How To Throw The Perfect Baby Shower

For the party favors, think about how much time you want to spend making them. You can get kits where all you have to do is take everything out of the box, assemble, add candy or confetti and you are done. Alternatively, you can make your own, a much more thoughtful, but more time consuming task. You can choose to wait until either the guests have RSVP'ed to make them so you will know how many you need, or you can go ahead, make enough for everyone who was invited, and just keep the extras as mementos. A good, easy way to make favors is to buy a bunch of tulle circles, a filler, such as baby themes keepsakes (small plastic rattles, pacifiers, etc..), some coordinating fabric ribbon, and some cupcake picks and just lay the tulle circles flat, put a pile of the filler in the center, wrap it up and tie it with the fabric ribbon and stick a cupcake pick in the top.

Now, for the games. I personally think five is a good number of games when it comes to baby showers. Some of these are played throughout the whole shower, while some are more focused. Below I have listed some game ideas for you. Do not forget to get some prizes for the winners as well. The most important thing to remember when picking prizes is it just has to be fun, not extravagant. Small gift certificates are great, and so are lotions, candles, books and more! Be creative with the prizes but do not go overboard because these will not be a main point at the baby shower anyway. Be sure to check my list below the last step for many baby shower game ideas!

For the centerpiece depending on how many tables, you need them for you could get one big one or a few smaller ones. Many party stores have paper centerpieces that fold out or have ribbon fountains atop them, but that is not your only option. Consider using a diaper cake, or a baby sock bouquet. These are not only beautiful but also very useful for the Mom-To-Be after the shower. Other centerpiece ideas could be baby gift baskets, a handmade centerpiece, or even the cake.

Of course, you should not forget about the food. Party trays seem to work best for baby showers; they are easy and quick, giving you more time to worry about other things. Try having a fruit tray, a cracker tray, and a meat and cheese tray. For showers with many guests, maybe have a few chips and dip trays and a vegetable and dip tray as well. Some other good, quick shower foods are cocktail smokies, mini sandwiches, or my great tortilla chip dip! To make this, just throw a pound of browned hamburger meat, a block of Velveeta cheese, and two jars of salsa into a crock-pot and cook until melted. This is not only easy, but also filling and delicious, and it will be a hit! Check out my tips at the end of the article for important things to remember when it comes to food.

Now for the punch. The baby shower punch I use is a big hit. You may have heard of it or you may not have, but it is awesome!! Get a box of lime sherbet ice cream, a bottle of ginger ale, and a can of pineapple juice. Mix it all together in a punch bowl. No need to chill, the sherbet keeps it cold. This is the best punch, and I personally promise it will be a hit. Be sure to have extra ingredients on hand as this stuff goes fast! You can also make this with raspberry sherbet, making the punch pink, which would be cute for a girl. (But for what it's worth I think the punch tastes better with lime in it, and I don't even like lime sherbet) After making the first bowl, you can adjust your input of ingredients to your taste, sometimes a little more of this or less of that makes it even better!

Make sure to have a place for the food, a place for the gifts, and a place for the games. Also, be sure to have someone to take pictures and write down all gifts received so the mom to be can send out thank you cards after the shower. Make sure to get the guests to sign the register, Mom-To-Be will cherish that for a long time! If you are serving drinks that require ice, be sure to have plenty of it on hand. Make sure the Mom-To-Be has a comfortable place to sit as well.

• Baby Shower Games:
• My Water Broke! - Get some small plastic babies (found in the baby shower section of Wal Mart) and some ice cube trays. The night before the shower, put a baby in each ice cube hole and fill the tray with water and freeze as normal. When you are ready to play the game, give everyone a paper towel and one of the ice cubes. Whoever can get the ice to completely melt first and get the baby out says "My Water Broke!" and they are the winner. Players can put the cubes in their mouth, rub them, whatever they would like to make it MELT, but may not break or bite the ice.
• Guess How Big Mommy Is! - Many stores sell ribbon especially for this, but any string or ribbon will do, as long as you have a lot of it. Each guest will cut a length of the ribbon to guess how big the mom to be is around her belly. After everyone has their ribbons cut, guests take turns putting theirs around mom, whoever is the closest wins!
• Collect The Favors - Buy a few bags of small baby themed favors (tiny bottles, pacifiers, even candy will do), a bag or two of rice (depending on how many people you have), and some Dixie cups. The day of the party, dump all the rice and favors in a big bowl and mix it all together. Everyone gets a Dixie cup, and while closing their eyes, scoops out a cupful of rice. Everyone then counts how many favors they got in their cup and whoever has the most wins!
• Don't Say Baby - As everyone comes in the door, give them a something they can wear through the shower (some ideas are a novelty pacifier tied to a string as a necklace, or some of those small pastel clothespins, which can be clipped to your shirt). Let everyone know it is for a game, and that they cannot say the word "baby" through the whole shower. Anytime someone hears someone else say the word baby, they get to take their [necklace, pin, etc..] and add it to their shirt or neck. At the end of the baby shower, whoever has collected the most wins! If someone has collected more than one, and is caught saying baby, whoever hears them say it gets ALL of their [pins, necklaces]!!
• Baby Bingo - This can be found at many party stores, and it is a lot of fun!
• Baby Food Tasting - You could play this a couple of different ways. One way is to put a small amount of five different baby foods on a plate for each person. Write on the bottom of the plate which food is in which spot so you will know. Make sure not to use the same combination of foods on everyone's plate, that will make it harder for everyone to guess what they have. Whoever guesses the right flavors of the most amounts of foods on their plate wins. Another way to play this game is by elimination. Everyone gets a small amount of one type of food (not all the same, but they do not have to all be different either). Everyone who guesses right goes on to the next "round" of taste testing. Keep going until you have one winner (or two, however you would like to do it). Make sure to have extra prizes in case of a tie. A tip with this game is not to get easy to guess foods like apples or bananas. Do not get multi ingredient foods though, that would be too hard. Some good foods that I noticed are hard to guess are squash, green beans and peas (they look just alike), peaches (not as easy as it sounds when you do not know what you are eating), sweet potatoes, and the meat purees. This is especially fun for the guests who do not have babies.
• The Guessing Game - Get a large plastic container and fill it with colored cotton balls (you can find baby blue, pink, purple, and yellow in the cosmetics section of Wal Mart - in case you haven't noticed, I shop there a lot!). Each guest guesses how many balls are in the container and whoever is closest wins!
• The Guessing Game Version II - Get a diaper cake (which also makes a great centerpiece) and let the guests guess how many diapers are on it.
• Animal Babies - Make a list of Momma animals and print enough copies for each guest. Have your own copy, complete with the answers. Each guest will then write down the names of the animal’s babies and whoever gets the most right wins! Some challenging and helpful examples are as follows: Alligator - Hatchling, Bear - Cub, Beaver - Kitten, Cow - Calf, Deer - Fawn, Dog - Puppy, Donkey - Foal, Duck - Duckling, Eagle - Eaglet, Eel - Elver, Elephant - Calf, Fish - Fry, Frog - Tadpole, Giraffe - Calf, Goat - Kid, Horse - Colt, Hummingbird - Chick, Kangaroo - Joey, Lion - Cub, Llama - Cria, Monkey - Infant, Owl - Owlet, Sheep - Lamb, Spider - Spiderlet, Swan - Cygnet
• Note: The mother-to-be is going to be very busy getting ready for baby's arrival. Make sure to have someone jot down all gifts received for the mom for the thank you cards. Another good idea is to have everyone who brought a gift write down their address on one of the thank you card envelopes. The mom-to-be will be very grateful! You could even make a game out of this, putting all the envelopes in a bucket with one marked as a winner and have everyone draw an envelope.
• Please remember the following tips when planning your baby shower menu: 1. Many expecting mothers have a few foods that they can hardly stand to think of, much less eat. Before you have your menu set in stone, be sure to run it by the mom-to-be to make sure she will be able to stand seeing and smelling all the items. 2. Of course, never serve alcohol. 3. Try to stay away from soft cheeses, items that contain nitrate or nitrites (hot dogs, lunch meats) unless they are cooked very thoroughly, fish high in mercury (king mackerel, tuna, tilefish, swordfish, and shark), and any raw ingredients that could harm an unborn child. 3. Make sure to ask the mom-to-be if she is allergic to any foods before starting.