Planning a baby shower can be a very fun and rewarding gift to give new parents who are expecting. Follow these tips to throw the best baby shower, ever.
Instructions
1. Get the mother to be to write a list of people she wants invited. For each person on the list there should be physical mailing or e-mailing addresses, and phone numbers. The latest trend is to invite men, but it depends on what the new mom wants.
2. Help the mother to set up her registry at several stores. Most stores give you free gifts just for registering with them, so register with them all. While you're looking at al the new and ingenious baby products in the stores, start thinking of themes. The theme for the shower should match the theme in the nursery. It can be anything from primary colors, to butterflies, ladybugs, ducks, dogs, trucks, or an array of other choices.
Once the new mom decides what she wants the theme to be, plan appropriately with that theme in mind. For instance, if the mom wants a Winnie the Pooh nursery, your theme will be Winnie the Pooh for the shower.
3. As the planner, your first decision should be, "where will this event be held?" Keep in mind the size of the guest list. Give thought to the kind of person the new mom is, would she like an outdoor cookout or a quiet inside gathering? Is she a morning person who may prefer a brunch or a night-owl who would prefer an evening event?
When all these questions are answered, you can secure a location for the baby shower. You may want to have it in your house, in your yard, or possibly a welcome center at an apartment complex. Things to keep in mind when selecting a site are; clean restrooms, food prep, areas, refrigeration for drinks, plenty of room for comfortable seating, and room to play games.
4. Bearing the theme in mind, select or create invitations. You can purchase paper invitations with envelopes from almost any store or if you're a crafty person, you can create invitations on a MS Word program or other software program. Another option is to do an 'e-vite.' The e-vite program is very easy to use, and it's free. They have tons of invitations to use for any kind of party. How ever you choose to get the invitations done, make sure they contain the following information;
1. Name of mother and father to be
2. Date
3. Time
4. Location
5. Which register(s) she wants to use
6. Specify the theme for the nursery
7. An RSVP about one week before the date of the shower
8. Your contact information to RSVP and to get directions to the facility.
5. Plan your menu. For a 10 AM shower, you may want to go with a brunch buffet. If you have the shower at 12, you can serve lunch. If you go with 2:00 in the afternoon I would suggest snack foods. If it's to be held in the afternoon or early evening, go with heavy snacks. If you are inviting men to the shower, you may want to go with a backyard barbeque or a light dinner. The possibilities are endless. To give you a starting point, find out what the mom to be likes best. If she loves grilled food, go with a barbeque. If her stomach is often uneasy, you may want to go with finger foods that she can snack on during the entire shower. It's her day, give her what she wants. Some sample menus may include:
• Brunch; breakfast breads, cut up fruits, sliced meats and cheeses, crackers, juice, and maybe some sparkling water.
• Luncheon; Sandwich halves or wraps with a variety of different fillings (ham and cheese, tuna salad, etc.), Fresh cut vegetables and dip, punch and water.
• Barbeque; either hamburgers and hotdogs (with all the fixins) or maybe grilled chicken drizzled in pineapple juice for a touch of sweetness. Go- withs may include pasta or potato salad, fruit chunks and a fruit punch.
Mix and match or pick and choose. Have fun with it. You may want to have a cake specially decorated for the occasion. Look up interesting recipes if you have the time to do something more elaborate.
6. Start collecting the items you know you'll need like;
• decorations for the shower site
• table cover
• plates
• utensils, including serving spoons
• napkins
• cups
• guest book
• disposable cameras
Your first stop should be your local Dollar Store. They normally carry all the decorations you could want. Get a banner, a table center-piece, and maybe some little plastic pacifiers or diaper pins to set around. Try to find paper products with the theme on them. If you can't, don't panic just choose one main color from the theme and go with that. You may want to get some balloons and/or a welcome banner to identify the shower location from outside.
7. Now for the fun part! What kind of ridiculous games will you have your guests play? The games can be the best part of the shower, so do some research here. I have compiled a short list to get your creative juices flowing:
Pass around a ball of yarn and a pair of scissors. Have each person, without trying it on, cut one piece of yarn to a length they feel will fit around the expectant mother's waist. The one who gets closest to the right size wins.
Make everyone a string necklace with candy on it, or use Hawaiin Lays. Give each guest one necklace as they come in. Let them know that the taboo word is Baby. If you are the first to catch someone saying "baby" you get their necklace. Then if you get caught saying "baby" the person who catches you gets all the necklaces you've collected. The game lasts throughout the shower and the one with the most necklaces at the end wins.
Drop a baby item into a paper bag and staple the top shut. Make several of these, each with a different baby related item inside. Pass the bags around the room and have everyone try and guess what's in the bag.
Get six diapers and six different kinds of candy bars. Don't let anyone know what you're doing as you break the candy bars up in smaller pieces and put them inside the diapers. Microwave the filled diapers just long enough to melt the chocolate. Pass the diapers around the room and have everyone try and identify the contents. The one who identifies the most, correctly, wins the game.
A great game for an outside barbeque type shower is a water balloon toss, called don't break my water! Toss one balloon around like a hot potato trying not to break it. OR have a race with the water balloons by holding them between their knees and having them 'run' from one specified place to another.
Create a large calendar on a poster board showing two weeks before the due date, and two weeks after the due date. Then draw a slanted line through each box, dividing it in half. Sell off each half block lottery style, allowing the purchasing guest to write their name and phone number in one of the half blocks. Purchasers can buy as many half blocks as they choose. Explain that they are trying to predict the date the baby will come, and narrow it down to half a day. Whatever date the baby is actually born, the winning block divides the take in half with the expecting couple. (Most of the time the winner allows the new parents to have all the money).
There are hundreds of these game
8. As your guests begin arriving, take their coats or jackets and hang then in a closet or lay them across a bed in another room. Show them to the gift table so they can add to the pile of gifts for the new parents. Offer a beverage and some type of food, depending on what you're having. You can use name tags if you'd like - that too depends on the number of guests and how well everyone knows each other.
Have the expectant mother select one of her guests to be her helper for the duration of the party. This designated guest should take care of the new mom's needs. Getting her beverages, fixing her plate, helping her up out of her chair, what ever she needs.
Do a sort of 'meet and greet' first so everyone can become acquainted. If you are having a sit-down meal, allow folks to eat while they get acquainted. Play about half the games you have prepared. Let the new mom begin opening her gifts. Suggest that she keep some of the wrapping paper to line the new baby's dresser drawers. The planner's job as mom opens gifts is to write down who gives her what. This information can be added directly to the guest book so it won't get lost. This will make thank you cards much easier for her. If there are a lot of gifts, stop and play another game or two. Then you can go back to opening a few more gifts. I have found that breaking up the events into sections like this help to hold everyone's attention better.
Tags: baby shower, shower want, want with, what wants, around room, around room have, before date