I'm giving a small baby shower for a dear friend who is going to have her third (God help her) son. To my knowledge, I don't think anyone did anything for her w/her second and I know she doesn't want anything major. I offered to host a "Dessert & Diapers" get together where I'll serve a bunch of desserts, coffee & champagne and then ask everyone to bring diapers as their gift. My friend thought it was a great idea, but I was still thinking of doing either activities (scrapbooking??) or just a couple of games depending on what my friend is comfortable with. Any ideas or suggestions would be MUCH appreciated!!!
Thanks in advance!!!
Wow!!! Thanks so much ladies! These ideas are wonderful. What a great help, I can't thank you all enough. We're gonna have an awesome time.
Someone has already suggested something similar with the onesies, but at one of my showers, my sister provided fabric squares, special markers and stencils. Each guest decorated a square for my son-to-be. I actually had enough to make 2 beautiful keepsake quilts from all my friends and family.
I love and always use the "purse" game. Make up a story about the mom to be...for example, "Gosh, name's husband was CHASING her around the house to have this 3rd baby"....something silly like that...., and then tell the guests,"If anyone has a CHASE credit card, get it out." Whomever has the most items at the end of the game is the winner. It is always a BIG hit. I make up the story before and OK it with the mom...and then certainly embellish it as we play it! Good luck. How wonderful to have 3 boys!
If you want an activity you could decorate cupcakes. Then you have dessert too! As far as any other games I would keep them silly and easy. At my sis in law's her friend brought out the bathroom scale and agve a speech about the mom to be not wanting to have her belly measured blah blah blah. So they decided.... that everyone... was going to ... weigh... their purses! We were all holding our breath with that scale. You KNOW we thought someone was getting on it. the person with the heaviest purse won a prize. Personally I do not like games where you have to think.
This is a totally different idea from what you listed above, but I thought it was great for an additional baby. My sister hosted a shower for my second child at one of those dinner preparation places. It was a great time and perfect for a second baby. It was a small couples shower, and each guest made a 4 or 5 meals for us to take home and freeze. That was their gift to us. We ended up filling our freezer and my mom's with meals we could just reheat after the baby was born. My sister brought champagne and decorated the few tall cocktail tables in the front of the store with simple flowers. She bought a package of newborn size diapers and put them out on a table with different colored sharpies. The guests wrote funny sayings on the diapers and then she packaged them back up. Every time we changed our newborn's diapers we got a good chuckle. She also played a simple game where she had each guest write what they thought my hubby weighed at birth and then collected them. She lined up pieces of paper on the ground with weight measurements on them. My hubby had to put a balloon under his shirt and walk the line back and forth. He had to stop on what he thought his measurement was at birth and "give birth" to the balloon by popping it out on the measurement. Then she revealed the correct weight and the guest closest won a prize.
Last year a friend and I threw a shower for another friend who was having her third baby. We decorated different sized onesies (from newborn all the way to 18 months) and bibs with fabric paint. When each item was done, we hung them on a clothesline to dry. It was a lot of fun and it was something all the ladies including the guest of honor really enjoyed doing!
ask all the invitees to send you a copy of a baby photo. then do a guessing game of which baby is which person. this is always a big hit with us. another thing we did was to ask everyone to write down their best baby tip. not only for first time moms but in her case what special tip do you have for a mom with gasp 3 babies. it is a whole new ballgame with 3. they outnumber you lol. good luck and kudo's to you for hosting a shower for her. Moms need help from friends.
My favorite baby shower games are.
Take the labels off and guess what is in the baby food jars. then you give the baby food to the mom .
For the name tags you use a recieving blanket to make a diaper shape then you put a mustard spot in one of them.
Bring a pretty yarn and you take off as much as you think will go around her tummy.
I really like your idea about Desserts and diapers.
thanks J.
Wow, after reading all the wonderful responses you already received, I wish I was planning a baby shower! One of the easy games I recently played at a baby shower was to name as many songs as you can with the word "Baby" in the title. Believe it or not, there are tons of songs. I also like the idea of drawing a picture of the baby on top of your head game. That is always fun too. Good luck and have fun. Your friend is blessed to have such a great amiga in you!
Hi N.,
For a friend's shower we went to a local nail salon and had them send over 3 ladies that gave the shower guests a manicure (the mom to be got a mani-pedi) and hand massages. We put music on and just chatted and relaxed.
We served finger sandwiches and lots of desserts. We hired a couple of teen girls to watch any kids that came with their Moms so that everyone could have time with adults. With a third one on the way your friend might enjoy a couple hours to be with her grownup friends.
Wow - the other ladies are so imaginative! I was thinking what a treat it was to be pampered a little when I was preggo w/ boy 2. In lieu of baby shower, my friends took me to a nail salon for spa mani/pedi. Perhaps you can do something similar yourself for the guest of honor and do her pedi for her. Let her know what you're up to ahead of time in case she's shy about that kind of thing and has the opportunity to decline gracefully. A few tips though - don't use colors that will be noticible when/if chipped. It may be a while before she can get around to tending to things again after the baby's born. I would probably skip colored polish altogether and just concentrate on light massage, trim&shaping of nails & cuticles. Also, depending on your budget, you may want to see if you can look into getting a professional massage therapist to come in for a while and do chair massage(s). If you go that route be SURE to tell the therapist that you are doing BABY shower and make sure they feel comfortable giving massages to preggo ladies.
My aunt always made tiny diapers out of napkins for to pin on all the guests as they arrive. (They can double as name tags if the guests won't know each other.) At the end of the shower, everyone would check their diaper to see if it was the one that "needs changed" - one diaper will have a yellow or brown stain (made with markers or colored pencils). The guest wearing that pin gets a small prize.
Also, giving out something like plastic necklaces or clothespins to every guest, and designating a forbidden word/action (usually crossing legs or saying "cute") that will cause them to lose the item can be fun. If you catch someone doing the forbidden action, you collect any necklaces or pins they have. Whoever has tyhe most at the end of the shower takes home a small prize.
N.-
I found these on the internet and thought they were sweet ideas.
S.
Here's the link.
http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-shower-games-sweet-and-s...
Baby's First Alphabet Book
Ahead of time, print each letter of the alphabet on an individual sheet of paper. Once your guests are seated, pass out one sheet of lettered paper to each person along with a supply of markers, crayons, colored pencils, and stickers.
Ask each guest to decorate her page with things that relate to her letter – for example, whoever has letter "A" might draw pictures of apples, alligators, and ants. Your guests should also put their name on the page somewhere and can include a note to the soon-to-arrive baby if they like.
After the shower, laminate the pages and bind them together, then give the collection to the guest of honor. It's her baby's first alphabet book! If you have more than 26 guests, you can also add pages with numbers or shapes, or you can have more than one person work on each page.
Birthday Card Time Capsules
Pass out blank greeting cards along with consecutively numbered envelopes to each of your guests.
Instruct each guest to write a birthday card to the baby-to-be for whatever age is listed on her envelope. For instance, the person who receives envelope number 13 will write a birthday message for the baby's thirteenth birthday and might say something about what a big milestone it is to become a teenager. The cards will make special gifts for the baby throughout the years.
Baby-to-be Scrapbook
Create a special, personalized scrapbook that the expectant mom can use to show off all her future baby photos. Buy a variety of scrapbook pages and accessories (special paper, photo corners, stickers, stamps, cutely shaped hole punches, and so on).
Have the shower guests each design a page or two, and the mom-to-be will have a great memento of her shower – as well as a beautiful baby album she would never have had time to make on her own.
Guest Graffiti
Buy a baby bodysuit or a hooded bath towel in white or another light color, plus nontoxic fabric paint or markers. As each guest arrives, ask her to sign her name on the outfit or towel. Encourage guests to write personal messages or draw little pictures. The mom-to-be will take the "graffiti"-covered item home for her new baby.
Toilet Paper Talk
Pass a roll of toilet paper around the room and ask each person to tear off as much or as little as she likes. Once everyone has her piece, announce that for every square of paper a guest has taken, she has to share one piece of baby advice, one parenting anecdote, or one wish for the mom-to-be.
