Baby Shower Ideas / Author: Marie / Comments: (0)
You won’t always live near to the new mom-to-be who you want to honor with a baby shower. While you can certainly just ship your baby gifts anyhow, wouldn’t it be more fun to throw a shower long distance and have some of the fun?
With today’s technology, that’s not so hard to do.
It helps if all participants have a web cam. Have those who live in the same general area go to one location. That will help things feel more like a party at each location. Skype 
is a great tool for making video calls if you just have two locations to deal with. You can do a conference call if you have more locations to deal with, but I don’t think that works with the video option.
Make sure all the gifts have been sent to the mom before the party and that she knows not to open them beforehand. It’s all too easy to open packages received in the mail without thinking about it! I feel this works better than opening the gifts at your location and then sending them to the mom after. Who is this shower about anyhow? Let her have the fun!
Encourage guests to shop online for gifts
, as they may be able to get free shipping. The one disadvantage is that it’s much harder to get cute wrapping paper on the gift if you don’t wrap it yourself. Most places don’t offer much of a selection.
While gift cards aren’t the most personal or memorable of gifts, they are highly practical for long distance baby showers. Low shipping cost, and the mom can figure out what it is she really needs to buy with them. Target and Walmart are very practical stores for new moms, as well as stores such as Babies R Us, but find out which stores she prefers to shop at for baby.
Don’t forget to send some fun decorations to the mom as well as have some at your location. A diaper cake makes a great gift and decoration for the mom. If there’s someone with her, make sure they have some fun foods there as well as where you are.
You can still play games long distance. The classic game of measuring the mom’s belly will still work. Just have her give her web cam a good shot of her belly and have people measure out strings for the length they think will do it. Then have the mom or someone with her measure out the actual distance around her belly. Find out who got it closest and you have a winner!
You can also do prizes based on things such as whose birthday is closest to the baby’s due date or whose package is opened third (fourth, tenth, whatever).
Long distance doesn’t mean you lose out on the baby shower fun. It only means that you need to be a little more creative.
Baby Shower Etiquette, Baby Shower Ideas / Author: Marie / Comments: (0)
Tags: co-ed baby shower, couple baby shower, including the dad
One idea that is getting more popular for baby showers is including the father in the celebration. After all, his life is going to change too, even if he doesn’t go through pregnancy or labor personally. Holding a coed baby shower isn’t a bad idea at all.
The best way to know if you should plan a coed celebration is to ask the mom and then the dad. She knows what she wants, and the party’s about her and her baby, right? Some guys are a little awkward still about going to what is traditionally an event for women, so it can pay to ask the dad. Many are quite eager to participate.
Most coed baby showers are more of a family focused event. They aren’t so much about the games, although you can still play one or two if you like. But there may be a lot more talk going on. Make sure there’s plenty of space for socializing.
You shouldn’t invite only the father for a coed baby shower. He’ll feel awkward among all the women. I know this one well, as my husband and I insisted that he be allowed to attend our baby shower, but his mother and other women there insisted he be excluded quite a bit, and then he had to leave for the gift opening. Not what he wanted from the party at all, and we both felt it was unfair to him.
Include other men in the invitations. Odds are good that many of the women you would invite have husbands or significant others. Invite them as well as any special friends of the father, just as you would do for the mother.
Let the couple open gifts together. Daddy is going to have to be involved with his baby too, after all, and he may like seeing what they’ve been given.
Think of things that will be fun across gender lines. Barbecue at the shower, for example. You can still talk about the pregnancy because odds are the dad has plenty of stories about how the mom’s pregnancy has been for him.
Having the shower be coed is a great way to acknowledge that fathers these days tend to be more involved with their babies than in times past. Why should you pretend otherwise at the shower?
Baby Shower Games / Author: Marie / Comments: (0)
Tags: chocolate game, diaper game
With the coming of a new baby comes diaper changing. Lots of diaper changing, as a general rule. That’s what makes this game so much fun for a baby shower.
You’ll need:
Various types of chocolate bars
Disposable diapers, one per type of chocolate bar
Melt the chocolate bars individually, and scoop each one into a separate diaper. A little lumpy is a good effect. Have the guests try to guess by smell and touch (no tasting!) which kind of chocolate is in each diaper.
Baby Shower Planning, Green Baby Shower Ideas / Author: Marie / Comments: (0)
Tags: diaper cakes
One of the most practical decorations you can have for a baby shower is the diaper cake. All new moms are going to need diapers, and even though the cake may not be the size of diapers she needs for the baby at first, they’re going to be useful eventually.
Many diaper cakes are not made of newborn size diapers, however. You can sometimes find them in smaller sized diapers, and some vendors will even accept requests for a particular brand of diapers. These can be helpful things if you know the mom has a preference.
Many diaper cake creators are flexible. They love being creative. This may allow you to find a diaper cake that goes well with the theme.
Another option is to buy a plain diaper cake and decorate it yourself. You can look at online pictures of diaper cakes to get an idea as to how they generally go. Ribbons wrapped around, cute and small baby items decorating the cake, and of course a bow on top are all quite common. You can even find instructions on how to make a diaper cake on your own if you want to take that task on.
If it’s a green baby shower or you know that the mom is going to cloth diaper, take that into consideration with your diaper cake order if possible. They can be a bit harder to find and you may be better off trying to make one using prefold diapers. Try for a decent quality, not the thinnest ones out there. Some are really better off as burp cloths than diapers. Check the reviews before you buy any prefold diapers.
Diaper cakes really aren’t that hard to pick. Take a little time, think not only about what will look good as a decoration, but what will be practical for the mom. There’s something good to be said about a decoration that can be so eye catching and practical.
Baby Shower Themes / Author: Marie / Comments: (0)
Tags: decorating, the basics
Decorating for a baby shower can be a blast. You can keep it simple or go all out.
If the mom has a theme for the baby’s room it can be fun to have the baby shower go along with it, especially if any of the decorations would be appropriate to give to her for that room later.
You can decorate in other ways also. If you know the gender of the baby, you can go for the appropriate colors. Or you can choose the mother’s favorite colors. Have a little fun!
Table cloths are an easy decoration. If you go for real cloth you may even be able to use it some other time, but many people choose disposable table cloths because they’re so much simpler when it comes time to clean up.
Think fun, but be sensitive to the mother’s preferences. Balloons are a wonderful and inexpensive decoration. It’s not too common, but do be aware if anyone attending might have a latex sensitivity. I know people with that problem, and it can be a genuine issue at parties. Mylar balloons are a much better choice in that case. They come in more fun shapes and designs anyhow.
Don’t let the decorations interfere with the guests interacting with each other. Table decorations should be low enough that people can see the ones sitting across from them. Candles floating in a low bowl can be pretty so long as the scent or smoke don’t bother the mom-to-be. Confetti is simple, but hard to clean up from the floor.
A bouquet of the mom’s favorite flowers can be a nice touch also.
Overall, keep things simple. The focus of the day should be on the mom-to-be and her baby, not on your decorations.
Baby Shower Invitation Ideas / Author: Marie / Comments: (0)
Tags: invitations, the basics
A baby shower is such a happy event to invite people to, but it has its serious points. You’re helping the mother-to-be get ready to welcome her baby into the world.
A lot of people can be real sticklers about how invitations are worded. It’s simply how things are done for many.
Of course, some details are vital no matter your style. Date, time, location, who the party’s for should of course be clear on the invitation.
The simplest way can be to buy preprinted invitations that just need you to fill in the information mentioned above. It’s fast and there are nice designs out there.
But even more fun is to create special invitations on your own. But it can be a lot more work.
If the gender of the baby is known, you can work that into the theme of the invitations. Many guests will love knowing this information, as it will help them pick out baby clothes for gifts. If the invitations don’t make gender clear, don’t be surprised if people ask if the mom knows what she’s having.
If you’re the creative type, it’s not too hard to locate some basic baby clip art online. Just do a search. You can design the invitations and print them at home.
Baby Shower Planning / Author: Marie / Comments: (0)
Tags: location, planning
One of the first details you need to settle for any baby shower is where it will be. The location has a lot to do with when you can hold the baby shower, and that can control many other aspects of your planning.
Baby showers are often held in the home of a family member or close friend to the mother. It’s a fairly easy place to hold a party. Affordable too.
Some baby showers are held in churches or a rented hall. This costs more, but can provide a lot of extra space if you’re expecting a lot of people to come to the shower.
If budget is an issue, the option of holding the shower at someone’s home is most likely the best bet. It allows you to put your budget toward other parts of the shower, such as food and decorations. You’ll have a lot more leeway.
But you will need to concern yourself with seating. You may need to ask several people close to the mom-to-be to bring extra seating along.
Once this is out of the way, you’re free to consider details such as whether you’re having the shower catered or if you’re doing the cooking on your own, and other details that can be a lot of fun to plan.