what do you do at a baby shower?

Question

I want to throw a baby shower for my sister in law but I'm not sure I know the first thing about it. I've been to a few and all we did was eat and watch the mother open her gifts it seems. Does anyone have any ideas for games, food, things to do in general?

Answer 1

Baby showers can be whatever the guests and hostess want them to be!! They can be SUPER ORGANIZED or laid back affairs. It kind of depends on the guests!!

If most of the guests know each other....the silly games will be fun. However, in my experience....the silly games are awkward when the guests don't know each other very well. (If you aren't sure about this....limit the amount of silly games....)

The first step is picking a theme for the shower. A great theme is always what the nursery decor will be. If the mommy is planning a "Noah's Ark" nursery.....try to coordinate the shower to this theme. Invitations, thank you cards, decorations, the cake, the diaper cake, and guest gifts can all be noah's ark themed!!!

Decorations: I make diaper cakes and so, therefore, am a huge fan of these!! Put one in the middle of the gift-table....they are a great conversation starter for guests who don't know each other!! It can also double as your gift to the mommy-to-be!!! There are also companies that will put Storks out on your front lawn for baby showers.....great when people aren't exactly sure which house it is!! A Diaper Wreath or baby-themed door decoration is also great on the front of the house!! Make the cake with decorations that coordinate (or order a cake from the local grocery store that will coordinate!!). Napkins to match....plates to match. You probably get the idea!!

Usually a baby shower lasts about two hours. The first thirty minutes should be for mingling and nibbling!! Then some games can get started. How big is mommy's tummy....followed by some other quick ones. Then you can move on to opening gifts....followed by cake and punch. This is also a great time to offer up toasts to the new baby!!

Some other great ideas: Provide birthday cards,....have guests fill out birthday cards for the baby to open years down the road. These will make wonderful keepsakes and are really great when older relatives are attending the shower. Have the guests fill out the cards to the baby on their 5th birthday, 10th birthday....etc. Very sentimental and sweet!!

Most of all....make mommy the star!! Have a special seat just for her in the center of it all. Make sure she is comfortable with all the games you will be playing! It's her day.....and just the fact that you are throwing this shower for her will mean a lot to her!!

Have fun with it!

Answer 2

at mine, we played a few games..one was to give everyone in attendance a lollipop tied to a ribbon (to make a necklace). Then you pick a word, like "baby", or if they know what the babies name is going to be, the childs name, or choose "boy" or "girl" (really, you can pick anything you think people will have a hard time not saying), then whenever someone is caught saying the word, they lose their necklace and the person who caught them gets the necklace. The person who ends up with the most of the necklaces at the end of the shower, is the winner and gets a present (which is usually given to the mother-to-be).
Another game we played was where you take string, or toilet paper, or anything along those lines and the mom to be stands in the middle of the room. Pass the string around and people guess how big around the mom is (mesaure from bellybutton around), by pullung out the length of the string. The person who gets it right on or the closest, wins...same rules apply with the gift.
the last one we played was kinda gross at the thought of it, but it was fun....take diapers and put miscellaneous household items in them like, honey, creamed corn, baby foods, chocolate syrup, lotion, etc, (one item in each diaper), smear the stuff onthe diaper and pass them around and have people guess what they are...give them no clues other than they are things you can find in any household. Whoever has the most correct, wins....like I said, kinda gross, butit was fun because we were given no clues or ideas as to what these smells/sights in the diapers were and we had to be creative inour guesses.
Hope these help! Have fun!

Answer 3

well my best friend had a baby shower a few months ago. we played some intresting games. put a bunch of cotton balls in a baby bottle, then have the guests guess how many. have the mother to be go out of the room then have guest write down as many things as they can remember about her. get mini clothes pins in bluie and pink. have everyone take on. for an allotted time if anyone says baby who ever heard them takes the clothespin, there is a prized for the most clothespins at the end.

here are some links for great ideas....

http://www.101babyshowerideas.com/
the site below has printable games you might be interested in.
http://www.baby-shower.com/

hope i could help, you can find more links with a google search

Answer 4

I have two daughters. Here are a couple of games for you. The close pin game. Everyone gets a close pin and if someone crosses their legs or says baby someone can call them out and take their pin or the tolet paper game everyone gets a chance to guess how many paper squares fits around prego's stomach or the baby jar game. Buy some cheap baby food take off the lable and have people write down what kind of food they think it is. Hope you have a great party and God bless your sisters new baby.

Answer 5

EASY GAMES:
1: the best decorative hat. (my aunt had a penis on her hat, She won) Have your sister pick the winner!
2: put 10 baby objects on a tray, walk around the room so everyone get a peek. Then leave the room with the tray and have everyone right down as many as they can remember. Winner gets a prize.
3: Put close pins on a hanger and go around the room one at a time and have the ladies try to take as many clothes pin off the hanger with one hand. Winner gets a prize

Make sure you have prizes for the winner (dollarstore stuff like a picture frame or candles)

FOOD:
1: Cake
2: chip and dip
3: Veggies and dip
4: crackers and cheese

Keep it simple and remember to have fun!

Answer 6

there are lots of games you can do.......take teh labels off of baby food jars and right down which one is which on a piece of paper and have everyone guess what flavor each one is by smelling and/or tasting it.
Get some string and have everone guess how big the moms tummy is by cutting the string to what size they think she is.
Don't say baby game. Whoever lasts the lontgest without saying baby wins.
Do a baby word scramble or crossword puzzle or whatever.
Do a diaper raffle. have every guest bring some diapers and wipes (any brand or size) and their name gets put in a drawing. Draw a name and give that person a prize....

Answer 7

Great question...Being a husband of a mother of three I suggest that you visit http://www.baby-shower-games-etc.com/
The games that are listed are free and will give you several ideas. No matter what happens I am sure you and your sister in law will have fun as you will be with friends and family. Good luck and enjoy being a new Aunt!

Answer 8

You can get a bingo baby shower games at baby's r us.
You can play the game where you put 20 baby items on a tray ( you put diaper pens, baby shampoo, baby powder, ect. ect.) and everyone looks at the tray for 15 to 20 seconds you take the tray away and they have to write down as many items as they can remember the person who gets the most wins. Make sure everyone has pencil and paper before you show the tray. You can make little diapers out of napkins put doo doo in one make it out of peanut butter just enough for a brown color or you can use mustard. you have them folded as diapers with little pens and as your guests arrive they pick a diaper and pin it on them with a large pen, at the end of the party before you eat everyone opens the diapers and the one with the mess wins.
You can play the game where every one gets a diaper pin and they can't cross arms or legs, if they cross their legs the person that catches them get to take that persons diaper pen and the one with the most pens wins.
Go to a party shop they have a booklet of all kinds of things to do.

Answer 9

I dont know about games but as for food go with baby things like

Baby back ribs

Baby carrots

Baby corn

things like that

Answer 10

i love baby showers.
some cute games that we played at the last one i went to was:

we had envelopes labled 1-20 and everyone that went to the party grabbed one, and on the inside was a stationary paper with ballons on it, and everyone wrote a lil message.

another game we played was a bottle racing game..where there was 3 volunteers and the host put either soda or milk in the bottle and it was a race to see who could suck out all of their liquids,and they winner got a small prize ..((prizes from like the dollar store))

hope these help!