Upcoming Baby Shower

My suggestion: don't drag it out! Most people are happy to go to a shower but don't really want to be there all day long! Once people eat, start opening gifts and serve cake and coffee while gifts are being opened!

One thing that was helpful to me was that my mom bought the thank you cards and placed the envelope in front of every place setting. She instructed everyone to address the evelope to themselves, then she collected and picked one envelope from every table. The person whose envelope she selected got to take the centerpiece home...and I didn't have to address thank you cards!

Oh, and provide alcohol! LOL! I'm kind of kidding, but kind of serious! I love having a mimosa at a shower ;-)

Two things stand out to me from my sis-in-law's baby shower that I wish I had at mine. 1) They wrote in the invitation that if you brought a pack of diapers you would be entered into a drawing for a gift card. I think they did like $15-$20 for Target or something. 2) They requested that instead of getting a card that everyone bring a book for the new baby and sign it. It was a great way for her get loaded up on diapers and books! My son is 10-months-old and I really need to start developing his book collection.

Most baby showers I go to always play baby bingo and have a few prizes. Have the guests fill out a blank bingo card with gifts they think she will get and then check them off as she opens them. One other game that stands out to me when I was little was they had a roll of toilet paper and the guests had to pull off what they thought would fit around the mom-to-be's belly and the closest to the right size won a prize. That would have to depend on the mommy-to-be though because I didn't want people guessing how big I was at mine!! Then there is also the poopy diaper game. Have tiny little baby diapers (made out of TP or whatever) and put mustard or melted chocolate in one of them.. The one with the "poopy" diaper wins. Kinda gross but funny. Also, as with all showers, its always nice to have the guests write their names and addresses on the envelopes to thank you notes. You can use the envelopes to pick a door prize winner and it will save the mommy-to-be LOTS of time when it comes time for the thank you notes.

Good luck & have fun!!

Here's a game idea. We got some clothespins and those who wanted to had to see how many they could pick up in each hand without dropping any. The one who could pick up the most won a small prize. We did it once with balloons instead.

at my first baby shower my husband and I had to diaper a doll together using only one hand each.

at another shower, everyone who wanted to got to see who could diaper a balloon the fastest. make sure you try it before the party so you get the balloons the right size.

Another one was to take string and everyone guessed how big around the pregnant girl is or was, cut the string to the length they think. then after everyone is done they come up and put it around her and see if they were right. Those who were the closest, win.

Some people love the goofy games, and some would rather just sit and visit. You never know! Ask the mommy and some guests their opinions.

You might give everyone something (a pin, a clothespin) and set up either an action (crossing legs) or a word (cute, adorable) that would lose the pin. The one with the most pins at the end wins.

Before present opening, you could hand out a BINGO card with nothing in the spaces. Have each guest create their own card by filling in the blanks with gifts they think she might get.

You could create something for the baby. I've been to showers where each guest gets to help decorate socks, towels or something else with squeeze bottles of fabric paint, or each guest signs a plate with permanent marker.

You could also hand out raffle-type tickets to each guest who brings a pre-determined item (maybe books or diapers) and then draw a winner.

You could have a quiz of classic children's stories, and see who best remembers the details of the Three Pigs, Cinderella, Dumbo, Rumplestiltskin or other favorite books or movies.

Decide if you want just nibbly food or a light meal, and make some of the expectant mommy's favorites.

Most of all, laugh and have fun! :)

Yes the games still get played, IF the mother to be wants them. My SIL is planning the games for mine and she HATES the traditional ones, like the clothes pin game where you can't say baby or cross your legs, and the chocolates in the diapers. We looked around and found some great ones on the internet!
One is a celebrity mom game, each guest has the name of a famous mom or celebrity mom taped on her back, and while at the party you have to ask other people questions so you can figure out which mom you are.
Some are Kate Gosselin (Jon and Kate plus 8), Helen Griswald (Vacation), Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears, Marge Simpson (The Simpsons), Rebecca Katsopolis (Full House), Etc Etc.
Another is the relay race, you can play with 2 or more guests at a time and have a table set up where they have baby dolls and have to change, diaper them, feed them, strap them in a stroller and do a small obstacle course, ALL while talking on a phone (can be a cordless or cell phone and of course just pretend conversation)
I am also buying some material and cutting it into even squares and having everyone write something special to the baby, then afterwards make a quilt out of it! We did this with my older daughter and I love going back and reading what people wrote.
Hope this helps!!

I threw a shower for one of my friends and we played a game that no one had ever played, I got a lot of compliments on it. I made a game board with different baby/pregnancy items on it. I had candy bars that matched the items listed. I then held up the candy bar and the person who shouted out the correct answer first won the candy bar. The candy bar was the prize. For example: contractions/whoppers, girl/baby ruth, heart burn/hot tamales, hospital bill/100 grand, epidural/life savers. You can just google baby shower candy bar game to find the whole list. It was really fun.

Some other ideas that don't take a lot of time, fill a baby bottle with jelly beans and the guests guess how many there are in it. Have each guest wear a diaper pin and they cannot say "baby", who ever catches them saying the word "baby" gets to take theirs and who has the most in the end wins a prize.

Make sure it is organized and moves along. I hate going to showers that have a lot of wasted time. Some people only want to stay a while and then leave.

Good luck.

Scheduling and invitations you can handle with Evite.com and save yourself a bundle on printed invitations, it also lets you track who can make it and what people are bringing.

Here's are my 3 favorite baby shower traditions:
1) Baby Shower tip book - instead of the normal guest list to sign, take a poloroid of all the attendees and give them each their own page in the scrapbook to write in tips for the new mother.

2) The perfect diaper bag - have everyone bring one perfect item for the diaper bag that they couldn't live without and the host buys the diaper bag, everyone fills it at the party and helps the mom organize it

3) Watermelon Bassinet - . This decorative centerpiece makes easy finger foods without being overly sugary or loaded with calories.
picture of what it looks like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rpsnino/3557144499/
You'll need:
A melon-baller ($3 at your grocery store)
sharp knife
a nicely shaped watermelon
various other melons to fill the basket with
a big bowl
white and red grapes

How:
cut an opening in the watermelon to looking like a baby bassinet (as picture)
using the melon-baller, collect as many balls as you can from the watermelon to put in the big bowl
clean the rest out with the knife so the bassinet is empty.
Using the remainining watermelon rind you cut away, slice 2 sideways peices to put under the bassinet so it looks like it's on rockers
melon-ball the canteloupe or honeydew and then mix them all up with the watermelon and grapes before puring it all back in the bassinet. this can be made the day before and refrigerated overnight

I agree that this is an event for the mother-to-be, so I'd ask her what she'd like to do. We completely broke with tradition for mine because I didn't like the traditional games, etc.

We had it at my house because my mom, sisters, mother-in-law and sister-in-law all came in from out-of-town. We had take-out from Chili's. The only game we played was a 25 questionnaire. My sister had my husband fill it out and then me. It was questions about our favorite movies, what high school we went to, etc. Then we compared answers.

But, if you ask her, in advance what her wishes are, you can't go wrong.

Good luck!

I'm not a huge "shower" game person so at my shower the girls who planned it for me bought a few packs of the gerber onsies and then some decorating things for it and each person decorated a onsie and then they had a string hanging up with little clothes pins for them to dry or just for everyone to see them. I thought it was a really cute idea because not only could people still socialize while doing it but it was actually something that I could use for my baby too. One suggestion with it though is not to use those puffy fabric paints because I ended up throwing all of those ones out because they were really scratchy. We had iron on letters and iron on designs that you can get at a craft store or I'm sure at Walmart.