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Baby Shower Ideas...I need your help.

20 years ago

I am planning a baby shower for a niece who is expecting her first child...a boy. I need any and all suggestions on a theme, decorations, games, etc., etc.

So many of you are so talented and I could use your help.

Thanks!

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Comments (14)

Martina_WV
20 years ago
a neat game I hosted last year: take a big bowl of rice and add about 5 big safty pins. blind fold the guest and have them try to pick out the safty pins. it's harder than you think.

Martina
hailie419
20 years ago
Buy her thank you cards, give each guest the envelope & have them address it to themselves, put envelopes in basket & draw one for prize. Now the new mommy will have all her thank you notes addressed, will save alot of time, which the new mommy will not have very much of with new baby.
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There's no trick to it. It firms up on its own as it cools. I've had success by nuking frosting at 50% in 5 second increments until it's just barely just liquified. I test by stirring. It only needs to be warm enough to be dip-able. In my mind, (your mileage may vary) warming the frosting in a shallow, flat-bottomed container, barely bigger than your cubes, would be less messy than pouring... you could dip one side at a time, and if you worked quickly, your finger marks in the frozen cake would fall out as it cooled. I learned this trick from an awesome book I bought my niece and nephew for Christmas. They describe the technique on pages 18 & 19, which you can see by clicking on the "search inside this book" link, entering the work "microwave" in the search pane, selecting the second search result, and turning to page 19 with the right hand arrow. (For the record, the book is way fun!) I tried this dipping technique with cupcake frosting and the results were so flawless that the ladies I served them to assumed I'd done something very difficult and fancy. The punchline was that it took less time to dip (from scratch) cupcakes into warmed white Duncan Heinz frosting (with a bit of yellow food coloring and lemon extract added) than it would have taken to frost by the traditional method. The frosting firmed up a bit and they looked beautiful. This book also demonstrates a stupid-simple technique of drawing a design on a paper template, slipping the template on wax paper, melting some colored wafers, spooning them into a ziploc, cutting a tiny hole in the corner, and drawing on the wax paper. To see an example, enter the word "monarch" in the search pane and see pages 77-79. Or just buy the book. It's a fun jumping-off point for the imagination.
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If they already have essential items like clothes and beds, you could have either have a diaper shower or a food shower. For the food shower, everyone brings a casserole dish to be frozen until after the baby, gives a coupon to be redeemed for a home cooked meal, or a gift certificate for take-out food. You might also check to see if there are baby items that need to be replaced. For instance, the baby swing may not work anymore or the couple may need new car seats or at least a second one for the two babies. Another idea I saw on tv was for people to bring their good hand-me-downs. It was sort of a recycle party where people pass on baby clothes or the bouncy chair to someone who needs it. The couple in this particular tv episode had given away all of their baby stuff because they hadn't planned on another child. Since it sounds like family members are attending, I'm assuming you'll have guys and gals there. You have several possibilities - I think a cookout would be a fun idea, but a pot-luck with other family members might be more economical for you. Another idea would be to have some sort of cake and dessert party or high tea. Since this is for family members, I don't think it'd be wrong to ask other close family members (yours or the other side) to bring a dish. Definitly, ask other family members in the more immediate area for help.
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Where are they moving to, in FL? I was going to suggest-if anywhere near Clearwater? There's an awesom Xmas store here-you could get them a gift card so they can go choose a tree sized to fit their new home. Then, procedd with each family sending them their box of personal ornaments-1 box to arrive each week up until 2 weeks before Xmas? (they'll want to enjoy it decorated for a couple weeks). As for a poem for the gift of the tree itself: (I'll give it a shot) No matter how near or far we live A united family, we'll always be. May this gift be a constant reminder Lovingly known- as your new 'Family Tree"! May you always feel our 'presence' each & every Yuletide season, When you decorate your 'family tree' You'll see, very soon...the reason! Expect some packages in the mail- They'll be loaded to the brim, With lovingly made ornaments to adorn the tree you'll trim! As you decorate with baubles of reds, green & blue You'll know each was chosen especially for you! May the ones we've chosen,bring you memories dear May you enjoy our family tradition, year after year! (best I can do for this) PS..I'd suggest having each family member write their name on the bottom of the ornament.
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Need Help - Menu for baby shower - how much food?
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Comments (5)
First of all, who is "we"? How many people will be working on this? I think this is WAY too many items even if you were ten very experienced people. You write, "I have no idea what I'm doing," so I'm guessing you don't have a lot of experience with cooking for large groups. This is actually much too much even if you use a caterer. You'd have to have way too much food and a lot of waste with so many choices -- at least 55 servings of every item times 21 items. Most will be untouched. So you need to do two things.: First, drastically simplify your menu, and I mean by like 85%. You've already got a candyish appetizer and a special drink that you say the guest of honor insists upon. Then I would eliminate everything else except any one of items 1, 2, or 3; and then also items 11, 13, and 14. Which is: some kind of sandwichy thing, Caesar salad, fruit kabobs, and vegetable tray. Also coffee and some nonalcoholic drink. You can add a simple dessert -- one -- unless you think you're sort of serving dessert first with those goodies. Make sure everything on your menu can be eaten by someone standing with a plate in her hand. Nothing that requires a knife and fork and nothing messy (chili, meatballs, taco salad, yogurt). Second, this is a large group, so unless you all really really know what you're doing, please consider hiring a caterer to do all or at least some of the food. You may be pleasantly surprised that the difference in price is less than you think (the caterer I use actually often costs a bit less than doing it myself). Or you can order pre made platters of things. Sometimes I'll cook, say, a main dish and a dessert and order fruit and cheese trays and salads. For 55 people you should get some help, not necessarily professionals, but even a couple of teenagers. They will help you set up, clear away used plates and cups throughout the party, replenish pitchers and platters, and clean up. It also helps keep your guests from trying to help, which can really detract. At the most recent shower I gave, a brunch for only 19 or so people, I almost didn't bother with a helper, but thank goodness I did: when the first guest tried to get coffee from the percolator, all she got was water -- it hadn't worked right. So the helper ran to Starbucks for cartons of coffee. Unforeseeable stuff like that. The simpler you keep it, the better it will be, I promise. If the hosts are stressed out, no matter how good the food is, the guests are miserable. It will be a lovely party. Have a good time!
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mariend
20 years ago
Theme could be anything. Does your niece have a hobby or like gardening, do crafts? Does she work? What are her favorite colors? I would keep the refreshments simple. It does not even have to be cake. Cookies or a apple/cherry crips would be a nice change. Go to the cooking forum and ask about food There are some talented people there. Because you live in Az, the theme could be western. Big cowboy hat in middle of table full of minature things related to the west. Games, there use to be books that people would tear pages out and fill things out. Check with a baby store in your area.
Hope this helps
Marie
Joiful
Original Author
20 years ago
Thanks to you all. You gave me some good ideas.
Now I'm off to the cooking forum to get help with the menu. It's going to be a couples shower around the dinner hour.
lbrown7
20 years ago
I like the idea of everyone bringing a frozen cassarole to the shower, to be used after the baby comes home.
Laurie Oh
doucanoe
20 years ago
A friend of mine just had a shower for her daughter and one of her neat ideas was to ask the invitees to bring a children's book in lieu of a card with their gift. They could sign the book inside as they wished. What a treasure for a small child to have a library of personally signed v\books to begin their life with!
mizmom
16 years ago
Games: the rice bowl sounds like fun. Personally I was never fond of the word games because I am not a quick thinker and never could win.
One of the games that I thought was very fun and gets people laughing and cheering is similar to the rice bowl game. Empty a bag of cotton balls in a large bowl and hand the BLINDFOLDED player a large spoon and the cotton bowl. The object is to get as many cotton balls on ones head with the spoon in a certain amount of time (1-3 minutes depending on how many people you have and how long you want the game to last). Everyone has to play so sitting in a circle is the best choice. Of course coaching is permitted and encouraged. The winner is the person who is able to get the most cotton balls to stay on their head at the end of the time limit. An egg timer with a loud ending ring is perfect.
iowajewel
16 years ago
I just had a baby shower for my daughter. We passed around ribbon and each guest cut one as long as they thought they needed to go around my daughter's tummy. Was fun to actually measure them and we saved the pieces of ribbon that they cut. Each person signed their piece of ribbon too and we saved them for her babybook!
I made some premade scrapbooking pages that would include pieces of advice from each person attending. When I sent out the invites, I included the small cards for them to think of something to write to the baby or my daughter...advice for them! Something that my daughter and her daughter can look over whenever they want. A great way to include the guests/friends into her baby scrapbook!
I bought some "babies" made out of blankets and sleepers on Ebay and they were adorable. The theme was Sugar and Spice, everything nice.....and it was worked into the menu.....lots of sweet(small cakes, molded mints, etc) and even some spicey appetizers! And almost everything was PINK! Just was fun!
And of course...........LOTS of pictures!
Just a wonderful memory made.......and expressions of support for my daughter!

I hope you had fun.......and that YOU had time to enjoy it all!
Julie
gellchom
16 years ago
I love iowajewel's idea about the advice scrapbook. That is terrific!

Please DON'T have the guests address envelopes for thank you notes, as one poster suggested. There was a string about that a while back, and many people found it really off-putting. If you want to save the new mom some time, do some other chore or errand for her. But if she has time to attend a shower and open gifts, she -- actually, THEY, assuming she's not a single parent -- has time to thank people for gifts, including the 20 seconds it takes to address the envelope.
ann_a_gardener
16 years ago
You can do so many things. Since you know that it's a boy you can make a themed baby shower for a boy. Pick a theme and decorate around it. YOu can then even have your snacks follow the theme. Like a little pumpkin or future NASCAR Champion's baby shower. You can have a diaper cake done as a center peace in the same theme. Check some cool ideas on this diaper cake blog

Here is a link that might be useful: Diaper cakes blog
sasie0ne
14 years ago
I found a great idea for a center piece

Here is a link that might be useful: How to make a diaper cake step by step
socks
14 years ago
The last shower I went to, each guest was given a party favor of a BooBoo Bunny. Instructions on the link below. They sure were cute.

By the way, I differ with another poster here. I do not like the idea of having everyone address their own thank you note. That would not be good manners.

Here is a link that might be useful: Boo Boo Bunny
sheesh
14 years ago
I agree with socks about the thank you notes. Baby will likely be born after the notes are due - plenty of time for mom to address them.
gardenlover25
14 years ago
Hello,

If your niece is expecting to give birth to a healthy baby boy. The perfect color should be a combination of baby blue and white. Choosing the perfect invitation is also an important aspect. There should baby shower games and favors for the guest. Thanks.

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