Congratulations grandma-to-be ! How exciting for you! Ok, so here are some suggestions/ideas from my experiences in throwing many baby showers ( or any other gathering) for friends :
1) when it comes to food, you should ALWAYS have too much. believe me, people remember every party that doesn't have enough food. you have such a large number of guests- maybe hiring a catering company would help? it may sound expensive, but it may actually be cost effective !
2) this is just my opinion, but I think games are rather outdated....if you do have them, maybe limit to 2-3
3) it will be IMPOSSIBLE to open 75 gifts without guests being bored. maybe consider not opening any during the actual party ? if you do, don't forget to have someone recording all the presents and who gave them
4) cute decorating idea that I always do, and very simple/inexpensive : I collect empty baby food jars ( labels on if possible), clean thoroughly, fill with water and small sprigs of flowers. these miniature flower vases can be scattered all over, and they look very cute ! I ask friends to save them or you can contact a local day-care center for empty jars, or you can buy them and eat the contents =)
5)I hosted a brunch shower for my SIL and one dish that was extremely popular was smoked salmon and mini bagels ( garnish with minced red onion, chopped egg, capers, etc)
6) in general, I think round layer cakes are more elegant than sheet cakes.

Good luck and hope this helps !

My mom came up with a great idea at my shower. I don't know how well it would work with 75 people ( I only had about 30 at mine.) When I opened gifts the person who gave it to me shared a story of when either their mom embarssed them or their child embarassed them. Needless to say there were some great stories and everyone stayed focused and entertained. The other idea would be to split the shower in two showers. Maybe one for family and one for friends or co-workers/everyone else. 75 people seems like too many. You could also just have the mom to be open gifts after the party. It would be tacky to expect everyone to just sit and watch through 75 gifts. It's boring! Good luck, your daughter is lucky to have you.

thank you all, will use lots of your ideas.

Hey -
You are from RI? I am too, probably coming to the shower! (just kidding). Are men coming to this shower as well? If they are, I would skip opening the gifts, and would not do games. 75 gifts could take up to 3 hours!!! Just have a big lunch/brunch to celebrate your daughter and her new baby. After you take all the gifts home and open them, have your daughter write really thoughtful, specific thank you letters. For very close family, you could bring the gifts to your home/her home after the shower and open them there with a few selected special people (her grandparents for instance/ her sisters etc.) Someone made mini-french toast for my shower, as well as a few different quiches and casseroles, and make sure you have plenty of mimosas! Good Luck!

I went to a baby shower not too long ago and they had lots of healthy snacks there (vegetables and dip, fruits, crackers and cheese, etc.). Also, with that many guests, your daughter may not be able to use ALL of the gifts given to her. You could tell your guests that you are going to donate some gifts to your church pantry, or even to hurricane victims (if that is still a big donation still at the time of the shower). My friend told her guests that gifts were appreciated, but since clothes are a big shower gift (all infant sizes) that guests could just bring 2 smaller items so that one could be donated for others. Good luck on your shower. I hope it turms out great!

My DIL is blessing me with my first grandchild in early June. Her mom is in England and I am hosting the shower(s). First thing I did was split the guest list in 2--one for my family and my husband's (complete families, not just women) and the other my friends, DIL friends and DIL very small family (4 women). About 50 at each event.

It's in my backyard and I've rented a tent, tables and chairs that will stay up for the two consecutive weekends. For the family shower the food will be a combination of appetizers and hot food in chafing dishes. People on both sides have volunteered to bring dishes so there isn't too much work involved.

For the Friends shower, the food will be finger foods, salads and wraps.

Depending on the amount of gifts involved, I'll organize it like her bridal shower--she'll open about 1/3, then we'll break for the meal. Then 1/3 more and break for dessert. Then the rest. I don't expect the men to watch the gift opening, they'll probably wander around with the kids during that time.

We did a cute thing at the bridal shower you may want to consider. I found a poem on the internet that told a story of young love using lots of product names (. . . their FUTURE was BRITE . . .). As the poem was read, the person who had that product sitting at their seat stood up, introduced themself to the group (I'm Carol, Danny's favorite aunt, I'm Danielle, Alicia's best friend from kindergarden), and gave the product to the bride who collected them in a big laundry basket. At the wedding, people had an idea of who was who and which side of the couple they were on. You could do something like that with baby products.