Baby Showers

What is involved in a baby shower?

Baby Showers
Baby showers are a special way of showering expectant parents with love, gifts, advice and memories. While all baby showers are different and unique, they are all very special. Baby showers are used as a celebration of pregnancy and the upcoming delivery. Generally, a baby shower should be held approximately one to two months before the baby is due. This will allow the expectant parents time to purchase any baby necessities that were not purchased as gifts for the shower. It also helps to ensure that the mother has not already had the baby. Some baby showers are centered around a theme and some are not. Common themes are the desired nursery theme, baby necessities, booties, ducks, teddy bears or blocks.

Invitations

The invitation should include the name of the parent and child (if known), date and time of the shower, location of the shower with directions, the host name and phone number and where the parents are registered. You may also choose to give a date for responses, known as the RSVP.
Invitations should be mailed to guests approximately 4 weeks ahead of time. Give a longer notice to out of town guests.
Men can be invited to baby showers as well.
Can be themed or neutral.

Food

Most showers have finger foods and punch available for the guests to enjoy during the shower.
Pinwheels, meatballs, chips and dip, a veggie or fruit tray, crackers, cookies, mints and other small items are common.
A specially made cake is usally the main centerpiece for the shower.
Some shower hosts decide to have a full course meal with an afternoon tea.

Games

Games should be fun and easy to play.
Small prizes should be awarded to the winner of any game that is played.
From drinking bottles to changing baby doll diapers, there are lots of games to play at a shower.

Party Favors

In some areas it is okay not to give party favors to the guests for coming. However, most people will give a small party favor as their appreciation gift.
Potpourri sachets, stationary sets or wrapped candies are sufficient.
Attach a short thank you note or poem to the gift for your guests.

Etiquette

In the past, it was recommended that women only have baby showers for their first born. However, more and more people realize the equal importance of all babies and like to celebrate each one.
The mother-to-be and her mother should not host the shower. Instead, a friend, aunt, sister or co-worker should do the party planning.
The person(s) that host the party is the one that is responsible for paying for rentals, food, decorations, etc. It is never polite to ask guests to contribute or the parents-to-be.
Always send out thank you notes immediately after the shower. Thank your guests for coming, for their support and for any gifts that were brought.

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Comments: Baby Showers

Comments 26 to 46 of about 46.
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andy21 - 150 days ago.
so, i am the oldest (of 7 lol) and i’m due to have my baby November 6th. My mom is throwing me a shower sometime in September. I am way too anxious to wait til October and with my due date being the first week of November, I could surely have him in October. I want to have plenty of time to plan his room and other items we don’t receive (no one will let me buy anything cuz they keep telling me to wait!) we are planning on a co-ed baby shower with both friends and family. anyways, the main thing i wanted to mention was that my MIL wants to throw me a shower as well. I’m fine with that but here’s the catch… she said that she’s going to do things “a little different” she said it’s going to be all of her girlfriends, who I totally don’t know at all! like, i’ve never even met these people before. she said that she’s going to call it her becoming a grandma party but that my husband and i will be there too. now, I totally understand that she’s excited and all but, does this just sound odd to you???

adriana03 - 212 days ago.
If she doesnt have the money for it then its perfectly fine. Its gonna be a bit harder for you because yoour on bedrest. How are you planning to do it? A baby shower is hard work unless you have full suport of others around. For decorating, food, cake and all those other goodies.If you have that then go for it.

goddess27 - 213 days ago.
omg I too want to control my baby shower! I thought was just me! my mother is supposed to be throwing the shower for me and the reason I want to do myself is because this is my 4th pregnancy and 3rd child. well with my first two my mother always states that she was going to do my baby shower and quess what. never happened! she is a major percrastinator. foe this chip the date has been changes 4 times many excusess as to why date changed! I'm like I want to send invites to my friends but I can't because she keeps changing. then next thing I know she says she don't have he money for it! I just want to do myself but I don't want to look like I am begging for gifts ( would be nice but not main reason)I just want all the fun that comes with it being as this will be my last child and with all the difficulties I have been through( loss and currently on bed rest) plus i havent seen many of m friends since january because of the bedrest I just want so e fun. do you guys think would be wrong in my part if I do myself

DeklansMommy - 214 days ago.
For those of you wanting a baby shower that you're more in control of, or if you've already had children and don't need a lot of baby gear, you might consider a Blessingway. I had one in lieu of a shower for my second, and it was amazing!

mommyCanals - 214 days ago.
i had 3 girls, and i had a baby shower for the first 2, and a welcome home lunch for the third. Which was really odd, since we had already planned a baby shower lunch for that day, but unexpectedly had the baby the day before the scheduled shower, So sis in law changed the name to a welcome home baby lunch! I had a son also, but had nothing for him, being that just having a fourth was stressful enough for me, and didnt want anything!!!! So for this pregnancy hubby decided that since its my last baby, he is going to make me a shower with the help of my sister! (or rather he is paying for everything and she will be in charge of planning it all!) And we are just planning a few ppl, not more than 20, and just a simple celebration! I think that regardless of how many children one might have, each baby should still be celebrated..............and also regardless of the gender !

adriana03 - 217 days ago.
Im no where near a baby shower but I thought I might leave some games that we play. The first is you hold about three or four lemons between your legs while trying to walk to a bottle we leave on the floor(like a 2liter) with the tip cut open a little wider and try to i guess ame them in the bottle. The next a toilet paper one. you try and guess how big her tummie is and cut about what you estimate will go around her. whoever is closest wins. Then we pick out of two player who can drink a bottle faster. Then haha theres this fun one that two women are blind folded and spoon feed the other person gerber baby food. Its a mess but fun!. I have a lot more but this is long as it is lol

ALLNEADSLISA - 236 days ago.
KJMT683 I agree with you 100%. I am in the same boat. I want to take control of my baby shower. I know my sister in law is doing something but I want to call her and tell how it should be done. I have been to so many showers that are well put together and I want desprerately to help.

gamama31791 - 237 days ago.
completnme- that sounds like a lot more fun then the one my friend did for my shower. it was where everyone including guys blew up a balloon and who ever finished & put it under their shirt first won. It was really cheesy and lasted every bit of 30 seconds. a friend told me of a game that i liked but we never did was having the guy hold a baby doll, try to talk on the phone and hang clothes on a clothes line at the same time. i guess you got to get a line up for the party. she said them guys looked so funny trying to all three things at one time.

completnme - 238 days ago.
first time-you should do the game its called its called premature birth,i would rename it maybe but-you blow a balloon up as big as mommies belly and put it under all of the ,mens shirts-they have to tie their shoes talk on the phone and put diapers on another baby etc-its supposed to be the things u go through with your belly-its really fun the balloon always pops the one who last the longest wins

1st-timearound - 238 days ago.
Anyone here having a co-ed shower? r u doing games? If so what kind. We decided to do co-ed but I have no idea what to do for games!

kjmt683 - 239 days ago.
I'm due 7/4, but I'm already feeling anxious about the baby shower. I know that etiquette says that someone else should throw the shower for me, but I feel like I should take control since neither my friends nor my (or his) family know how to approach it for a big reason: his family is Portuguese and mine is Filipino, and we have different ways of celebrating. His family places value on formality, while my family is more laid back, among other things. Also, we typically don't combine families during celebrations for reasons I still don't understand. Everyone's been saying that the 'newness' of the interracial marriage takes time to wear off for people to get comfortable, but I'm sick of that excuse. I don't mean to be selfish, but I'd rather know that no one is throwing anything so that we can start buying stuff for the baby - even though everyone's been saying 'Don't buy anything yet - leave the supplies to us!' I don't want to be unprepared for this baby. Admittedly, I am a little of a control freak - but I'd like to know how I can fix this.

completnme - 244 days ago.
found a site- cutest games ever-http://www.plan-the-perfect-baby-shower.com/free-baby-shower-games.html..............This is my 3rd and 4th(twins) baby shower- i had that same feeling-it gets to a point where you are wondering if you are just being too much on the free gifts-but everyone kept begging me to have one and i thought why not give these babies the same welcome

thecoyz - 244 days ago.
scaredmommy: I think that you having a baby shower would be fine. You are having a boy so this is 'new' to you. I have 3 girls and I just found out that I am having a boy and I am having a baby shower so I think that as long as it is a different sex...it is okay.

scaredmommy - 244 days ago.
This is my third baby however it's a boy. My other two were girls. I want to have a party to celebrate this baby too but this would be my third baby shower. Will people be annoyed or will they be just as excited as me. I know I will not be throwing the party but is it even exceptable to be having another baby shower?

completnme - 246 days ago.
what is the point of this section without games???Lord.

artisticchik - 258 days ago.
I am 20 weeks pregnant with my second child. My first child is almost 8 and I was told that I would not be able to have more children. I really should NOT have listened to those doctors because SUPRISE. Needless to say we did not keep any baby items from our first child but the crib since my darling mother in law bought that for us and we wanted to keep it for sentimental reasons and a few items of clothing and other momentos since he was born at 27 weeks and is our miracle. Long story short, I have been offered by multiple people to throw me a baby shower. I have never been one who is comfortable being on the receiving end of gifts so I lose my bearing when people are being so generous. Normally I am the one doing the giving. The people offering are from very different areas of my life. One side is my church family. The other side is my former co-workers. The co-workers side are mostly non church goers and I think they would be very uncomfortable even in a neutral setting so I am apprehensive about the suggestion of combining the parties because I don't want the person who offered to throw the shower is somehow being ranked second. I hold no regard for any group of friends any higher than the other, I love them all dearly. Also I don't want to hurt anyones feelings by telling them I have already been offered because this is something they really want to do and will probably proceed anyways no matter what I say. I suppose being bombarded with all of this generosity is a 'good' problem to have but I don't know how to react. Maybe I need to stop worrying so much about being politically correct and just be myself. The other side of this is traditionally you only have one shower. I know standards and customs are changing all the time. It seems like no matter what I say or do at this juncture I run the risk of offending someone. Anyone else feel this way?

jennllewis - 300 days ago.
So I need some help...my shower is this Saturday...However my daughter is almost 3 months.. She came 4 days before we were going to have her first shower.. As far as games go.. are there any games that can be played since she is already here?

yummymummy1 - 300 days ago.
hi does anyone no of any good games to play at a baby shower????

jhjohnston - 351 days ago.
I just had my baby shower yesterday. It was amazing how much I got. One lady spent way too much and got me way too much. I feel bad for her husband. I mean it is all brand new stuff and she packed liked 4 bags full of stuff. It is almost like she has some kind of thing where you just go spend lots of money and dont stop. She said she was enjoying shopping for a baby again especially for a girl. I can understand that, but why get so much. I think that they could of used the money. I dont know what to think but I am grateful. I live in an apartment and am having a hard time making room for everything. got to get rid of more of my stuff I guess. It is nice having all this baby stuff here and it is hitting me more now that I am going to be having a baby really soon, like in seven weeks. wow it is crazy how time has flown by. well I gotta go organize more.

ibaheir2dathrone - 366 days ago.
My shower is tomorrow. I am kinda excited. It was a surprise. I don't think many people will be there. However I am very thankful that someone took the time to think about us. I will be 35 weeks tomorrow and having my c-section 10 days later. lol, getting close!!

lyndsay2619 - 374 days ago.
Well, this weekend is the big surprise! lol...Mom & Dad arrived from FL last night and will be here through the weekend. We have a shopping trip planned for Saturday and movie and dinner Sat night. Then the surprise 80th party is Sunday at 2pm...can't wait! I'll let you know how everything goes, I just hope I can pull off the right surprise look!!! Have a great weekend ladies!