Idea on What Do for a Baby Shower

Wow! What a lot of great ideas here....
I have a twist on the guessing how big around mommy is.Instead of using toilet paper we used crepe paper. Believe it or not, it seems there are quite a few ladies out there that go to a lot of showers and know how many "squares" the typical mommy is! Also, at my shower, at the end of the guessing, I gave a suprise gift to the person who guessed I was the smallest. I felt huge, and it's nice to know you don't necessarily look it!

I had a c-section, and what helped me most was by far the Boppy. It gave us both support.

A nice gift for mom would be a post-pregnancy pedicure. After all, it's been months since she's seen her feet and they are not only tired, but probably not looking so great either!

Have fun!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi there! I remember the toilet paper or string one where everyone guesses how many squares or long that the mommy to be's tummy is and there is also a game where you put cotton balls in a bowl and one of the ladies get blindfolded and uses a spoon to pick up the cotton balls off the floor since you have to scatter them and tries to get as many as she can in the bowl in front of her. As far as gifts probably the obvious like diapers and clothes. I'm sure she would appreciate anything. Good luck!
C.

1 mom found this helpful

I recently went to a baby shower where I was impressed with the games. One game is a word scramble- mix up the words that pertain to babies and then have them unscramble them in a certain amount of time. It sounds easy, but you can throw in some words that will make them think. Also, each one of us got a card for his first 10 birthdays to fill out, seal and give to her to hold onto until that specific birthday (each one of us received one card- but it went to 10 yrs. does that make sense?). They also did a memory board game and used candy bars as the prize. For example... match two of the sayings.. Mike, Carol and Peter (the familys name) and receive a 3 Muskateers, baby's first laugh- snickers, 2 am feedings- you're in a "crunch" bar. Just some ideas that I noticed were different than mine. Hope it helps a little.

1 mom found this helpful

The clothespin game is always fun & simple.Give ea guest a
clothespin as they enter & have them clip it visibly on their clothes.Every time they use the word "baby" the first to hear may take her pin.The guest with the most collected at the end of the games wins.Also, a large bowl of rice with safety pins mixed in for the BLIND-FOLDED guest to dig out in a few seconds is a blast!

1 mom found this helpful

At one of my showers my favorite game was present bingo..for lack of a better title. Before we started opening gifts everyone was given a blank bingo sheet. They had to fill in gifts that they thought I would get, without looking at the presents. Then as I opened gifts they would block out a square. The first person to get bingo won. It really made my friends more invovled in the gift opening. It was so much fun. The other fun thing about it was not only women were invited. My husband and his friends were there too.
Also, I had a C-section as well. It has been rough. I would recommend giving her something to pamper herself with. Also, maybe IOU's for things like dishes or vaccuming or laundry or watching the baby for a shower. Good luck!!

1 mom found this helpful

for my shower we played a game where you put small saftey pins in a bowl of rice and have 30 seconds to see how many you can get, it sounds easy but its not!
a good website for other games and ideas is http://www.babyshower101.com/baby_shower_games.html
most of the games you can play with stuff hanging around the house so there is no need to spend a lot of money. at my baby shower I had gotten a couple of foot long sandwich and cut them into small sections and had soda and sparkling cider, you could also do a pot luck.

good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

I just threw a "green" baby shower for my sister. All the gifts were used, either hand-me-downs or purchased from a thrift shop. I also gave people to the option to pitch in on a diaper service. My sister even found compostable cutlery.

1 mom found this helpful

I just threw a baby shower for my best friend in July and had some great games. We did the clothespin game, where everyone gets a certain number of clothespins and every time they cross a body part, someone can steal their clothespin. At the end of the shower, the person with the most clothespins, wins. Also the guessing of baby food is always fun and the mom gets to keep the baby food, since you don't open it, you just guess by looking. We also did the tray game, which you put a bunch of baby items on a tray, such as clothespins, brush, nail clippers, thermometer, bib, etc, and then pass it around. Each person gets about 15 seconds to look at the tray and after everyone is done, they write down everything they can remember and whoever has the most correct wins. This is also great because again, the mom gets to keep all the items. The last one is guessing the amount of toilet paper needed to fit around the belly of the mother. Fun and easy!

1 mom found this helpful

Here's a few games from my shower...

*bottle full of jelly beans - how many jelly belly beans?
*guess the baby food - remove the labels off the jars, and guess the flavor by smell only
*can you remember? - arrange an assortment of baby accessories on a tray, and then hide them, see who can remember correctly the most items from the tray
*onesie decorating contest - bring blank onesies and fabric markers, and have attendees each decorate a onesie; the new mommy gets to select the winner
*scrapbook dedication - have each guest write a note or prayer down for the new baby on a scrapbook page that they can decorate. take photos of each guest at the party, then assemble the scrapbook for the new mommy & baby as a souvenir of the shower

1 mom found this helpful

Well, there are other games that have been a hit at all three of my showers. They are as follows:
In a tupperware bowl, fill it up about 1/2 the way with rice. Add a package of safety pins. Blindfold the person, and give them 30 seconds to "FEEL" and pick out the safety pins out of the rice. Who ever picks out the most safety pins wins.
Honestly, you can go 60 seconds. It's really hard to tell the difference between the two. It's a fun game!
Also:
Let the mother to be stand up in the middle of the crowd, pass out a roll of toilet paper, and have the people "GUESS" and tear their estimate of how big the mom is...at the end, have the mother to be measure herself with toilet paper (from belly button to belly button) how big she is.
Walk around with her paper and size it up to all the contastants one at a time. Who ever gets the closests wins!
That one is also fun.
Then:
Give the contestants a blank piece of paper, and give them about 2 minutes to think up of song titles with the word baby in it. Who ever has the most...WINS..
Good luck! I've got others if you need. Hope this helps!

1 mom found this helpful

You don't mention whether or not this is your friend's first baby, but I went to a baby shower once where the centerpieces were popular children's books that the mother got to keep when it was over. There were titles like "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Goodnight Moon." You can have guests bring a book or two and place them on the tables, or if you're all just gathering in a circle, maybe put them around the room.

1 mom found this helpful

I recently gave a shower to a friend of mine along with 3 of her friends. and one of the games played that was the biggest hit was a big bowl full of uncooked rice with a bunch of safety pins mixed in to it maybe 50 or so. The funny thing is that the rice and the safety pins feel the same in your hands so when blind folded it's very hard to tell them apart. It was so funny because it looked so easy, and when people tried it the pins just kept slipping out of their hands and they didn't even feel them, we had about 12 or 13 people play and the winner got only 7 safety pins in 1 minute.

1 mom found this helpful

at my baby shower (the last one being over five years ago) we did the thing where the guests guess the size of the belly via tape measure.
and there was one where at the beginning everyone was given a clothespin (decorated however) and anytime anyone said baby someone else could take their clothespin and whoever ended up with the most of them by the end won. You don't realize how hard it is to not say the word "baby" at a baby shower. lol

1 mom found this helpful

I had my shower a few months ago and I was on a budget. We made sanwiches and fuit. I had a diaper raffel, put it on the invite to bring a pack of diaper to be put in a drawing at the end of the party. Get like a $20 gift card. I didn't do any other games. I did get packs of onezies or tees for the babay and had a craft table set up for everyon to decorate something for the baby. Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful

What she may like the most is some homemade dinners she doesn't have to cook herself, maybe set up between yourself and other friends who can get what day's dinner to her for a week after she comes home from the hospital, (or if your area has those places you can buy homemade meals and have them delivered if no one has time to do it themselves) and maybe even have someone go by and help get the house cleaned up for her that week as well, or pay for a housecleaning for her, so she's not stressed over getting things done when she's really not up for it. When I had my 1st baby (I'm a mom of 4- my oldest is 8 now). I had 2 friends bring me complete dinners already made, I just had to heat them up, and my mom came by and cleaned up the house a couple of times for me. I loved it!!

1 mom found this helpful

I love baby showers! My favorite thing to do for favors are clear baby bottle 4oz or 8oz and fill it with pink or blue wrapped candy or jelly beans etc.. be creative. And then I tie ribbon around the lid (pink or blue). So cute! Also I always loved giving meals after the baby arrives. Maybe have a calendar already made up and asking guest if they would like to help prepare a meal for the family. Best Wishes for your friend!

1 mom found this helpful

There are about a million games on line, just google "baby shower games" and you'll find bunches. As for gifts, get her gift cards if you don't know what to get her. My friends and I also offered FOOD to the family. We'd sign up for one or two days of the week and then when the baby is brought home, the mom gets a week or two of meals from her friends, delivered hot and ready to eat. That was appreciated more than anything!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi C.,
I went to a baby shower recently where we decorated "onesies". The hostess bought colorful fabric paints in squeeze tubes(probably can be found at Michael's). A piece of cardboard was placed between the front & back of the onesies. Since the shower was at a restaurant, they had a non-partial waiter judge the best one. If the husband arrives at the shower, maybe he could be the judge. There was a prize area, and the winner could chose what bag she wanted as her prize. Now the mother-to-be has a whole bunch of adorable outfits for her newborn.

We also decorated wooden, solid colored picture frame. They were painted beforehand in pink, mint, blue and yellow. Then we adhered stickers to the frames. Some had pictures, others had cute sayings, there were letters and more. Once taken home, they will be grouped as a photo gallery with pictures of the baby and the family. Again, you could have a contest to see who has the cutest, the most original, the funniest, etc. frame. I hope this helps for a fun shower. Good luck and I'm sure giving the shower will be most appreciated.

1 mom found this helpful

Try going on to this website at www.babycenter.com It helped me with some good ideas for games, decorating and food for my sisters shower! As far as what to get her, have her register at babiesRUs, she can even do it online.

1 mom found this helpful

Hello,

Well here are some ideas for games. You can do the memory game where you put baby items on a tray let everyone look at them and then take it away and then they have to write down what was there. Or there is the figure out the baby food game. You peal off the labels and let people do what ever they have to do to figure out what it is and you give them a time limit. You could also measure mommas belly. You can use ribbon and just by looking at mom you cut a piece of ribbon and whoever is the closest wins a prize. This next games takes a little research. You find out the names of celebrity kids and then they have to match the name to the parent. There is always baby bingo too. You can make the cards yourself. Anther good thing is a diaper raffle. Anyone who wants to participate brings a package of diapers for a chance to win a prize. You could also play the game where no one can say baby and if they do they have to give up a safety pin or something like it that is given to them when they walk in the door. This is the best time of year to have a shower because it is easy to find gifts for the games that are pretty cheap but good gifts. Sorry if I bombarded you with games but I am helping to plan a shower myself and all this stuff is fresh in my mind. Good luck!!!!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi C.,

I just had a shower last Sunday & we played a game where you tape the name of a kids movie on your back, and then try to guess what it is by asking other people yes or no questions about it. I happen to know the sex of my baby & what I'm going to name him, so we also played a game where his full name was spelled vertically down the side of a paper & we had to use each letter to think of something to do with babies or kids that started with that letter. My favorite game is to have each guest put an inflated balloon under their shirt (to mimic a pregnancy belly) & then see who can tie their shoes the fastest. The prizes at my shower were fuzzy socks, a manicure kit, and a make-up bush kit.

As far as the c-section, I've had 2, and it's not as bad as you think. Having never had one, I actually think that a vaginal birth sounds scarier! Is your friend planning to breast feed? You could get her a support pillow to make it easier. If not, there's always the essentials like diapers, wipes, a diaper genie, bottles, burp rags, etc.

C. : )

1 mom found this helpful

That's great your throwing her a shower...I really dont think you need to make it a surprise...really is it a good idea to ever surprise a pregnant woman? I know you mentioned she cant afford to have a shower...were you talking about throwing herself one? I've never heard of that before. Why dont you tell her you and your friend would love to throw her one suggest to her to register at Babies r us or target, so she can be sure to register for the necessities.

I think the diaper game you put the chocolates in the microwave rather than chew them up. You could do a word scramble from her registry. You could have her pass a platter of baby health items and have people think they'll memorize what was on the platter..but have her leave the room with it..and shake things up a bit and have them remember what SHE was wearing..down to jewelry. You could have people guess what baby food is from three similar types of baby food...maybe do a vegetable (carrots/squash/sweet potatoes) and a fruit (pears, applesauce, and something else)

HTH.

1 mom found this helpful

The funest game we had at my shower five yeas ago was a diaper fashion contest. Make teams of three or four people give each team a roll of toliet paper. Each team must choose a member as a model. Then teams seperate into diffrent rooms or areas. The other team members make a diaper out of the toliet paper on there model. The mommy to be then picks her favorite Diaper design. I remember my mother being the model for her team and her diaper had long flowing bows on each side, I never laughed so hard in my life, and yes my moms team won (:

1 mom found this helpful

Hi there!
I recently went to a cousin's baby shower in August and they had a really good "game". With the invites, they also had a little note for this game.....It was more of a drawing or raffle rather. For each person that brought a bag of diapers they were entered to win "the big prize"...which consisted of a visa gift card (it could be anything you and your friend come up with) I think everyone who came to the shower brought at least one bag ( you can bring more to be entered more than once, which you should note as well!) My cousin got probably 20 or more bags of diapers. One thing that you might mention as well would be that newborn and larger sizes are appreciated (I think most of them were newborn sizes, and if she has a big baby, he won't be in them that long!) Another one was "items in a bag"...they took those brown paper lunch bags numbered them 1-15, and passed them around so people could guess what was in them-socks, binkies, nail clippers- it was alot of fun, you just have to make sure that it's well organized(people weren't rotating them good, and everyone kept shouting "who has #so and so!) It was a long game, and you have to maybe do another drawing with the top winners cause more than 1 person won. They also had a "purse scavenger hunt" for things like a grocery receipt, lotion, chapstick, and little odds and ends some but not all people might carry. Same thing as the other one, you might end up with more than one winner, so you have to determine how you'll only get one. Personally, i've never liked the candy in the diaper game.......or the safety pins in rice games, I think it's funner to do games everyone can do all at once, because some people don't like to be the center of attention (I won't do games like that!) Whew....sorry that was a novel, i'm sure you'll come up with something!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi =) So I planned my own shower and had a blast. I had a co-ed shower with over a 100 guests including kids- it was a bit large but we all had so much fun. For the games, we had a phrase game with so many words and you had to make up phrases that your mother use to yell at you only using the words once, we had the men chug beers out of bottles- classic I tell you- we also did the melting the candy bars into the diapers and my favorite activity of the day was I bought an assortment of colors and sizes of onesies and asked each guest to decorate a onesie for my son- it was cute to see what people came up with and I had a ton of shirts for him to wear in all different sizes and colors and now I have a large scrap book of them all so it made a great keepsake too. The prizes for the game corrolated to the game, for example the chocolate diaper game had a gift certificate to Sees as the prize. As for other games, you can always do the yarn and each guest cuts off a piece guessing how big your friends belly is. As for a present for your friend, I too had a c-section and my recovery was really great- I was up and walking within 24 hours of my sons birth. But I loved this incredibably comfortable pant and shirt set that my mother got me and great slippers. It's all about comfort for the new mommy when recovering from the c-section- well any child delivery for that matter lol. Another nice gift for her would be to watch the baby for her after she is out of the hospital and get her a gift certificate to get a mani/pedi. As for gifts she can use with the baby, I loved my snuggle nest, where my son slept next to me, I loved my swing =), and the carrier that I could wear on my chest and still have hands free carrying my son, that was the best thing ever invented and I wish he could still fit in it=) lol I hope this all helps- Have fun!

1 mom found this helpful

I have a game idea that also works as a gift.

I filled a diaper bag with things that *I* thought the mother would need (the obvious diapers, change of clothes, baby wipes, but also the unusual, like Purell hand sanitizer, a notepad and pen). The contents can span ages too, so it doesn't just have to be things for a newborn, but can also include spoons, teether feeders, etc... (Because the mother-to-be also had a 5 year old son, I included things for him as well, like snacks or a small toy.)
The game was for the party guests to guess what was in the diaper bag. They got a point for each thing that actually was in the bag. Most points won the prize.
When the game is done, the diaper bag and everything inside was my gift to the mom!

Another activity that we did, which isn't really a game but was a big hit was to customize onesies. I bought several packages (in varying sizes) of plain white onesies. My co-host and I brought all of our stamping sets that we thought were appropriately kid related, and some permanent ink pads (Staz-On brand are permanent on fabric and can be found at most scrapbooking/stamping/craft stores). We let the guests decorate the white onesies with whatever stamp sets they want.
*If you want to try this but aren't into stamping, you can also use fabric paint... also available at craft stores. That was the actual party activity I'd read, but we had so many wonderful "kid" stamps that we wanted to do it the stamping way. Using fabric paint would be much more free-form.

1 mom found this helpful