Baby Showers

I've had three baby showers myself but I've never thrown one. Until now.

This is a little confusing (politics, sheesh.) so I'll give some background. My husband and his (half) sister have different mothers. My father-in-law married my husband's mother when his half-sister was 6ish so my mother-in-law basically raised his half-sister. The thing is, my sister-in-law's mother is still an active part of her life and lives in the area. My mother-in-law doesn't want to offend my sister-in-law's mother by throwing the shower herself so she asked myself and my sister-in-law's best friend to host the shower at her house.

Okay! My sister-in-law's best friend lives in another state so I'm basically throwing the shower and the best friend is splitting the cost with me. I'm totally left-brained and not creative at all. I'm not super-sensitive and mushy. In other words, I'm afraid I won't do a very good job with this shower. My sister-in-law is neurotic and high-maintenance but she really is a great person and for all those reasons I want her to have the best shower possible.

I need ideas! This is a couples' shower and I've come up with a couple things already. I've got the invitations picked out but need to come up with the wording (I have a pretty good poem going and I'm waiting on approval from the best friend). I'm planning on having a "Baby Stroller NASCAR Race" for the guys and a "Dirty Diaper" guessing game (mush up different candy bars in some diapers and have guests guess what each candy bar is). I am asking guests to bring signed baby books instead of cards. I've also picked up a Hallmark "Baby Shower Memories" book that's like a guest book but couples can also guess the sex of the baby, birth date and weight.

Again, I need some other ideas. The guests are going to be in their late 20s to early 30s and there will be alcohol involved. The shower is going to be in the evening with a light dinner (I don't have to worry about the food, thankfully!).

Anything would be helpful! Games, activities, prizes for the winners, etc. She is very sentimental and loves keeping memories.

I can't remember the name of the game but you have juice in bottles (the same amount) and have the guys suck it out who ever finishes first wins.

Guess that Baby Food: have baby food with the label covered and have the guests try it out and write down what they think each one is

How big is mommy's belly? Send a around a roll of toilet paper and have your guests tear off how much they thinkit would take to go around the mommy's belly. AFter every one is finished wrap the toilet paper roll arounnd the mom's belly and compare to every one's guess, closest one wins.

Have fun, I had a ball at my sister's!

I considered doing the baby bottle drinking race with beer

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm taking notes!

I dug up a couple of old threads that might be helpful.  :)

http://caloriecount.about.com/off-topic-baby- showers-ft102032

 http://caloriecount.about.com/baby-shower-fun -ideas-ft116592

Thanks, cecily, I'm going to check them out now!

This idea is very time consuming, but since your sis-in-law is sentimental...I think she might like it...

I made my sister a scrapbook of her own baby pictures to pass around at the shower.  It was my sister's first pregnancy, and I thought that seeing old pictures of how cute she was might help her get excited about meeting her own little bundle.  It was a big hit and I personally think that it's one of the best gifts anyone could receive. 

I borrowed a bunch of old pictures from my mom's collection and scanned and reproduced them at Wal-mart.  The scrapbook told the story of my sister's life up until her pregnancy, but was more focused on her first three years of life.

If you're not a scrapbooker (or don't have that much time), you can buy premade pages at most craft stores...and all you'll need to do it stick pictures in the empty spaces. 

Have you had the shower yet? If not there is one game you can play that might be fun. Everyone gets a diaper pin that they put on their shirt. You pick a word or action that no one can do for the duration of the party, and who ever catches someone doing the "no-no" they take their pin and who ever has the most pins at the end of the party gets a prize.

The shower's on May 16th. My cohost is trying to make it more sophisticated and wants to play games that get the conversation going. I want it to be fun. m0m6, I've heard of a similar game and I think I like it. It would be something that would keep going throughout the night.

Along with the Stroller NASCAR race and Dirty Diaper game, my cohost wants to play some sort of trivia game. She's coming up with questions and I'm assuming they'll either be baby facts or facts about the couple.

I've made a diaper cake that looks great, if I do say so myself  I'm also saving my son's empty baby food jars to use as votive candle holders. I'm going to make baby socks into "roses" and put those bouquets in baby bottles.

cassrd05, I wish I had the time to make a scrapbook like this. Unfortunately, I don't even have time to make scrapbooks for my own kids (plus, as stated above, I'm totally not creative). My mother-in-law is actually going to put baby photos of both parents up around the house. The "Baby Shower Memories" book I bought is like a fill-in-the-blank scrapbook. It has places for photos and I've arranged for my sister (who is a photographer) to shoot photos at the shower. I'll put the book together and give it to them when the baby is born.

Thanks again for all the suggestions!

I have 2 suggestions:

#1 - A game that we did for my 2nd when we had men at the party was a bottle sipping contest.  We grabbed all the males (because it's funnier to watch )  and gave them the smaller 4 oz bottles filled with "soda".  What they didn't know is that we mixed all kinds of nasty flavors to surprise them...grapefruit soda, soda water & root beer.  Watching them fiercly suck on those bottles while trying not to vomit from the taste was the best baby shower game ever!!

#2 - My sister is throwing my shower for this pregnancy and she found the best idea online.  She is going to buy a journal or some fancy paper and will have the guests chose numbers (1 - however many guests arrived).  Each guest will then write on the matching page for the number they chose to give the baby advice fro that year of her life (if the guest picked #10 then she gives advice for a 10 year-old girl, in my case, and so on).  The baby will be able to read or have read to them the new page every year on her birthday!  I am really excited about this one!!

When all else fails, asks the mom-to-be for her input & good luck!