Baby Shower Ideas - San Jose,CA

Take the diapers that people bring, open them up, pass them out with markers and have them write comments on them (like "Up again?" or "Stinky one on the way" or "Where's dad?"). When she's changing diapers at 3am in the morning, they're fun to read -- like a fortune cookie.

Technically, second baby showers aren't considered polite as many guests already went all out for the shower/s thrown for the first baby and by now mom usually has all the gear she needs for an infant. A way around this is to have a "meet the baby luncheon or tea" after the baby is born and do not ask for gifts or put registry info in the invite. People will bring gifts anyway and will call the hostess and ask what mom needs for baby #2. Hope that helps.

For my sister's shower, I bought a flat of flowers in the 2 inch pots, wrapped them in tissue paper and put a note in them that said" A baby is blooming! Please plant this flower and watch it bloom. Just like the baby who will be here soon."
Everyone loved them. They were inexpensive .33/each and not some stupid toy that ends up thrown away or at the bottom of your purse:)

As previously mentioned, the baby shower is usually for the first time mom who has nothing. I guess it is assumed that many of the things will be re-used. Something casual is a good idea. To add to that you might do what the organizers for the last shower I went to did. Inside the invitation, they included the stores which the new mother was registered and they added that there would be a raffle for $25 Target gift card. To be included in the raffle, the guests must bring a package of diapers.

HI H.-
Here are a couple of cheap game ideas.
1. put baby items in brown paper bags. let everyone feel the bag and write down what they think is inside. The person who gets the most right gets a prize- a great lotion or body wash- a fun lip gloss or pen and notepad set.
2. baby food jars. Peel the labels. People have to guess by looking at the jar. She who gets the most correct wins a prize!
3. This was really great for the mom. Make cute notes cards and have the attendees write a small bit of 2nd child advice or a blessing for the new mom. The 2nd one is just as precious as the first, so have them make it special.
4. We did a pool on who could guess the date and time of the babies birth and the weight. The 2 closest were mailed congrats cards after the baby was born with a small prize (we did fun soaps from bath and body works- sale rack- a couple dollars each).
Lastly, for prizes and game pieces, hit up the dollar tree stores and super sales at your favorite places. YOu can do all this on a tight budget and still have fun.
5. Nursery rhyme characters: when the ladies arrive, put a sticker on their back with the name of a nursery rhyme character, like Old Mother Hubbard, or mother goose. They have to ask questions to figure out who they are- yes and no questions. Just for fun, no prizes. Then they can wear their "label" on the front of their shirt.
Hope this helps!
-E.

Hi H.!

My person favorite gift, was the Diaper Cake!

Get a large cake round from any party/craft store. Roll infant diapers individually and secure with a rubber band. Then being placing the diapers (on their end) until the whole cake round is covered. Try "hiding" the diaper design to keep everything more white like an actual cake. I put wipee's in the middle to take up space and make it more durable. Anyway, you can make 3 tiers on top of eachother.

To finish: Get cute 1" baby ribbon and tie it around each tier. This covers up the rubber bands :o)

Trimmings: You can add ANYTHING with mini clothes pins! You know, booties, wash clothes, bibs, etc....

Once you get started, your ideas will start flowing!

Finance tip! Just start with the cake round, diapers and the ribbon. Add ONLY what you can afford to after that :o) It's sooooooo easy to over spend on this cute project!

I hope that's one idea you were looking for. It's a very cute way to give someone diapers :O)

~N. :O)

the diaper game is halarious- melt the chocolate just a bit before you put it in the diaper and then mush it around a bit- we had a co-ed party and the guys decided to taste test help them guess- it was hard to watch even though we knew it was just chocolate
Another cheap and easy game is to have everyone put a paper plate on their head and try to draw a baby- the results are pretty funny
is there someone who could co-host with you? a sister-in-law or mother-in-law- and help with the planning and cost?
Keeping with the tail-gate theme, you might go pot-luck style???
Have fun and celebrate life love and family!

In the movie, SUNSHINE CLEANING, they had a baby shower game where chocolate was wrapped in diapers and they had to guess the type of chocolate. Along the same lines, a friend made cute favors out of napkins wrapped like diapers, with chocolate inside.
A fun game is to put little baby items like nail clippers, nasal aspirator, shampoo, wash cloth, in inidividual brown bags with numbers on them. You pass them around and people try to guess what's inside by feeling the bags. Everyone lists what they think the items are on a piece of paper. You get some wild responses!

Hello H.,

My first child was a girl and I had a huge family baby shower, a smaill family shower, and a work shower. It was nuts. For my second child, a boy, we had a family baby shower that wasn't too outrageous but still it was nice. I think its always great to celebrate bringing a child into the world.

You have already received some great idea's for the party and I wanted to let you know the games we played. My friend thought of playing a game where each participant got a pad and pencil and with in a given time (1 or 2 or3 minutes) had to list all the songs they could think of that had Baby in the title. Current songs, old songs, lullaby's...anything was up for grabs. Some people got really creative in making up song titles but were required to sing the song if they they thought it was real.

Another game I've played is a nursery rhyme/lullaby game where a question would be asked like "Who did Jack go up the hill with?" and the participant writes down the anser (the answer would be Mary).

There is the baby animal name game. You say the adult animal name like bear and the participant needs to write down the baby name: cub.

Have a fun time!

The best thing we did at my baby shower was to ask everyone to share a special tradition from their childhood that they really loved or made them feel special. Then we took a group photo and had everyone write in metallic ink on the matting that goes around the picture a brief wish for my baby based on the tradition they shared. It is a great memento and there were so many wonderful ideas that I wanted to make happen for my son. Good luck!
J.

The best thing that we did at my shower was every guest drew a picture, or wrote a message (with fabric paint pens) on a square of colored fabric, which was later sewn in to a quilt for my daughter... not only is it practical, we will always remember who was their to welcome her into the world!

Greetings H.: Baby and wedding showers are just so much fun to do as a gathering of family and friends. We do a shower for each baby taht comes as a way to honor that child but if it is the same sex you can tell people to just bring diapers as they may have all else. If it is for a boy ve girl they will need all new things! I usually get as many people involed as possible to help in the fun and the expense. So ask family or friends to bring salads or vegetable, bean dips or fruit platters! Recently I gave a baby shower for a daughter in law and we had a western theme and had a great time with it. But BASBALL will be a lot of fun to do !! try having pennets or team hats hanging around bet that you can borrow from an avid fan what you need. Tell guests that they can wear their favorite team. Have baseballs on the tables for the guests to sign and keep for the childs room. Eatting stations set up like a baseball diamond and charts for the guests names as if it was try outs or picking of teams. See if someone actually has a tailgate that they will loan you to put the gifts on or the food. Are yo going to barbaque? or serve fried chicken? We always ask that everyone bring a package of diapers any size is ok and have each person that does bring diapers put their nake in a basket Hat for your theme & have a drawing during the party for a special prize. I bet this will be alot of fun. For party favors see what you can get from childrens party store for baseball, or oriental trading company ( go online if you don't have the book) they may have baseball bat pens. If you are in the Hayward, Ca. area there is a store called Party time on Mission near A that has great stuff. But favors might be as simple as scrolls in team themes you do on the computer Thanking people for coming and rooting on the newest little rookie, or babe ruth candy bars with a note attached. Have a great time and let us know how it turns out!! Nana G

i agree, showers are usually for first time mommies. we had a luncheon for my second, requested no gifts, just a good time with the ladies and no kids. :) you could request each guest brings a package of diapers, different sizes.

Hi H.! I threw a Baby Shower for my sis-in-law for her 2nd child, and made it a "Dinner and Diapers Shower." I asked everyone to bring a pack of diapers (any size pack, any size diaper). For the meal part, I asked attendees to bring either a frozen dinner, or to contribute $15 for a gift certificate to Dream Dinners - it's a place where you go to assemble meals to take home and freeze - all the ingredients and instructions are there, the meal needs minimal prep, and clean up is easy (there are other places with different names that do the same thing). Some people donated $30 or $45 to cover more than one meal. I presented my sis-in-law with the gift certificate, letting her know if people had donated more than one meal. She got about $300 in the gift certificate, and didn't have to buy diapers for about 7 months!
For games, I made up a game with "TV Siblings" since her daughter was about to be a big sister. I had to look some shows up online, but basically, the paper would say "Wally Cleaver" and you would have to write down "The Beaver." You get it.
I made the food, and labeled them baby-themed names. Feel free to contact me for more ideas (I have lots, but don't want to bore you).
Oh yeah...my sis-in-law just threw me a shower for my third baby. She made it a scrapbooking shower, where everyone decorated a page to put in Baby's scrapbook - now all I have to do is add the pictures! I also got clothes from everybody, because this was my first girl. We had the shower after she was born, so everyone could meet her (and because we didn't know what we were having).
How wonderful to throw your sis a shower! I truly believe every baby is a gift and deserves to be celebrated - and it's fun to think of "non-traditional" showers for subsequent babies! Good luck! :)

Most people don't do second showers. You have the first one because you have nothing. A Much casualer event is called for.
Saturday morning brunch is always good. Mimosas, fresh fruit, cheese, bread,

A game that I've done for the last several showers that I've thrown has been my absolute favorite- and the easiest. I know your sister says only diapers but chances are she'll get other gifts, too. Gift bingo is SOOOOOO easy. You print out blank bingo cards. I just make a table on Word and use baby related clip art to fill in the 'free' space and then where BINGO would normally be spelled. Everyone gets a card and fills it up with gifts that they think your sis will get. They cross out thier cards as she opens her gifts. It gets people really excited for gifts. I always do one big prize for the first to get Bingo and then little gift bags (I had avon samples at the time)for the remaining winners.
For decorations at a friends 2nd shower, I cut out cute babies from magazines and taped them all over the house. Between the co-host and me, we didn't have to spend a dime. It looked really cute, too.
I've heard of onsie-decorating showers, too. They're fairly cheap and all you'd need was the fabric markers or paint in addition. It would be time consuming, too.