Baby showers....

[Kristie]

ok, so it's not necessarily a holiday.. but it is a special occasion...

i've been picked to host a baby shower for a girlfriend that lives over in ATL. granted, i dont know the layout of ATL or where anything is since I live in SDL - she may be moving, so we only have one other friend of hers that's offered to host the party at her house...the shower is going to be probalby in mid october and she's having a boy...

so i'm thinking football theme...she's not the traditiional type of girl that likes the cutesy type shower things (wouldn't know what to do with "girlie" stuff, more of a tomboy)... so i'm thinking of doing something that would include the men (since the daddy might like to be apart of the fun as well)...

I don't have kids, have only been to 2 baby showers.. am going to/helping out with 2 others by November that will probably be more traditional...

does anyone have any suggestions? do i host just a get together type party with everyone included or do i make a big deal out of it and have games and all that??

Unfortunately, I have to watch my costs because of the other 2 baby showers i'm helping with (one being my sisters in TPA and another here in PHX)...so many baby showers at once, it's only me and one other friend that don't have kids yet!! should be fun though!! it's almost like being the bridesmaid but never the bride (even tho i'm married)! hahaha

[TheWife]

Well there are PLENTY of sites on the net that have game ideas and themes and such, but I'll tell you what we did at mine that I really enjoyed. I made "Prediction" cards for everyone to fill out. It had "Guess the...." for hair color, eye color, weight, length, bday, time, where will I be when I'm in labor, how long before this baby gets a sibling, etc. They even listed personality traits they thought baby would get from each parent. I typed it all up on a chart and it's in Caleb's scrapbook. One Aunt that I don't even know that well was almost 100% correct on the whole thing! And the people that we are closest to were the farthest off. I thought that was funny. I still look at it every now and then and it makes me laugh. I also had immediate family write a little note to him about their wishes for his future, that went in a time capsule and he will open it on his 19th birthday. They also included something that represented themselves. So there are things in it like a little figurine of a garden from grandma, and a little 4 wheeler from grandpa, etc.

Oh and the best game that we played was called "Know Your Poop". It was hilarious, especially if you are going to have a co-ed shower. We got all different candy bars and smashed and melted them into newborn diapers. Some of them looked REALLY bad. We used choc. covered raisins, whoppers, snickers, etc. I have some GREAT pictures of little ole grandma with her nose in a diaper sniffing the "poop" to see what candy bar it is. And of course the winner gets a good prize.

The other game we played was a matching game. On one side of a board there were numbered cards that had candy names on the back, on the other side were numbered cards that had names to do with being pg/having a baby. The guests picked a number from the candy and a number from the word, and if it was a match they kept the candy. Examples: Butterfinger=Doctor, 100 Grand=Hospital Bill, Mike n Ike=Twins, Baby Ruth=Girl, Twizzlers=Umbilical Cord, etc. If you are interested in that one I can try to get the whole list, cause there were some really great ones. The guests of course didn't know ahead of time what did and didn't match but after a few rounds it was pretty obvious and they'd figure it out and anxiously be waiting for their turn so they could make the match.

Well that's all I can think of for now, hope that helps. You will find more then you need if you do some searches for more games. Good luck!

[jamauk]

Hey Kristie
I would ask the Mom to be about including the guys! My sister in law wanted to do that for me and my brother AND my DH both said NO WAY!!! I know a lot of guys aren't into that kind of thing. We threw a couple's shower for my brother and sister in law and my dear bro hasn't forgiven me yet...my neice is almost 5!

Anyway....we did prediction cards at my shower also. Although they weren't as detailed as Michelle's. I think I have a few extra. If you want to email me your address, I can mail a few to you.

I'm not that big into games, so we only did two. The clothes pin game: everyone gets a clothes pin when they walk in the door and if you catch someone crossing thier legs/feet throughout the party, you get to steal their clothes pin. Whoever has the most at the end of the party wins! For the other game my sister in law bought a bunch of baby stuff (a pack of diapers, a bib, nail clippers, burp cloths, etc) and taped their prices to the bottom. She left them sit out the whole party and everyone wrote down their guess as to how much they cost. The person with the most correct guesses or the closest guesses wins. Then she gave me all of the stuff as my present.

I've been to a million showers (I'm catholic with a HUGE family) so I know a ton of games. I always liked the "guess the cotton ball" game. You fill a tupperware container full of cotton balls and have everyone guess how many are in there.

Anyway....those a some ideas, you can email me if you would like some more. One thing that was a HUGE time saver for me....the hostess at my shower handed out little envelopes to everyone as they showed up. They filled out their name and address. She used these for door prizes at the end and that way all of my Thank You cards were addressed. All I had to do was write them out and stuff them in the preaddressed envelopes!

Anyway....sorry this was so long....I'd be happy to help out if you need more ideas!

jessicamauk@earthlink.net

[Kristie]

well, i just found out that she had NO idea that she was even supposed to do anything pre-baby.. she said "isn't it enuff to just have a baby?"... i had to tell her that the whole point of the baby shower is to get gifts, hang out with your girlfriends and save some $$ on having to buy everything that's needed for new baby...

at this point, i feel for her because she's totally the NEW mom and 5 months along.. she has no idea what she needs to prepare for.. no idea of what necessities she needs to buy/have on hand.. nothing...apparently, nobodies explained anything to her.. not her sister-in-law (whose pg for the 2nd time), not her mom...no girlfriends....

do any of you know where i can find a list of absolute necessities (I already sent her the info on the "best/worst" baby thread)...but even that is making it difficult... not to mention that her mom probably won't be interested in her shower - she's THAT type of woman that wouldn't even explain how her delivery went when she had laura - she told her "hell no, i'm not going there again" geez, whatda mom!... and she thinks her girl or guy friends wouldn't be interested in driving all the way up from orlando to atlanta to hang out with her and her hubby! it sucks that she thinks this way, but she knows the otown crew better than i do and she may be right (they're pretty immature down there)...

oh boy.. i think i have a lot of work before me!

I do have to say that i'm SO thankful to have you ladies (with kids) on the board because i've honestly LEARNED so much from you that i KNOW she's going to have a tough time the first few months and I need to figure out a way to help her prepare ahead of time (she's not one to plan things out)...whew!

thanks for the suggestions so far! they're great.. LOVE the poop idea!! haha

[jamauk]

Hey Kristie!
This friend is so fortunate to have you since her mom and other family don't seem to be as willing!
I know there are a TON of websites out there about getting ready for baby. (For the life of me though, I can't think of any....I'll try to look them up tonight). I know www.babycenter.com is a good one.
There are also LOADS of books out there. We bought "The Everything Get Ready for Baby Book" We also bought "What to expect when you're expecting" and "You're pregnancy week by week"
I will get those books out tonight and try to compose a bit of a list for you to start from. Also, Toys R Us and Target, etc....have registry lists to help people decide what to register for.
I've said it before on another post, but I'll say it again here....I could talk PG, Babies, etc FOREVER!!!! If this woman has internet and needs someone (who's been there) to talk to or ask questions of....give her my email. I'd love to chat babies with her! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Good Luck!

[TheWife]

First off, send her to this site. http://talk.sheknows.com/forumdispla...e=-1&f=112 This is a "Due in December" board, if that is the wrong month (sorry I couldn't remember) then she can scroll at the bottom for the right month. There are about a hundred women here that are all due the same time as her. She can read all about what they are buying, what's going at the Dr's, what they are anticipating for labor and how they are preparing etc. She can read ahead to Due In August and Sept too, to see how it's going for the one's that are about to have or just had their babies, and how the deliveries went. The more she reads the better prepared she will be for any situation that will come up.

I'd also have her go to a birthing class, some people say they aren't very useful, but those are usually the people who have already read everything there is to read.

She can go here and see and interactive nursery checklist, it covers more then what any person really needs, but you check off what you want and it will save your list for you. http://sheknows.com/about/look/232.htm

Here is a labor bag checklist: http://sheknows.com/about/look/234.htm

Here is a birth plan creator. I didn't actually use this, but it was a really good thing to look at, to prepare me for what type of decisions we'd have to make during labor. http://sheknows.com/about/look/241.htm

Before she makes any big purchases like strollers and car seats, she should find all the reviews she can on them. I didn't do that w/ the booster seat we bought, and learned later how many problems people had with it. Before I bought I replacement, I read all the reviews and chose the highest rated one in my price range.

The things she will NEED for sure, BEFORE coming home w/ the baby, is a car seat, some onesies/jammies/etc., 1-3 pkgs newborn diapers & wipes, bottles and formula if she isn't going to breastfeed, and a place for the baby to sleep (crib, bassinett, whatever). Everything else CAN wait, but it's a pain to have a newborn and then try to go shopping so honestly I'd get a lot of it now.

Ok, that's all I can think of for now. Let me know if there is anything else specific, or if she just wants more general advice or what.

[Kristie]

geez, you guys are AWESOME!!! thanks!!

yeah.. my sister just went to an all weekend birthing/pre-delivery class and she and her hubby learned a TON from that class.. she said her and todd had NO IDEA that the pain was from the Uterus (because it's a muscle)... and this weekend, todd wants to work on the breathing portion! hahahaha

he's finally saying that "it's becoming more real to me now" and kathy had to tell me to "stop buying her things" - I only got her 5 of the registry gifts (so far)...our mom's not around, so somebodies gotta "be mom/santa" right?! they're just now selling their house (inspector's coming tomorrow) and should be moved up to orlando by the end of october (when babies due) - so that's good....

Michelle - she got a REAL kick out of the poop game.. she said "YEA, we have to do that one!" and the scrapbook/prediction game is already sent in the invitations.. so it should be a good time!

but she really enjoyed that pre-natal weekend!! they really did learn a ton of stuff! I think it would really overwhelm laura at this point though...

[Kristie]

well, it looks like my girlfriend is catching on! a little late, but better than never! she's looking for pediatricians, a pre-natal class and things like that...she finally got registered and I got all her names/addresses this past weekend, so the invitations are sent!

I found these "OH so cute" favors that i'm going to make into ornaments (it's a dec baby) by putting an ornament hanger on them....

[img:44bf10bb95]http://www.herbabyshower.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/BKNC1.jpg[/img:44bf10bb95] it's only 2.5" high, 2" wide, and .5" in depth


I found them at www.herbabyshower.com. I tried to find some actual ornaments but all I can find are personalized baby ornaments and nothing like baby *shower* ornaments. But, there's a TON of good website information and different favors that can be made/purchased. Just because I ran out of time, I'm having to buy them.

and the games are pretty much set! It was a lot easier to get into the baby shower motions after asking you all about them - so THANKS! for your input! things should run pretty smoothly at this point!

[TheWife]

Sounds great! I bet you have a little of fun! (Might even get a little temporary baby fever heehee)

I read a really cute idea on another board, I know she is having a boy, but another lady is serving the pink and white breast cancer m&m's at her shower. Pink might be girly, but well, the mom is still a girl and you are all girls and you all have boobs and I just thought it was a nice idea. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Kristie]

it is a nice idea!! and there has to be SOME type of sweet thing there besides cake....I'll probably do that (plus I always play a part somehow in the whole BC thing)

and yea, there's a little temporary fever, but it's not too bad (more manageable this time around)! I have more fun planning parties than ANYTHING!