Is this the right section to ask about a Baby Shower?

Question

Hi. I'm usually in the weddings section so I don't know where to ask this but I just found out yesterday that my friend is pregnant & she wants me to plan the shower. I've never done this before & I've only been to one baby shower in my life which was a real dud. Can anyone give me some pointers?

I'm guessing I need food, drinks, party favors, games, etc. But what kind of games? What kind of favors are usually given? What type of meal? Plated or appetizers? I'm only really familiar with wedding planning & wedding etiquette. Do you put the registry information on the invitation or is that a big NO NO like it is for weddings?

Thanks for any help you can give :-)

Answer 1

I just planned several of them (3 of them) right after my wedding last year.

Going with a theme does make it a bit easier sometimes. You could use anything from baby bottles, diapers or a gender theme.

Sometimes finding the perfect invitation is a great starting point and you can work with decoration ideas from there.

You can buy premade invites from your local discount store (here we have Target and Walmart) or your local craft store. You can also have them printed (I found a place online to do them).

I really think the invites are the starting point. I think it sets the tone for the shower, including food, decorations and games.



Games, well it really depends on you since your the host. Games I included for the showers I planned were



Name that song- Have each guest name as many songs they can that include "baby" in the title. This should be timed. You can vary this and have them include the artist as well if you would like to make it more difficult.

Examples-

Baby Got Back - Sir Mix A Lot

Hit Me Baby- Britany Spears

You get the idea.



Baby Bingo- You can find printable sheets online of Bingo Cards. While the guest of honor (mom to be) opens gifts, the guests will cover the bingo spot with the corresponding gift. The cards have common baby items, bottles, diapers, blankets listed. You can have them use a writing utensil to mark out each item as it is opened. Whoever has bingo first gets the prize.



Dirty Diaper game- You can buy a newborn pack of diapers (we actually picked some up from the restrooms in baby stores here and there, lol) and you melt different candy bars in each one and mark them with a letter for your master sheet.

We did 5 candy bars total for the five diapers. Twix, Mr. Goodbar, snickers, KitKat, Reeses. You wouldn't believe how closely melted candy bars resemble baby poo. Put one bar in each diaper, melted it in the microwave and closed the diaper up. Marked it with A B C D E for the master sheet. They are then passed around and the guests have to guess what candy bar is in each one on a sheet of paper.

Whoever has the most correct wins.



I will include some links at the end here for decorating ideas and more games.



Registry info is OK to be included with the shower invitations. It is the purpose of the shower, to shower the mom to be with gifts. Totally fine to do that.



Food- well it is up to do. We usually have showers mid afternoon around here about 2. We have apps and finger foods. Mini croissant sandwiches, fruit and veggie tray, dips with various breads, chicken roll ups. Variety of foods and also a small dessert. We also always have a bakery cake with well wishes on it for the mom to be. I made a Tiramisu cake from allrecipes.com for my youngest sisters shower in Nov. because she loves tiramisu.



For favors- they aren't really necessary. Only the last shower I hosted did we give out favors. I think this is actually a newer trend for baby showers opposed to weddings, they have always had favors.

For the last shower I did, I bought MiniBons from Cinnabon, Don't know if you have them in your area though. I put a minibon in a cello wrapper with a tag on it that said, "Thanks from (insert Mom to be's name here) Bun in the oven.

I did find some really cute candles online with this same saying but I liked the edible part better.



It is okay to do a meal but I personally prefer finger foods. A meal is something you generally have to keep warm until serving so it it usually more difficult to do. It is completely up to you. Showers can become very costly depending on how much you want to do.

Keep that in mind when deciding.



FOr the game gifts we bought many inexpenisve but very useful things.

A cosmetic bag with First Aid items in it. Band Aids, neosporin, alcohol swabs....

Candy dish filled with the candy bars we had for the diaper game winner.

Stationary set

I-tunes gift card for the winner of the music game.



Here are some links for you



I used this site a lot.

http://www.babyshower101.com/

http://www.peekaboopumpkin.com/pages/baby-shower-invitations.php?gclid=CN2f2NTGgpkCFQsMGgod8G6ykg

http://www.tinyprints.com/baby-shower-invitations.htm

http://www.polkadotdesign.com/catalog/Baby_Child/Baby_Shower_Invitations?gclid=CLnelePGgpkCFQu-GgodNxQNoA

These last three sites I really liked for invites.



Since I already know you like allrecipes, they have a great section for appetizers if you choose to go that route.



The first link has pretty much everything for baby showers.







ETA- even if this wasn't planned or joyous for her to be preggo, she will have a different feeling when she has the baby. A baby is a huge miracle and I can only imagine she will feel differently when she has it. I am sure everything will work out for her. Life creates it's own path, we choose which way to go. Send her my well wishes and let me know if/when she finds out what she is having. I would like to send something your way for her!

Answer 2

It really depends on your budget. My best friend and I are putting my baby shower together and we're working with a limited budget. First you have to figure out the guest list, is it going to be all women or co-ed? Once you know roughly how many people are invited you need to find a place that will fit everyone comfortably. If it's going to be a small shower then someone's home will work fine (and it's free), if it's going to be large you might look into some sort of banquet room or meeting room at a local hotel. If you're working with a small budget then you don't want to do a full meal. You can do finger foods, chips and dip, little sandwiches, a veggie tray. Obviously you'll want it to be a non-alcoholic party so making some sort of punch would be best. We're having sodas available but the main drink will be 7-up mixed with apple juice (it tastes great).



By all means put the baby registry info on the invitations. After all what's the point of having a registry if no one knows about it? You might add that it isn't strictly limited to that one store.



As for games there are a lot of great web sites out there with lists of games. My favorite game at a baby shower is the "Don't Say Baby" game. As guests shoe up you had out little clothes pins (you can find them in the party sections at Wal-Mart or Target) whenever someone catches someone else saying the word "baby" they get their clothes pin, at the end of the party whoever has the most clothes pins wins a prize. At my best friend's baby shower the prize was a beautiful porcelain collectors fairy doll. There are other little prizes you can give out, but it really depends on the type of people who will be invited, you might have a gift card to a nice restaurant or a free manicure certificate.

Those are a little pricey though.



Here's a great web-site: www.baby-shower.com



Good luck!

Answer 3

It's not really rude - sending an invite this way would be! But just asking for addresses isn't rude, it's just not all that polite. If you must do it through facebook then don't just announce it, do it by a private message to each person - even if every one of your FB friends are people you want to invite, it still seems a bit impersonal and tacky to just do a public announcement. I would say do it over the phone - a call is best but even a text is better than facebook. and if you don't have their numbers then ask yourself why. Shouldn't you be close to these people that you want at the biggest event in your ife?

Answer 4

Some people if they are bringing a lot of people to their baby shower have a registry if it is just family and close friends then you really don't need the registry. My grandma planned mine and she just had minnie sandwiches and cheese and pickles and olives like always, they were good though, if you are going for a fancier then you can always make it a little upscale, we didn't do any games we are boring but im sure that you can. I didn't do party favors either.

Answer 5

pregnancy would be the best section, but this works.



there are alot of baby shower games, like where you put baby food in diapers and guess what kind it is, or trying to guess the size of the mommy to bes belly with string or something, and putting candies in a giant bottle and guessing how many is in there.

Favors could be anything. Like a 10 buck giftcard,



I think the best kindof food is just finger food snacks, like veges with dip or a cheese ball.



I would put the registry info on the invites,

Answer 6

Hmmmm.....well, first of all, yes, perfect section. Second, I would advise to come up with a theme depending on what you know (gender, due date etc.) But a cute idea is to serve everything in baby form such as baby hotdogs, etc. I don't know what type of favors but..... You can play games like the Wuigi board (so fun!). Sorry!



P.S.-You can register it if you want.

Answer 7

in my life i have been to and had one in my Honor and the games we played had us laughing if that's what you're looking for.here is what we did toilet tissue game - each guest tears off a length of toilet tissue for a game but you don't tell them what its for once everyone has their length you then say what to do with it and what you is this each guest takes their piece of tissue and they try to wrap it around the guest of honors mid section and the guest that is closest to entirely cover the mid section is the one who wins (warning! do not do this game if the mom to be is sensitive to her weight)

next game dropping a clothespin in a open baby bottle sounds easy huh not when you have to grip it between your knees good luck!!

favors or prizes for games candles that have a cute poem attached asking the person receiving the candle not to light till the baby is born

heres another thought for center pieces on the table use children's building blocks and stuffed animals

food-anything would do little sandwiches,petite fours,appetizers.soda,punch.coffee,tea,milk

Answer 8

Google baby shower games .. the first 4 sites are the best, they have great games.

Answer 9

Check out www.kickcreations.com for party favors, you can choose from a ton of products avaialble and even personalize the favors