Your friend is pregnant? How exciting! That has to be celebrated! In America, it has long been common practice, and it is becoming popular here too: the baby party/baby shower. I think it's a lovely opportunity to chat with your friend in peace (!) once more and be happy for her. But how do you throw a perfect baby shower? What needs to be organized here?
Organizing a baby shower
First of all, you should get in touch with the pregnant friend's partner and ask about the date. The mom-to-be should be in the last third of her pregnancy. Furthermore, the party should ideally take place without children, so that the partner can take care of the 'big' kids, and it should be a surprise for the expectant mother. Now, also ask the partner for other good friends and exchange numbers or email addresses right away. It is also nice if you can team up with several friends to organize such a party. This is more fun and makes organization easier, as you can divide up tasks.
Food at a baby shower
When it comes to food, feel free to get creative. A funny baby bump cake or pacifier muffins. Depending on how much time you want to invest, you can conjure up great baked goods. If there isn't much time left, or you simply don't want to: no problem. There are already great ready-made decoration items that you can simply place on finished cakes or muffins. A nice idea is homemade pacifiers made of marzipan, which you just have to place on the muffins or the cake.
If you would like to offer something savory, Finger food is a very good choice. You can keep snacking while chatting, and it's not so elaborate that you have to be cooking in the kitchen all the time. Finger food, such as small meatballs, sausages, salads, cut vegetables with dip, or spreads, can be prepared wonderfully.
The decoration for a baby shower
There are also great things to buy for decoration now: banners, paper lanterns, scatter items like pacifiers or baby shoes. Depending on your mood, the baby shower room can be decorated wonderfully. Even with few resources, like blue or pink balloons and nice napkins, a beautiful ambiance is conjured up in no time. Those who can spare some time should make pom-poms out of napkins. These look really wonderful and are not that hard to make. You can find instructions for napkin pom-poms here: Instructions for napkin pom-poms
You can also choose paper plates and cups with nice motifs, then you save yourself the washing up after the party.
Games at a baby shower
When it comes to games, a delicate touch is required. Some people don't want to do such things, so you might want to feel them out a bit or only plan 'harmless' things. Here are a few ideas that I think are good:
Painting baby bodysuits
I find this idea very nice: It is a lovely activity for the evening that can be done alongside chatting AND the expectant mother subsequently has personal items of clothing for her baby. For this, simply buy white baby bodysuits and fabric markers. Each guest is allowed to creatively design a bodysuit with markers and then give it to the mom-to-be.
Extra tip: Print out a few motifs or examples so that people have some inspiration for what they can draw. Funny slogans are also fun, such as 'I'm the boss from now on' or 'Just like Dad – only easier to take care of' and many more.
Painting baby bibs
Just like with the baby bodysuit, simply buy white baby bibs and fabric markers. The baby bibs are then decorated by the guests and given to the expectant mother.
Extra tip: Print out a few motifs or examples so that people have some inspiration for what they can draw. Funny slogans are also fun, such as 'I don't spill, I decorate' and many more.
Baby-themed 'City, Country, River'
Here, the well-known 'City, Country, River' game is adapted with baby themes. Each guest gets a sheet of paper and a pen, and topics such as baby names (very practical for the mom-to-be), baby toys, baby care products, baby clothes, childhood illnesses, etc., are written down. Then a guest starts going through the alphabet in their head, and the mom-to-be says stop. And with this letter, the players must fill in their columns, and the first one to fill them all out wins. Of course, something can also be done for the mom-to-be here: whoever lost has to babysit once, cook a meal, take the baby for a walk, etc.
Blind tasting
Also a classic at a baby shower: The mom-to-be 'gets' to taste baby food jars. For this, buy a few baby food jars, and a cloth or scarf is needed to blindfold her. At the baby shower, the expectant mother is blindfolded and has to guess which flavor is inside. Volunteers are, of course, welcome to join in.
Matching baby photos
A bit more elaborate, but certainly a fun game at the party. Ask all guests to bring a baby photo of themselves. The pictures are pinned to a wall or hung on a string with clothespins, and the mom-to-be has to guess which baby photo belongs to whom.
Guessing the baby bump circumference
Everyone has to submit their estimates in cm for the circumference of the baby bump. Whoever is closest to the correct circumference wins. Here you can come up with something that the person has to do for the baby or the mom: babysit once, a foot massage, cook a meal, etc.
Gifts at a baby shower
When a baby is on the way, there is usually a lot to get. So the expectant mother usually already has a large wish list. Here, perhaps check with the partner of the expectant mother just to be safe, so that nothing is bought twice. Those who want to be absolutely sure can also give vouchers that can be used individually.
A classic gift is the diaper cake. You can either make this yourself: Making a diaper cake yourself or buy it in drugstores. When making it yourself, I think it's nice that you can include personally selected products for the baby or mother.
Back then, I was also very happy about clothes for the baby and, of course, toys.
Conclusion
Although I was skeptical, I admit, our baby shower turned into a really fun and relaxed evening. I would therefore advise not to plan too many games so that there is no time pressure. Also, try to gauge what the mom-to-be likes, whether she really wants a lot of games or would rather just chat. Also, don't take on too much with the food and rather make sure that you can be part of the social gathering and not stand alone in the kitchen. Furthermore, I would advise having the party without children, because otherwise, you won't get to the cozy part or any games.
It was also very nice that the surprise worked out; our mom-to-be had suspected that we were planning something BUT not on which evening. I found it to be a very nice evening together and hope I get to organize a few more baby showers. I actually have a few more cake ideas that I would like to try out.
Read also:Â 10 gift ideas for a young father
Photos by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at
