Need help planning a baby shower!

[princess pooh]

My friend is planning a baby shower and I offered to help. The problem is that neither of us has ever been to a baby shower before. What kind of food would be good to serve? Are there games involved? Would we have to give a gift to all the guests? Should we decorate the room where the party is being held?

We're pretty clueless when it comes to babies so I'm hoping some kind Dis'ers can help us out

 

[mommytotwo]

There are many online sites that could give you a ton of info.
There are also many different ways that you can put a baby shower together.
You could come up with a theme and decorate around that, as for foods, you could have finger foods or prepare a whole meal. For the showers that I have attended, there are usually four or five different games such as making a baby out of bubble gum, guess the size of the mommy to be's tummy using a string, guessing how many items are in a baby bottle, baby item price is right...have a gift for each winner.
You don't have to necessarily have to give out party favors, but they are a nice touch.

 

[aprilgail2]

Here they are usually held out at a restaurant or party room. We always go in and decorate a few hours before the party. There are all sorts of games listed online, just do a search on ask or google....For favors we gave out Chocolate baby boots with a printed ribbon on it saying "Marys Baby Shower" and the date.....To get the person there we usually send an invitation to someone elses pretend surprise birthday party and then when they walk in they find out its really for them!

 

[Tinkertude]

I would think menu would be dictated by the time of the shower. Cake and punch and coffee or tea for mid afternoon would be acceptable in my part of the woods. If games are played we usually give the winner a baby related gift that she then inturn gives to the Mommie. I have seen center pieces shaped like a stacked cake that are made of diapers that are cute. I prefer fresh flowers and send that home with the guest of honor. I know it will be lovely what ever you decide, and will be appreciated by your friend. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[lapinluv]

When I was pregnant with DD, my family made potpourri sachets out of baby socks. That was a cool party favor.

We didn't play any games and just had some cold cuts, salads and appetizers.

 

[gshoemate]

Hmm....I think for mine we had cold cuts also, a veggie tray and maybe a few salads. It was at my moms house and I did most of the decorating myself (now i know why I didn't want a bridal shower). For games, there are only a few that I remember. One, you take a roll of toilet paper and people have to try to guess how many squares it will take to get around mommy, the one closest wins. Another one is to get some jars of baby food, take the labels off and put a numbe on the label and then on the jar that the label goes to. Pass around the jars to everyone and they have to guess what flavor of baby food it is. I believe I even went to one shower that did this and they actually had you taste the baby food....YUCK!!. Then for prizes, the person who won got a prize and there was also a prize for mommy. Some really cheap prizes that I made for my shower were potpourri (sp?) jars. Get glass jars at Wal-mart for like .97, put some potpurri in it, get a doolie (sp?) (got mine at Michales) and get ribbon that matches the color of the potpurri and use it to tie the doolie onto the top of the jar. Everyone loved them. Good luck and have fun.

 

[princess pooh]

Thanks for all the great ideas .

I'm so relieved that we won't have to prepare a full meal for everyone! Finger foods, cold cuts, and cake are so much easier (and cheaper - we have to pay for everything ourselves). Potpourri sounds like a great party favor. My dad's store sells baby clothes so I'll have to ask him to bring home some socks . I never knew about shower games before but they kind of sound like fun.

You all are great! I really appreciate the help

 

[Samandmom]

At a recent baby shower I went to they a bunch of games to play. They had a box of baby socks and you had to pair them up with their matches. (not everyone did this they a about a 1/2 dozen people volunteer. The Mommy to be got to keep the socks. They also had a contest of who could drink the most liquid from the baby bottle. I voluntered for this. Everyone decided on water. But I think to make it more interesting that either formula or milk should of been used. We did the guess the size of Mommy's belly with a string. Another thing that they did was you had to guess the nursery rhyme with clues (ex: 3 mice who could not see) within so many minutes.

 

[Shelby5514]

My DH and I were invited to a couples baby shower. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was great fun. They had invited only couples and did a video scavenger hunt. We drew numbers to form 3 teams. Then the 3 teams each got a set of instructions on tasks they had to complete or cheap things they had to buy. They made sure each team had a van and video camera and off we went. We had 1 hour to complete as many tasks as we could and videotape them. The Grandparents stayed behind and prepared the food. When everyone returned we all got a plate of food and sat down to watch each others videos. After the scavenger hunt they had invted a bunch of their single friends and it became a big party.

 

[MagicalMom]

I played a really fun game at a recent baby shower. We were each given necklaces (ribbons really) with plastic baby bottle charms on them. We could not say the word "baby". If someone caught you saying the word, they were able to confiscate your necklace. The person with the most at the end of the party won. That was me ofcourse, no wonder I thought it was so much fun! It's really hard to go to a shower & not say the word "baby!"

 

[diznygirl]

We did the same baby shower game, but you could not say the word "cute!" Now, try that when every little outfit is soooooo darn CUTE!

Here's a game that I thought was lots of fun, but takes a certain type of humor: The Poopy Diaper game - you melt candy bars in diapers and the guests have to guess which candy bar is in which diaper. It's harder than you think it would be!

 

[skuttle]

Most showers down here (wedding or baby) all have finger foods and cake. Make sure to ask the mom-to-be if there are any certain foods that she has to have, or, on the other hand, anything that she can't be in the same room with. Pregnancy sometimes makes people have strong reactions to food.

For my baby shower we didn't do games. I hate shower games so we didn't do any.

For favors, my friends made chocolates shaped like baby stuff. You can find candy molds many places and it's pretty easy and inexpensive to make.

There are also two kinds of showers (at least down here). There are traditional showers where everyone arrives at one time and all gifts are opened at once. Then, there are walk-in showers, where guests are given a time frame to arrive and gifts are opened as they arrive and then displayed for everyone to see. I had a traditional shower for my wedding and a walking for my baby shower. I rather the walk-in shower...not so much focus on me by everyone all at once.

Good luck! Planning showers are fun, but stressful. I've been planning a friend's wedding shower...it's next weekend, thank goodness!

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by skuttle
Most showers down here (wedding or baby) all have finger foods and cake. Make sure to ask the mom-to-be if there are any certain foods that she has to have, or, on the other hand, anything that she can't be in the same room with. Pregnancy sometimes makes people have strong reactions to food.
There are also two kinds of showers (at least down here). There are traditional showers where everyone arrives at one time and all gifts are opened at once. Then, there are walk-in showers, where guests are given a time frame to arrive and gifts are opened as they arrive and then displayed for everyone to see. I had a traditional shower for my wedding and a walking for my baby shower.

Wow I have never heard of a "walk in shower'...here everyone gets there the same time and then they schedual the mom to be to come around 30 minutes later to make sure that all the people are all ready in there and set for the surprise when the mom to be walks in. Here you really don't check with the mom to be food wise since that would ruin the surprise!

 

[candykisses]

I've had showers for friends where I've had a full dinner and I've also had a brunch, or just light refreshments, finger foods, cold cuts, salads etc. Alot depended on the time of day the shower started.

I've used pink and blue bars of soap from Bath & Body for the favors. I tie raffia around the soap and attach a little duck or bear that says, "From Cindy's shower to yours".

 

[princess pooh]

I'm going to print out these replies for my friend to read. I can't believe I was so shower-naive . I hope we can pull this off in a little over a week. Thanks again for the great ideas!