1) Having a baby shower party is a great way to acquire some of the items you will need when the baby arrives. Some gifts that are usually received at a shower include diapers, bassinets, toys and car seats.

2) A party is a great way to get you and your friends under the same roof again to have a good time. It also gets you out of the house!

3) Having a shower is a great way to others who you have not seen in a long time and to meet new people. You never know who will show up with one of your guests. Maybe they have young children or are expecting also.

4) You will pick up on great tips and advice from other mothers at the shower to prepare you for when your baby arrives.

Usually it is a family member or close friend who will organize and put the bay shower party on for you but of course, you can have some say in it too! Typically, friends and family of the mother-to-be are invited to the shower which is usually held in a hall but can also be held at a home depending on how many people are invited and are anticipated to show up. Guests are sometimes asked to bring a plate of food with them along with their gift. Sandwiches, pasta salads, vegetable salads and sweets are the most popular items to bring and they are foods that everyone likes! Sometimes, alcohol is served but it is best to keep everyone sober.

Remember, the guest of honor is not able have a drink, so it is a good idea if everyone stays in a decently sober mood for her sake! Once everyone arrives and takes a seat somewhere, the festivities begin. Games such as bingo and other popular favorites are played. It is a good idea to keep the games suitable for everyone as there are usually people of all ages present a baby showers. Throughout the duration of the party, music will be played, food will be served and gifts will be opened. Sometimes, some people who are close to the mother-to-be will make a speech. Nevertheless, this is a party for you and your baby so enjoy it, be thankful and have a great time. Mingle with those who are close to you, take the time to meet any new people who are there and spend some time with the ones whom you do not see often.

One fun game is guess mom’s belly size. Have each guest take a piece of yarn and cut it at the length they think the belly is all the way around. When everyone cuts their yarn, compare the strings to the actual belly. Give a prize to the person who is the closest.

Another fun game is to never say baby the entire day. Make a necklace with yarn and baby safety pins attached to it. Give each person a necklace as they walk into the shower. Each of the guests should wear the necklace the entire baby shower, as this game will last the entire time. The rules for this game are explained as guests walk into the shower. When the word baby is said, anyone who calls it out gets a pin from the other person who said the word. Before guests leave, pin will be counted, and the person with the most pins wins.

An easy and fun game is to make a centerpiece full of baby safety pins and have each person guess how many pins are in the jar. That person wins the centerpiece.

Baby Bingo is also a classic and fun game for everyone. The bingo cards need to be made ahead of time. Make bingo cards with the numbers one through 15 on them. When the mommy to be opens a gift, she reads off the number that has been attached to it. Eventually someone will yell bingo and win a prize.

One last game that really involves everyone personally is to play a game in which people guess baby pictures. Ask everyone on the invitation to bring a picture to the baby shower. As guest walk in, put them on a collage. When there is time, have everyone fill out who they think is who. Whoever guesses the most right wins!

These are just some baby shower party ideas. It would be too much to do all of them, but a few are some great ice breakers and fun to get the rest of the people involved. Even though this day is about the mom to be, guests should still be involved and have fun with each other and win some prizes. Prizes can be simple things like a body of lotion from a nice store, a $10 gift card to a popular restaurant, or make the centerpiece of the table a prize for one of the games as well. This is a great way to say thank you to all guests for coming!

° Decorations to highlight the occasion – usually a table cloth
and pink and blue streamers make the occasion fairly obvious.

° A center piece to mark the occasion will be a nice addition to the
table.

° The cake – Many imaginative choices with pink, blue and yellow design.

° Favors to commemorate the occasion and play games.

° A rocking chair makes mom-to-be feel like the center of attention.
She is also comfortable during the shower.

° A display area for gifts

° Extra seating for guests

Guests to a shower do not usually expect to eat a full course meal so finger foods are great choices to serve. Shrimp, crab cake balls or meatballs make perfect menu options. They can be served with salads made by friends if the economical route is taken. Saucer sized disposable plates will suffice for finger foods.

To make the occasion momentous for mom-to-be a bonnet made from ribbons is worn while gifts are being opened. A cast of mom’s stomach is a popular piece of memorabilia to have now. Premade before the shower and placed on display is a way to invite autographs by attendees. A bassinet or parasol would be an ideal way to display gifts. At least one game involving baby names has to be played.

parasol
baby name games
dads along for the ride

Some of the supplies that you might need when the time comes up are the decorations. No party would be complete if there were no decorations, so be sure not to forget these. If you know what the woman is having, either a boy or a girl then you can go with pink or blue depending on the baby’s sex. If it is not determined yet then yellow is the most neutral color to go with for all of the decorations.

You will want to get matching streamers, balloons, plates, silverware, cups, napkins, signs for the baby shower, and any other small decorations that you find necessary. Usually a cake is bought for the occasion, and it can also be the same color of the sex of the baby, or a neutral yellow. The supplies that you choose to go with can be purchased from a variety of different stores around you, or over the internet depending on the shop or who has the best prices. This can be done simply without hassling with large lines when you go to a smaller dollar store to find all of the decorations that you need.

You should make sure that you grab the plates, napkins, silverware, and food extras to go along with the snacks and the cake that you will have, and it will all match giving the party a little more to the look. As for the streamers if you put two or three different colors as well as with the balloons it will add more color to the party.

If you’re not sure which stores carry baby shower party supplies, then you should search the keywords up in a search engine, and they will let you know who carries what for the perfect baby shower. You can then find how far the store is from where you are located by using a mapping program, or searching the store locations.

If you’re looking for supplies for your baby shower games then you’re also allowed to find these items at the same stores that you get the decorations from. This will limit the amount of stores that you have to visit to be sure to get all the items you need for the one party you are throwing. This can also be the place that you purchase the prizes for the games that are going to be played whether they are for the mom to be or the people who have won the games. This can be easier to get all of the items you need in one shot, and will allow you to relax instead of running around when the time comes to throw the party together.

If you’re already lucky enough to have a computer clipart program, you can start your search there. The available clipart will likely include things such as baby blocks, bottles, diapers. Depending on the software you have, the selection may or may not be very extensive or helpful.

If you don’t have clipart software, you always purchase some, but you may find this unnecessary if you’re only going to use it for this baby shower. Your best bet is to search the internet where you can find just about anything you need. Although there are many internet sites that require an account or a fee to use clipart, there are also many websites that offer free clipart.

Visit your favorite search engine, type in “baby shower clipart”, and enjoy the half a million results. Baby shower clipart may be in a downloadable PDF form or in a simple JPG form which you can simply save to your desktop. Thankfully, the internet holds a vast selection of clipart so you can find exactly what you are looking for. You should find just about everything from storks, pacifiers, bottles, carriages, strollers, daddy and baby, mommy and baby, twins, and triplets to baby bottles, teddy bears, blocks, bassinets, balloons, rubber duckies, and Noah’s Ark.

Some great free websites to visit are amazing-baby-shower-ideas.com, babyshower.net, or Webweaver’s free clipart. Other sites, which may require a small fee, are clipsahoy.com or babytidings.com.

What do you do once you’ve found some baby shower clipart? Save the clipart to your desktop and cut and paste it as necessary to various projects. Using photo manipulation programs, you can also play with the colors or the sizes of the clipart if you wish.

Once you find some clipart you like, it’s time to get to work preparing invitations, decorations, or signs. Keep in mind that you want everything to look nice, so don’t jumble a whole bunch of clipart pieces together just because they’re all for baby showers. Try to determine a theme and choose clipart accordingly. i.e. the theme is rubber duckies, so mainly use clipart that fits this and go easy on teddy bears, building blocks, and diapers.

When making personal baby shower invitations and such, don’t go overboard with the clipart either. You want whatever you are making to be readable and memorable, not a big mess of pictures and colors. Be creative but simple with your clipart finds, and have discretion as to where you put the clipart.

You’ll soon have a finished product that looks great and is unique for the mom-to-be!

If the mom to be knows if she is having a boy or girl you can go with some gender based decorations and cake. If she is having a boy there are many popular choices to pick from. One popular choice is a classic and includes a white frosted cake with blue piping or fondant and features a stork carrying a baby in a blue blanket. The stork can either be decorated onto the cake or it can be represented with a special topper you lay onto the cake and take off later before serving. Another popular for baby boys are a blue and white polka dot theme. This cake has a more formal look to it. You can opt for a sheet cake or layered. Generally the cake is covered with your choice in color of blue fondant with white polka dots put on the cake. There are many decorations that will accent this cake perfectly as this is a very popular choice for showers these days.

For those who are having a baby girl generally you will want to pick a cake with the colors pink or purple on it. One such popular cake features pink icing with a picture of a baby girl drawn on it or in the form of a topper that you can remove later. The baby girl usually has a pink or purple ribbon on her hair to represent she is a girl. For a more modern, retro looking baby showers opt for a cake featuring a pink and brown color scheme. You could ask your cake decorator to incorporate polka dots or some other vintage looking design onto the cake. Brown and pink is a huge color combination for baby showers for girls these days and there are many party accessories you can buy to match this sort of cake.

If the mom to be is not sure what gender she is having or you want to choose a gender neutral theme for the baby shower there are plenty of choices out there to choose from. One of the most trendy baby shower cake ideas for a gender neutral baby shower is a cake that features rubber ducks on it or features a cake that is actually shaped like a duck itself. These are very cute and great for either a baby boy or a baby girl. Another option is the sweet pea theme. This is a classic green and white cake with either a topper of a cartoon looking baby or a cartoon baby decorated on the top.

It is always a nice gesture to ask the mom to be her opinion or someone very close to her such as her spouse or mom to see which sort of cake they think she would like so that you get the best cake for her shower!