you scoop them on a metal spoon more times then not you will only have about 1 at most because you cant feel if you've got any or not (unless you cheat and use your other hand)
Then when they have finished you count who has the most cotton balls.

Then of course there is the old dirty diaper game: Melt a different candy bar in each diaper, label them with a number and pass them around the room to the guests. They have to smell and look at the mess in the diaper and write down what candy bar they think it is.

Good luck with the baby shower! How fun!!

[wildblueeyez]

wow...3 days??

the baby food game is always fun. Buy about 20 jars of baby food (buy duplicates of a few) and remove the labels. guests have to pass around and try to guess what baby food is in the jar without opening the jar. Before the party, number each jar and do a master list of what each number is (1 - carrots, 2 - green beans, etc.) Once the game is over, give Mom the jars of food and the list of what each jar is.

Good luck Kellie!!

[Emmy]

I'm anti-game when it comes to baby showers. :thumbdown: I'm all about just chit chatting and the guests eating snacks while mama to be opens gifts. Wrap up with serving cake.

[wildblueeyez]

I'm anti-game when it comes to baby showers. :thumbdown: I'm all about just chit chatting and the guests eating snacks while mama to be opens gifts. Wrap up with serving cake.

I have to say, after attending my very FIRST non-traditional baby shower (no baby games, etc.), it was very nice not to have those certain guests who MUST win all the games and all the prizes!!! LOL

The baby shower was held at an upscale restaurant (not ritzy but not Denny's either!! LOL) and we went and had brunch which was a huge spread and socialized while the Momma opened her gifts. Very laid back shower and very relaxing and FUN!!!

[becca372]

hahaha...glad I'm not the only one "anti-game"...I get too easily annoyed when the same people win mulitple times, or when the game seems that it might be rigged.

What we did at my showers (and it was a hit!) was we got a small piggy bank, and had everyone "buy" a raffle ticket--they could put in as much as they wanted (seriously, a penny was fine), write their name on a slip (just one!), and then we drew names for prizes. It was fun, and gaurenteed an equal chance for everyone. PLUS we were able to turn that money around into starting a savings account for our daughter! By the time both of my showers were done, we had over $40!

Other than that, just visiting, eating, cake and presents...that was my showers, and I LOVED them.

[scarletsierra]

I threw a shower for my friend not too long ago. I'm generally "meh" about the baby shower games too, but lots of people like them and she wanted a few. We did a a couple on paper: the baby word scramble, the how many words can you make with the letters in baby's name game, and the match the baby animal to its mommy game (eg gosling and goose, cub and bear, etc with some tricky ones thrown in). And then I also did the candy game (not the diaper one though)...this one is where you have a bunch of different candies (like 100 grand, baby ruth and milky way and a whole bunch of others) and place them on a tray in the center of everyone. Then you call out certain baby related phrases or words and they have to guess which candy bar matches it. (e.g. breastfeeding = milky way). Everyone remarked they liked that one a lot and hadn't played it at showers before.

Another thing I did that my friend really loved was I took a photo of each guest and asked them to write some well wishes and/or words of wisdom on a card. Then I compiled them with the photos in a cute album and gave them to my friend.

But mostly we just enjoyed time chatting and noshing on goodies and appetizers and watching my friend open her gifts. :)

GL and have fun! I'm sure you'll come up with a fabulous day!

[Megan Turnidge]

Another gal who dislikes shower games! So did my SIL, so I found some low-key games. I made little cards for each but I can't find the other one. THe first game was "Price is Right." I had a basket of baby items for the mom and the guests had to guess the total cost of the basket. CLosest one got a prize. Second game was also giftelated: Gift bingo. I'm sure you've heard of that one. Guests fill out their cards with items they think mom will get. As she opens presents, they cross off stuff on their cards...
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/mturnidge/bingo.jpg

[Amy Carey]

I've thrown several baby showers and never did games either. I do have a few cute decorating tips for you. I cut down a branch from a tree in my hard and stripped it bare and then spray painted it white and put it in a bucket....I think we even used a sand toy bucket one year for this, lol and then hung various items from it like paci's, rattles, baby socks, you know, all those LITTLE baby things. And tied a few bows of pretty ribbon on it. it made a really pretty center piece. I also took baby bottles and took the nipples off and used them as "vases" for cut flowers....this particular shower was in the spring so we used daffodils, but gerber daisies or zinnias would be pretty for this time of year.

OH and don't forget a corsage for the mommy-to-be. We found one at a department store that the flowers were made out of lacy baby socks but you could just order a real one from the florist too.

[kscwgirl]

I'm another one that's not big on games.

the diaper cakes are fun though. You should make one of those...... :)

[Sari]

I'm another one that is anti-game. I'd rather just eat and chat and maybe do something fun for the mom-to-be.

At my shower, my mom and best friend had everyone decorate onesies. It was really fun and then I had a ton of cute onesies in all sizes for the baby. Just buy some packages of plain white onesies and some paint (they had puffy paint) and have everyone decorate them with whatever they want.

[SaraAmarie]

Wow I am surprised at how many don't like games! I love the games! lol

The melted candy in the diaper is fun along with guessing what kind of baby food is in the unlabeled jars like mentioned above are fun. Another one that is fun that my sis did for my shower- they found tiny (like an inch long) babies and froze them in ice cubes. Everyone got one in their drink and the first baby to be born-to melt out of their cube was the winner.

Something I have seen that is kind of nice is instead of having prizes for the winners, they had baby stuff and the "prizes" were given to the mother to be.

Another thing that is handy is to have everyone address an envelope when they come in. That way the mother is that much closer for her thank-you cards.

Good luck with your planning!

[lizzyfizzy]

i like the idea of just chatting and hanging out. i would do at least one fun game, the bingo was cute!

[aggiefamily]

I make diaper wreaths (I sell them also) when I am a hostess for a shower.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/aggiefamily/5-10-20072-14-03PM_0082.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/aggiefamily/IMG_4941.jpg

Most of the showers I go to are just chatting, eating and opening gifts.

[lizzyfizzy]

amanda, those wreaths are so fun! what a clever gift idea!

side note: my lil sister is expecting her first in nov and she finds out what she is having next week! yay. =)

[mommyofphoenix07]

Ok woah. When my bff finds out what she's having I totally need to talk to you about buying one of those. That is one of the most awesome gifts I've ever seen! I probably won't get to make her baby shower because she's gonna be in NC and at that time I assume I will be in TX. But I can mail it to her! That's really awesome looking! I wish I was NEAR that crafty.

I make diaper wreaths (I sell them also) when I am a hostess for a shower.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/aggiefamily/5-10-20072-14-03PM_0082.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n318/aggiefamily/IMG_4941.jpg

Most of the showers I go to are just chatting, eating and opening gifts.

[wildblueeyez]

There will be a lil hybrid something on Sara Amarie's blog on Weds. that fits in with this thread :thumbup:

[nun69]

BTW...LOVE those wreaths, is it the same concept as making the diaper cakes? I made this diaper cake for my SIL, but it ended up being way more EXPENSIVE than I thought, but she did LOVE IT! I am helping host a baby shower on Sunday and we are gonna do the "my water broke" game...
IDEA: find some little minitarue babies, put them in ice cube trays, making ice cubes, then everyone puts an ice cube with a baby in their drink and the first person's baby to float to the top says "my water broke" and wins a prize!

BTW: I HATE that match the baby with it's mom game...basically 'cause I SUCK at it!

I like the diaper tasting game....melt different candy bars in a diaper, give everyone enough popsicle sticks to try each diaper and pass them around and see who gets the most right for the kind of candy bar that was in the diaper {we are gonna try this too}

and if you do the baby food game, only do between 5-7 jars, we did 10 jars and that was way too many and took too long...

HTH~
http://www.acherryontop.com/i/gallery2/70763-490.jpg
http://www.acherryontop.com/i/gallery2/70776-490.jpg

[wildblueeyez]

I've been finding the cutest little baby crafts to do - I love diaper cakes!! haven't tried one yet but it's on my to-do list!!!

[tanbanan]

i'm lovin' all of these ideas. . .now on to the food!

I love to serve this Pasta Salad at showers
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/tanbanan/Chicken-Pasta-Salad.jpg

[lizzyfizzy]

yummy tana!!!