Baby Shower Full of Suprises :)

Happy New Year and congratulations on your pregnancy! I've just moved back to this area from two years in New Mexico and am a doula and Birthing From Within childbirth mentor - also a nurse at the Lisa Ross Birth & Women's Center...I would suggest turning your shower into more of a BlessingWay which focuses on the mother and her transition and journey into motherhood rather than so much on the baby. Of course you could combine the two esp if this is your first baby and you need some of the items that come from a baby shower.
Some of my favorite ideas: henna belly for mama, bellycasting...you might make a CD of your intended labor music and pass them out to your friends so that when you're laboring all of your well wishers can turn on your music and send you good vibes...Good luck! Sounds like fun!
Barb

Tell her the shower is on one date so she will be expecting it. Then, really plan the shower for another date before than. Invite her to lunch, dinner, whatever on the date YOU and her friends really planned for and she will be surprised to see everyone there. L.
hope that makes sense.

Oh, I love baby showers! I think for a baby shower full of suprises I would have a pinata and put non baby items in there and non pinata things in there (girly things, or panties-make it comical) then at the end give her a basket full of baby items!

Another great game is to bring a basket out full of baby items. Give everyone 5-10 minutes to look at it, cover or hide the basket then give everyone 10 minutes to write down everything they can remember in the basket!

A great game is baby animal names to mothers

Have fun with it! I agree with the lunch/dinner surprise thing!

Or have the baby shower at a strange baby shower place like Chucky Cheese, McDonalds playroom.

You could maybe hide something in the cake. Whoever finds it would get a gift that would be a surprise. Possibly do a clues type game or the whole shower. Is this shower need to be on a small budget or not? If money is not an issue then you could be very elaborate. If it is then just tone things down a bit.

This idea isn't much in the way of surprises, but ...

My sister is a seamstress and gave everyone at my first baby's shower a white quilt square. She set up a table of embroidery threads and extra fabric scraps. There may have been some shape stencils available, too.
She had her sewing machine out. My sewing machine may have been set up also.
Some of my friends embroidered designs on their squares. Some stitched additional fabric designs, like applique's (is that the right word?). They all stitched their initials in the lower right corner of their square.
Afterwards, my sister stitched the squares together and built the quilt.
My daughter still has the quilt. This quilt represents the creative ideas and talents of several of my closest friends at that time. Many of gone other directions, but I'll never forget them.
Happy New Year!!