Incredible Adoption Shower

[jacobsmom]

I need some help and ideas--quick! I'm throwing a shower for a friend who is adopting a little boy who has special needs. His favorite color is RED so I immediately though : what an INCREDIBLE family! That could be the theme!!!

What do you think of:You’re Invited to join us : Showering an INCREDIBLE new family helping SUPER mom _______________ as she prepares for her new life mission adopting _______________.
Date: ________________________ Time:______________________ Location:_____________________ etc.????

We will be serving brunch food (cuz it's easy to make and have on hand for lots of people) I was thinking lots of RED balloons, Red candy (licorice, m&m's, etc.) and toys on tables
What do you think? Do you have any thoughts or ideas?? I could really use some help here...

 

[crisi]

As an adoptive mom who had a shower, make sure to put the size the little boy is (or better yet, will soon be) on the invitations. People don't think things through and think "baby shower" and get the most inappropriate things.

 

[PEANUT1]

that is a really cute idea. make sure to get a list from her as to what she needs for the little boy. people attending are going to need lots of ideas.

 

[DawnM]

I adopted a "special needs" boy from China in '06.

Just to forwarn those buying clothing items.....suggest they get BIGGER than they think.

I was given a chart for kids born in China and told my 2.5 year old would probably be around 18 months in size. He fit a 3T !!!!!! He was larger than my bio boys were at his age!

So, just a suggestion for sizes, they can always grow into them, but they cannot fit smaller sizes.

Dawn

 

[DVCJEN]

I adopted a "special needs" boy from China in '06.

Just to forwarn those buying clothing items.....suggest they get BIGGER than they think.

I was given a chart for kids born in China and told my 2.5 year old would probably be around 18 months in size. He fit a 3T !!!!!! He was larger than my bio boys were at his age!

So, just a suggestion for sizes, they can always grow into them, but they cannot fit smaller sizes.

Dawn

This made me laugh! My DS is 33 months old. He came home to us from Korea. He is in the 97th percentile for height on the American growth chart. He is TALL! Our adoption agency had given us info and growth charts for Korean children and he was off the charts too!

 

[islandbabe]

OP -- what a great idea. Your friend will appreciate all of your hard work and the creativity you are putting into her shower. We adopted two children from Russia in 2005 and my family had a shower for us before we brought the kids home. It's no different than with bio kids, you're more excited than anything and you need lots of stuff!!!!

Ditto the posters who said that people always think "baby." Remind them of sizes and really emphasize where your friend is registered (if she is). The registries are not very adoption friendly so if she wasn't able to register maybe she could give you a list of suggestions.

And, just to be different. Our children were, and still are, smaller than their peers so you just never can tell about this size thing. They're also very bendy so I'm thinking tiny little Russian gymnasts. Where are the Olympics going to be in 15 years???

 

[eeyore3847]

I think this is the nicest thing you are doing for your friend.
and I think if she needs a 2t you should have people buy 3t's.
thanks
lori

 

[Cavners5]

That is absolutely amazing. We got our DD when she was 2 days old. She was a safe haven baby. But we had been planning for 3 years on getting a DD, so I had everything , and do I mean everything. I had no idea what sizes to buy, or how old our daughter would be...so I had 0-4T......

I think the Incredibles is a great idea. Also Cars things for the little boy would be great also.

 

[TheDizMom]

You might want to find out if there are any items that she can't use because of his special needs. Do his special needs affect his reactions to things so a noisy toy might really freak him out for example. Are there things he will require that would be a great gift that most people wouldn't think of. For example if he will need therapists maybe one or more people could get together to pay for a session or 2, especially if there are things that insurance companies won't pay for. Does he need special equipment or learning tools, those types of things. With this kind of situation it's nice to think outside the box of the typical baby shower gift.

I love the red theme. You will still need to do some kind of little sweets so how about red velvet cupcakes, or make sugar cookies and put red food coloring in the dough to make them red. Cut them out in cute shapes like hands and feet and then decorate them with white royal icing. Instead of your usual fruit salad use only red fruits like strawberries, raspberries, red grapes and apples.

Have a fun shower. It's great to hear someone who is taking a child with special needs. People like this are few and far between.

 

[Omma]

This made me laugh! My DS is 33 months old. He came home to us from Korea. He is in the 97th percentile for height on the American growth chart. He is TALL! Our adoption agency had given us info and growth charts for Korean children and he was off the charts too!

LOL!! My dd 5 is in the 97th% on the American charts too! What is w/ these tall Korean kids? My poor ds is in the 10th% (on the Korean charts no less). He is not thrilled about his little sister being taller than him.

 

[Omma]

We adopted our ds at the age of 3 from Korea. He was supposed to be special needs but SURPRISE - he's not. After we got him home people we ran into would watch him or listen to him and then say in a whisper, "I thought he was special needs". I just replied, "Nope! He's just special!"

I think gift cards are a GREAT idea personally. I know it is fun to open gifts - so age appropriate books, toys are great too. But I was WAY off on clothing sizes, not to mention shoes, and had to buy a lot of things after he got here. A Target or Walmart gift card would have been great!

 

[tchrrx]

Sounds great! My DD was adopted through DHS at age 5. Some friends of mine threw a "Pink Party" for her b/c that's her favorite color. We had a Disney princesses cake, princess posters, and everyone wore pink. It was great! They even had a pink crown for her to wear.

 

[jacobsmom]

I've been working on this for a few days now so we've got peppermints in a jar, red licorice, red m&m's that will be on a snack table. I've been looking around my house and found some red sand buckets (new, never used), some red trucks, baskets etc. to put on tables for decorations (thought I might be able to make cookies on sticks to put inside. I've bought red cups and table clothes to serve the food.... Thought it might be nice to create a scrapbook of thoughts/well wishes for the new family. The difficult part is wording things for a church newsletter AND the school district.

 

[DisneyTigers]

What a sweet thing you are doing!!
I second that you should definitley get an accurate idea of size... we adopted our son from Russia at 15 months. He wore 9-12 months clothing and weighed 15 pounds!! Now, at age 2, he wears 12-18 month pants and 18 month shirts...and weighs 19 1/2 pounds! SOooo many gifts that don't fit yet!! Gift cards to Target (RED!!) would be a great idea!!