Shower ideas?

Hey all,
The baby shower planning is in full swing. The invitations went out on Tuesday and already we have had 14 confirmations, and only one "Regret RSVP" I kept saying all along that this party will be huge, and I kept hoping that half the people invited wouldn't be able to make it.... looks like we'll have a VERY full house! :eek: Which is no problem, the more the merrier! :D

Anyhow, there will be a big mix of people here - old family members, teenage friends, family friends, the father's family (who nobody but hubby and I have met) and I want to make sure everyone enjoys themselves and relaxes. I already decided to play "Baby Bingo" during the gift opening and made up Bingo cards this afternoon (soooo cute, one is attached if you care to peek) and will give out gifts for the first 5 people to call Bingo during the gift opening. I don't think I want any more games in addition to that.

So far, what else I have to entertain folks is:
I want to have two jars and dish filled with pink and blue jelly beans. I want people to drop in a blue or a pink jellybean into the appropriate jar as to what their guess will be - boy or girl (I have the feeling there will be lots of blue jellybeans! :D)

I also want to send around two scrapbook type books where people will write their helpful hints in one book, and then the other will have the guests write name suggestions, and guesses as to when the baby will be born and how much it'll weigh. What else can go into these books to give people a chance to talk to each other over what they're writing?

As for favors, I bought these cute satin heart boxes that I'll wrap a bow around the top in baby colors -- what on earth do I fill them with? M&Ms? Jellybeans? They are fairly small, so the thing I stuff it with needs to be small.

How soon after the guests arrive should I plan on Ashley returning home? (we're trying to put this off as a surprise... she already told me she knows its going to be a Sunday in May.... why not just tell her WHICH Sunday at this point?)

Did I miss anything? this is my first shower - and I'm going to be stressing about it for the next few weeks! (not saying how many weeks because Ash might decide to browse here ;) )

We had my Neice's babyshower this past weekend. I would say the Mom-To-Be should arrive 30 minutes after all the guests are there. You know you'll get late arrivals but they're usually there 15-20 minutes after the start of the shower.

We did 3 "games"....one was guess how many jelly beans were in a bowl, the second "game" was look under your plate...whoevever had writing on the bottom won a gift and the third "game" was a bust...a diaper bag was left out with baby items. After awhile, they were taken away and everybody had to write down what items were there. Ugh...that game was a bad mistake. I knew there was a reason I didn't like my Neice's husbands, sisters...and that game just confirmed those feelings.

It's kind of hard to have a surprise baby shower - most Mom-To-Be's know it's coming.

But have fun!!!

Sounds like fun, I love the baby bingo :p

How about filling the boxes up with candy hearts or if you can find them the dummy sweets :D

Well, there's always the clothes pin game where you give each guest a clothes pin as they arrive. You can do one of two things with them, the "don't cross your legs game." Or the "don't say the word 'baby' game." If someone sees someone cross their legs, or hears someone say the word "baby" you collect the offender's clothes pin. The person with the most pins at the end of the game wins. We used pacifier necklaces instead of the clothes pins.

At two of my showers, we played the dirty diaper game. I made little diapers which doubled as favors and "dirtied" a few of them. We didn't tell anyone it was a game, we just had people pin them on. At some point durring the shower, we had people look in the diapers and if theirs was "dirty," they'd win a prize.

Here is the favor:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...b/000_0234.jpg

And here they are "dirty."

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...b/000_0232.jpg

We also did a nursery rhyme quiz. It's a printable sheet that has the first few words of a nursery rhyme. Your guests will have to finish they lyrics. The person who gets the most correct wins. It was funny to see everyone singing random songs as they filled out their forms.

The other paper game we played was "Who knows Mommy?" The sheet asks various questions about the mommy and guests have to answer the questions. Ashley would also fill one out as an answer key. Again, the person with the most correct wins.

I can refer you to the site we got the download for the games.

Anyway, I hope you have fun!

Kim,

How adorable!!! You are definitely in "Nana" mode. I'm still knitting away. I should have it finished in the next week. I'm only working 2 nights this week at BB&B so I'll have alot of time on my hands!

Don't forget to take LOTS of pictures at the shower. ;)

It sounds like you have a lot of great ideas! An idea for the favors- order M&M's in pink and blue colors to put in the little boxes. You should be able to order those online and it will go with the whole pink/blue theme! Can't wait to see pictures!

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Originally Posted by chrangharris

It sounds like you have a lot of great ideas! An idea for the favors- order M&M's in pink and blue colors to put in the little boxes. You should be able to order those online and it will go with the whole pink/blue theme! Can't wait to see pictures!

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I thought the pink and blue ones don't taste as good? :)


Catnapper- sounds like a good time will be had by all! You've got great ideas!

lol I love the "Dirty" ones :p I think thats cute