Baby Shower

I don't know if you've gotten much feedback yet, but yes people do still play stupid games at some showers. There are so many different kinds of showers these days though. A lot of people do couples showers where men are invited too. My husband was so thankful we didn't do that. He would have been gagging all the "aww, that's so adorable" comments after each gift. There are really classy showers, cheesy showers, and everything in between. I went to one recently where the shower-giver put together a neat gift basket that was raffled off to the attendees. To buy a raffle ticket, you just brought a package of diapers. The amount of diapers the new parents received was staggering. I wish I'd thought of that for my shower! Diaper cakes are another very popular way to give the parents some diapers and create a unique centerpiece for the party. http://entertaining.about.com/cs/showers/a/diapercake.htm

Some good resources for shower planning are:
http://www.babyshower101.com/
http://www.baby-shower.com/
http://www.plan-the-perfect-baby-shower.com/

If you are crafty or the mom-to-be is this is a good resource for ideas
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=100.0

Party City has a whole baby shower section. Do what feels comfortable to you. I was given two. One was at church with all the church people and one was in a home setting. Personally, I preferred the home setting. I gave a baby shower once and I had the guests bring a baby picture of themselves and everyone had to guess who was who. That was so much fun for everyone!

arizona_mom is a stay-at-home mother of two boys, a kindergartener and a two year old. Just sharing my two cents worth. www.mops.org

I want to be supportive, but showers make me want to pay more for a gift from the registery than I should, and send it with my regrets. At least, at a bridal shower, you can ply the guest of honor with a few cocktails.

Some smart entreprenerial Mom ought to reinvent showers. You can still serve chick food, but the clothes-pin-diaper-pin game is unbearable. As soon as I get assigned mine, I say, "baby" just to get the whole thing over with.

If you want entertainment, why not put together a montage of TV sitcom baby episodes, or get someone with a decent voice to do a funny review of songs we sing to babies and young children? Think about it, "and down will come baby, cradle and all", "Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird", "ashes, ashes, we all fall down". These are not comforting images. Have you ever lived near a mockingbird?

Even getting the new parents' Moms (and Grandmas, etc.) to share baby books and pictures and memories (telling on the parents-to-be) while Mom-to-be opens gifts is a hoot. The very best baby shower I went to, all the female friends, and cousins, and sisters were invited -- along with their Moms (and the aunts). It was a riot. The elders told on each other, they told on us, and they told on themselves.

Which daughter is this, Paz? I'm so excited for you.

Congratulations Grandma!

I am not into those games either - Really, are any of us or do they just continue because you feel you are suppose to do them?

Anyway, I had a couple of showers, and they were in homes. That was nice and relaxing instead of being somewhere with a set time to leave. The one that was thrown for us here in Arizona was a whole day event. The shower portion was in the afternoon and a bbque with everyone in the evening. That way my husband got to be involved as well and we got to see husbands and wives, single male friends got to be involved too. It was really nice.

I am sure that whatever you do will be great because it will be done with love. That is the best gift any parent can give - well that and some diapers!!

KarilouMomof2 is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Tempe. Her daughters are 9 and 6.

Congrats!

I think a lot depends on how many people are going to be there too. If there aren't too many people, you might want to consider a resteraunt so you can avoid the clean up and minimize games if that's what you are looking for. There's also those tea houses around town that have become popular as well.

I just had mine at my Aunt's house because there were just too many people coming. We played somes games, and some people participated others didn't. A lot of the games aren't as annoying as they used to be. Like someone said Party City has a section, that can make it a no brainer, and the web has tons of ideas for alternate activites. My cousin had my shower catered. It wasn't a full on spread but a nice array of finger foods. Costco also carries some great party trays.

In the end most will focus on the socializing and the gifts.

Congratulations!

I dont like the games either but then I know some people do. I'd ask your daughter what kind of shower she wants. I threw one for my sister-in-law a few months back, we played games because thats what she wanted. I kept decorations and food simple (cupcakes instead of cake so no cutting and serving, that kind of thing) and I used the websites listed above for ideas.

The one thing we did which I thought was pretty cool was all the guests signed a 21st card to the baby, my sister-in-law will keep it until her daughter turns 21. I would have loved to get a card like that!

My daughter hosted a baby shower for her best friend in April. We had it at the community room at the Cholla library near Metrocenter and it was only $5 an hour to rent the space. We had plenty of room and plenty of parking. My daughter did have some games including door prize for people who brought diapers. Other games included guessing how big the expectant mommy's tummy is and guessing what kind of candy bars was smeared on diapers. I didn't like that particular game. She did cupcakes and fruit. Monkeys was the theme for the shower for the decorations, cupcakes and gifts. The nursery is in a Monkey theme. I hadn't been to a baby shower in years and this one was a blast.

Lori Baker is mom to two daughters, 21 and 24 years old. She is
editor for the Valley and State section's Education and Environment pages in the Arizona Republic.

Question - How much would you pay for a service to organize the party for you? I used to be a corporate event director and decided to stay home with my children. However, I would love to do some part-time work for smaller private parties, but I don't know if there is a market for it?