ANY GREAT Baby Shower Ideas?

Since the baby's already here, planning a thanksgiving kind of party would be a nice way for your family and friends to welcome the little one. Start by:
*Decorating with fresh flowers (on table with food) and candles if it's welcomed in your family. The flowers and candles add a relaxing and illuminating touch to the day. you can add some balloons for the kids.

*Prepare finger foods such as chicken wings (various kinds),french bread and vegies with dip (my favorite is artichoke and spinach), fruit salad, etc. You can offer punch or your choice of drink ( if you do wine, try white).

*For games, have lots of 31/2x5 cards; ask your guests to help out the new mom and dad by writing their favorites 5 minutes recipe. Also, ask for advices on the best kids friendly restaurants, books, cds and how to get baby to sleep through the night. If your event is co-ed, playing the game "Who Knows Mommy? Who Knows Daddy?" is great! Get the women together and have them fill out questionairs you come up with about the mom, find out who really knows mommy. Have the guys do the same thing for daddy.

*Include one of the kids during gifts opening, have he/she either pass the gifts around or hold up for others to see.

*Play lullabies as backgroud music

*There are lots of unique favors for guests to take home. I like www.beau-coup.com/baby_shower_favors ( the personalized "little notes" notebooks with the mom's name and date) has been a hit at parties I organized.

Let me know if you need anymore help. I work as an Event Consultant.

HI K.!
My friends had a theme shower for me. I knew I was having a boy and decided to decorate his room in a cowboy theme. They served chili and corn muffins, had a "cowpie" cake, and used bandanas as napkins, flowers out of a cowboy boot, etc... Then everyone gave me gifts that were cowboy related. Some were outfits and one person even made an ADORABLE quilt w/cowboy patterns and other things to deocrate his room. Oh, and people came dressed as cowboys. I was a ton of fun.
Good Luck!

My sisters threw my shower and they had the BEST game I've ever played at a shower. Everyone was laughing so hard! My sisters videotaped my husband answering about 20 baby-related questions, such as "what is a doula?", "what is a boppie?", "what will be the best part about being a dad?", etc. Then they printed out a multiple choice quiz and the guests had to pick not which answer they thought was RIGHT, but which answer they thought my husband had said. Then we watched the video tape to see his answers and so the guests could correct their quizzes and see who won. My sister's thought up some great trick answers for the multiple choices and some of my husband's answers were hilarious on their own because he didn't know much about babies at the time. For example, one of the questions was how old do you think E. was when she was potty trained and he said 5!!!

Most of the parties I go to are the same, but I do have one fun idea. At my sister-in-law's shower, we decorated onsies. We bought plain white onsies (long and short sleeve, and also various sizes so he/she can wear them longer). Then with fabric paints and stencils the guests could make personalized shirts for the little one. It sounds expensive, but with as many guests as your expecting I'm sure there are some crafters out there that have stencils, stamps, etc. This is nice cause some of the older kids can help decorate too. Good Luck!

do a couples cocktail party

I have 2 crazy ideas for you.
at my work baby shower for my first child the women were told to arrive 'pregnant' - I had no idea they were doing that and it was pretty funny! Some even added a little cotton ball for the 'outie' belly button! and my bosses 80-something year old mother even arrived 'pregnant'!!!!!
Another kinda gross one I did for a friends bbshower was-
take 4-5 diapers (depending on group size) find your favorite chocolate bars/peanut butter with bananas etc. put it into the diaper - warm it up a bit in the microwave to melt it a bit and mush a bit - to look like a
'full load' diaper. EWWWE! then have each guest unwrap the diaper and guess what's in it!!!! the one who gets the most right wins! I know it's gross, but pretty funny to see everyone trying to sniff it too, to try to make an accurate guess!!!! Hey, as a new mom she better get used to seeing crazy stuff happenin' in diapers! HAVE FUN!

Since she has had showers already, so she probably has the basics, concentrate on a theme for something she probably doesn't have! For example, I am a consultant with Usborne Books, and I do baby showers. Guests can view the book samples and shop from the catalog - the new mom gets all the free books, since she is the "hostess" for the party! Great way to build a library of fun books and toys for her new little one. Or, host a "pamper mom" party where guests bring gifts for mom instead of baby. Have fun!