I am having a baby shower for my daughter in law and I would like to make it very special, any great ideas? It's our first grandchild and I would like her to say, WOW! I can't believe she did that all! Any great ideas appreciated!
Thanks!
Everyone thinks to get things for when the baby is born, but for those who are having their first baby, and cannot use hand-me-downs, buy in the next size range. Also, buy diapers in the next size range. Babies grow fast, and while it is nice to have supplies for the here and now, it is also nice to have a few things for the next size to come. (08/02/2004)
By KLS8800
One more tip, after the baby is born, take the t-shirt the hospital the baby was born at (usually they say something like 'I ws born at _______ hospital'). and the wrapping paper from the baby shower. Buy a large picture frame (poster size, maybe?) use the wrapping paper as a background, put the shirt in the center, then in each corner something related to the baby. i.e., baby's first photo, booties, birth announcement, and a photo of all family members. (08/02/2004)
By KLS8800
At my sister in laws shower they had a few rubber duckies floating in the punch bowl! It was so cute. Then they surrounded the bowl with a pink and blue flower ring. They had 5 round tables covered in white cloths with pink and blue fabric draped over them in a crisscross pattern with pink and blue place settings and a little gift, wrapped in tulle , on each plate. (They had votives in a cup). Good luck! (08/02/2004)
By kathy
There is a site on the internet. http://www.babyshowergamesatoz.com that has all kinds of ideas for a fabulous baby shower. Games and themes.
MarySue (08/02/2004)
By ThriftyFun
I have done several baby showers for friends and these are some of the ideas we did...
1. I bought a baby bath tub that did not have the sponge thing glued in the bottom. It actually was one of those that had the insert for tiny infants to lay on and then you could remove it for when they were older. We set the insert aside to give to her later. We filled this with punch (depending on the amount of people at the shower, you could just fill it with ice and set a punch bowl into the ice) and we put rubber duckies to float in the punch. This takes care of having a center piece as well. The tub and tub toys were gifts for her to keep. You could add to this by laying a baby towel or baby washcloth near the tub. But you also take a chance of punch dripping on them and staining them as well.
2. For a simple cake, bake a sheet cake and 3-4 cupcakes. If this is a party where kids are welcome, you may want to make cupcakes for them anyway. Once cupcakes are cooked, cut straight edges to form a block. These are baby building blocks. Ice the sheet cake and then put a "base coat" of icing on each block before setting on to cake. You could even fully decorate each block and then set on cake too. Put two almost side by side and stack one on top of those two and then set one across the other side of the cake.
3. One friend of ours decorated her sons room nautical themed and so the shower was all done in nautical items for her to take home and use in her sons room. The cake I made to look like sea waves and placed toy boats all over it. If you know the theme of the nursery, you can decorate the party with that theme for mommy to use in nursery.
4. Most people know the typical games you play at baby showers but some different fun ones are to make a "clothesline" out of some string and tie both ends to chair backs or something sturdy. Clip clothespins all the way across it. Each person gets one minute (or two if you want) to see how many clothespins they can get off the line only using one hand. They have to collect as many clothespins in the same hand they use to take them off the line.
Fill a bowl with rice. Buy those tiny safety pins and dump them into the bowl of rice. To make the odds higher, don't use the whole package of pins. But you want enough to keep from having a ties. With each turn the person must be blindfolded and dig out as many safety pins as possible. You can set up more than one bowl if there are a lot of people. Set a time (usually one or two minutes) and keep track of how many safety pins each person can fish out. The one that gets the most wins.
For name tags you can make folding baby diapers out of paper or card stock. This could be as simple as a folding triangle. You can use tiny safety pins or you can buy stickers of safety pins to keep the fold closed. Or even use an ice pick or tiny hole punch and punch two holes at top of diaper and put a blue or pink bow through it tying on front. If you don't know the sex of baby yet, use yellow or green ribbon. You will need at least one tiny safety pin for them to pin the name tag on. Make these up ahead of time. One or two diapers you place a sticker, draw a brown blob for pooples, whatever you decide. and either tape it shut or use the safety pins or whatever. Most people would just take the name tag and write their name on it, or the host can do so and they would pin it on without looking further or the host could pin it on to avoid inspections. Later in the party announce that everyone must take their name tags off and whoever has the "Pooples" wins the door prize(s).
Buy 6-8 different jars of baby food. Number each jar on the lid and keep a list of which number is what. Take the labels off and either set them in an envelope or fold up and tape to bottom of jar. These will go to mommy as a gift once party is over. Hand each person a pencil and paper and have them try to guess what each food is. The good ones that stump them are the sweet potatoes and carrots and the squash. Try to find some that are real close to looking the same to stump people. Don't give them a list of options, let them come up with things on their own. It is quite comical sometimes! The one with the most right wins.
Take some pampers and using the bite size candy bars, put one in each pamper. (For pooples) The best way to do this is to buy the mixed bags. (Mr. Godobar, Krackle, Hershey Dark, Hershey Plain, Hershey Almond, Snickers, etc.) Place in microwave or oven just long enough to melt the chocolate. Another option is to soften on a plate in microwave then scoop into pamper. Put a # on each pamper and pass them around for each person to guess what kind of candy bar each one is. For best effects, do this right as most people have arrived and while chocolate is still gewy. Again, they will need paper and pencil and the one that gets the most right will win.
Then there are simpler, more common games like everyone wears a safety pin and nobody can say "baby" or the babys name, etc. And if someone catches you they take your pin. Set up the rule ahead of time that if someone has a bunch of pins, do they lose only one or ALL if they mess up. The one with the most pins at the end wins. If someone has to leave early, write her number down just in case she wins.
Fill a baby bottle with jelly beans or M&M's (pink and white or all pink, blue and white or all blue or just mixed) and have everyone guess how many are in the bottle.
Game prizes or door prizes are simple and easy. You can buy candles, dish towels, journals, lotions, magnets, notepads, etc. Just about anything and it can be a dollar or two on up. You can wrap each one and have them pick one sight unseen.
If you have a small amount of guests and want to pamper each one, OR include them in this game, you can do the Chinese Swap like a lot of businesses do at Christmas. Each person brings a wrapped gift (Kept in the range of $5-10 or less if you prefer) and you draw numbers. In order, each person picks a gift. #1 has a wide range to pick from and they open their gift. #2 Can either take #1's gift, or pick a new one. If they take someone elses gift, the other person gets to pick a new gift. We play where you can only "steal" a gift up to three times. Whoever the third "thief" is will be the final owner. Once everyone has gone, #1 gets to go again and either keep their gift or steal from someone else. If you buy the gifts you can either use those tickets with a number on each end to where you give each person half the ticket and you keep the other half and put in a bowl to draw from.
Not everyone would be willing to bring a gift for mommy AND an extra gift, but you know your guests and if you think they would go along with it, just be sure they understand that the second gift is not for the baby or mommy, but to play a game and it needs to be universal. If you are buying the gifts, you will want to come up with a different item for each gift to keep the game going. This is fun with more people, but also takes time.
When planning your games keep time in mind. Also, keep on hand extra prizes in case of a tie. (08/02/2004)
By Tawnda
I went to one of my friends baby shower and her mom had bought a pack of diapers and fixed them to where that they would sit up on the table and then she put chocolate candies in them like chocolate peanuts, it sounds kinda funny but i thought that it was kinda neat cause i had never seen it before and another thing is at my baby shower they made little bags with the color blue or pink mine was blue and put a little note in it that just said thank you for the gift and i really appreciate it and now heres a little something for you. I thought that was cute my mother in law made them. you can also buy the baby confetti at most dollar stores or party stores for cheap and that is really cute spread around on the tables. my mother in law makes homemade mints and she made them in the shape of a baby bootie for my baby shower and they were really cute. If you want the recipe you can email me at eescott182002 AT yahoo.com and I will give it to you. I hope this helps and I hope that the baby shower goes really well. (08/02/2004)
By Erricka
My sister did not know the gender of her baby when we had the shower, so we had the entire guest list divided into teams: The Little Lady-bugs and The Bumble"B" is for Boy teams. I used stickers on the name tags for each team. I made a poster with two columns and a cartoon of a baby saying "what am I?" Each time someone won one of the shower games, I put a sticker under their column - and at the end of the day counted a total for boy or girl. Girl won by a few stickers, but the baby ended up being a boy. Everyone was really into it and it tied the whole day together.
We also made up messages for the baby. I copied a whole bunch of words at random on to card stock, and cut them out. Each person drew 12 words from the hat and had to make a message to either the mother or baby from those words. My words were from a set called "Rubber Stamp Poet" and many were not related to babies at all. These were really really fun. (08/03/2004)
By QueenBeeCrafts
For my daughter's baby shower-I made a cake to look like the "cabbage patch". A regular cake with a thin layer of icing, crushed oreo cookies for the "dirt", brussel sprouts - leaves pulled open a little for the "cabbages", the small plastic "babies" under each cabbage and miniature garden tools, hoes, rakes, shovels etc. Very cute, and inexpensive. (10/19/2004)
By Gena Rae
A game that was a lot of fun "going to the hospital". You'll need an overnight bag, gown, baby clothes, hat, coat etc. The object of the game is to get these items together and be ready at a moments notice to get to the hospital. Hubby is waiting in the car and you are in labor and need to get to the car. It's a timed game, fun and active. (10/19/2004)
By Gena Rae
I know this isnt a shower but this is what I had gotten for a shower (I was in the military the base had one other female who hosted!) It is called a beer party...mostly for the men. You tell them what size/brand of diaper to bring and you supply the beer...Beer and liquor are so much cheaper than a big bag of diapers. I suggest go easy on the new borns and size ones and go mostly to size 3 and 4's. Try having your husband throw it for you. Invite every one including wifes (they will bring an extra gift usually and drive the men home!), co-workers, friends, family. I will be well worth the effort. I made out and didn't buy diapers for 6 month and had left over small ones she grew out of for when my son came! (01/22/2005)
By reallyfudged
I am having my first baby, i decided to go with M&M's as my theme. I need some ideas on throwing a M&M's baby shower. (02/10/2005)
By Gina W.
I also had a shower for my first Granddaughter. When we sent invitations we inserted a MOM'S WISH LIST with the little extras she needed. She got enough bath items, diapers, etc to last the first year probably. One thing I focused on was buying the KEEPSAKE items every grandma wants to see it have: a baby book, baby photo album, a christening gown/with blanket, bonnet and shoes. I also made a baby quilt. Not real fancy one she can drag around later that Mama gave her. One last thing I included in her keepsake gift I had seen done many years ago. It is a bonnet you hand make from a plain handkerchief. Don't know how to tell you how to do it. Just work with it until you figure out the design. It has a poem with it which reads:
"I'm just a little hanky as square as square can be But ribbons and some stitching made a bonnet out of me. I'll be worn home from the hospital or on a christening day. Then washed and pressed and neatly packed and carefully put away".
You've heard the little saying that every Bride's been told. To have good luck she has to wear some little thing that's old. So what would be more fitting than to take me out and then to snip some stitches here and there and use me once again. A wedding hanky I would be and I would do my best to hide a blush or wipe away a tear of happiness. But if I'm given to a boy I'm sure that someday he will have a lovely little bride and she could carry me.
By the way, I also bought a DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL picture frame for the keepsake box from Mama.
Good luck and congratulations. My granddaughter is 3 weeks old and I'm still on cloud 9! (04/05/2005)
By Sharon
A surprise baby shower was given for my sister-in-law at my house. (She wasn't expecting a shower as this was her 2nd baby). We stung a clothes line across the front porch. To the clothes line we pinned bibs, baby teeshirts, booties, etc. Many of these items were things from her first baby, which the grandmas and aunts still had at our houses. Others were items from "mom to be's" own infancy, which her Mom still had as keepsakes. Not only did it let the guest know they had found the right house, but sent expectant mom into tears to see items from the infancy of her first child, as well as herself. (06/03/2005)
By Tushanna
Another game... Each person gets clothespin that they pin somewhere on themselves. Throughout the shower no one can use the word "baby". If you do and another guest catches you, they take your clothespin. The object of course is to collect the most clothespins and the winner gets a small gift. Always good for some laughs. it is pretty hard NOT to use the word baby at a bay shower! (06/19/2005)
By
I am looking for a baby shower thank you card that can be printed at home. The one I'm wanting is a baby bootie cut out from paper with a message from the unborn babies point of view. (10/19/2007)
By shelby
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