Are you planning a baby shower for yourself, a relative, or a friend? Here are some unique ideas for games, gifts, favors and food sure to guarantee a terrific party for everyone!

Most baby showers are held before the baby is born usually toward the end of pregnancy to celebrate the welcoming of the new baby.

When selecting a date for the party, first make sure the time is convenient for the parents to be. Additionally, you may wish to try accommodate those folks that are important to the parents to be such as grandparets for example. After the date as been selected, its time to put together the invitation list. This is also the time to start considering the theme of the shower, so that invitations can be purchased that will compliment the shower theme. If you’re hosting the shower, you may have some ideas about who to invite, but its also important to consult with the guest or guests of honor before finalizing your list. That way you avoid leaving out someone important or inviting someone the mom (or dad) would rather not include.

What about hosting a shower for the expectant mom and dad? Although many baby showers still follow the “for women only” tradition, coed parties are growing in popularity. It all depends on what sort of gathering you’re planning. If the shower is for a second or subsequent baby (these babies deserve a celebration, too!), the guest list is usually made up of close friends and family and anyone who was, for whatever reason, not invited to the first shower.

Should you throw a surprise baby shower? As yourself if your guest of honor doesn’t like surprises, you may be putting her in an awkward position. If you let the future parents in on the arrangements, you can be confident that they’ll be pleased with the outcome.

On the baby shower invitations while including the basic who, what, where, when, and RSVP information on the invitation, this is a good time to let the guests know the theme of the shower inside and if and where the expectant parents are registered for baby gear. This tends to be a bit more tasteful than offering the registry when the guests call to RSVP. Plan to send invitations out early enough to give the guests at least a few weeks’ notice: This allows them enough time to work the shower into their schedules and shop for the perfect gift.

Planning a baby shower is a lot of work and a whole lot of fun. Have a plan in your mind of how things should go at the shower. This way all the activities at a baby shower go accordingly to your plan and they happen in a timely manner. It is your job as the hostess to make sure the games, present opening, and picture taking all get done and done right.

Around the seventh or eighth month of a pregnancy, a plan for a baby shower should be in the works. Once a time, date, and place have been decided upon, the work for the party does not end. Your guests have begun to arrive and you must keep them busy. Have the food ready to be served so that your guests can show up, greet the mom to be, and nibble on some tasty treats. Once everyone has had time to taste all the goodies that you have prepared, have everyone take seats and begin playing the games you have decided upon. This gets everyone actively involved in the party. Not every mom to be is going to want to play games at her baby shower. Discuss this part of the shower beforehand and if games are not wanted, maybe the mom to be can sit back, relax, and have a good laugh while everyone else plays.

After all the games are played and the prizes have been won, it is time to open up the baby gifts. Have the new mom sit in a comfy chair and start handing the gifts to her. This is her time to be in the spotlight. Do not make her get up or lift anyone of her gifts. Treat her as if she is a princess on this special day. As all of the events are taking place, take pictures. At a later date, these baby day photos can be added to a baby book or put into frames and given to each one of the baby shower guests that attended the party.

The events of a baby shower are to be maintained by the hostess. The order of events that I have listed above is pretty general, but they can be toggled around to fit your baby shower needs. Whatever the order, the new mom will love the party and the fact that the people closet to her were there to help celebrate the new bundle of joy that is about to enter her life.

The food served at a baby shower is equally as important as having the guests. Everyone will love snack foods that they can carry around while they talk to other party guests. With a new mom to be, little snack foods are a must have. She will appreciate a snack to nibble on between the hugs and pictures.

Your food at a baby shower should revolve around the party’s theme. Say your baby shower theme is under the sea: baby and me. Have the cake made to resemble the ocean. It can have a chocolate baby on top floating along with waves of the ocean. Use blue food coloring in the ice cubes and add these to ordinary glasses of water. Anchors away as your guests munch on fish shaped chocolates. As for snacks, you can have seashell shaped cookies colored pink or blue, of course. Color-code the rest of the food to accompany your theme. With the baby under the sea theme, have blue colored foods with white side dishes. Mashed potatoes work well here.

Have bite sized party foods available. Finger foods, chips, and dip are great foods that allow your guests to walk around, talk to other guests, and still be able to eat. There is no need to make an entire meal for this great event for the new mom to be. In addition, chocolate candies or cookies in the shapes of bottles, safety pins, or rattles are also popular favorites for baby showers. Do not forget to color the snacks accordingly. Pink for girls, blue for boys, and yellow or green for the unknowns. This color-coding also applies to the plates, utensils, and the tablecloth.

Consider the new mom’s favorite dishes as you prepare more hearty selections for the guests. You may also have a potluck baby shower where each guest brings a dish they love. This allows for less stress on your part and also involves each and every guest. Make sure you have enough selections for everyone, so that each guest feels like there is something at the party for them. Fruit and vegetable trays are also an option for the party if you are looking for a healthy alternative to cookies and candies. Whatever you choose to serve at a baby shower, make sure you have plenty. With all the game playing and present opening, it is a great idea to have snacks for the new mom to be and the guests to nibble on.

Baby showers are all about the presents for the new mom to be and her baby that has yet to arrive. Presents can be the practical ones that include strollers, diapers, clothes, and bottles. You can also opt for more of a personal gift that may include one or two gifts that are just for the mom to be. Give that new mom a coupon for a night out with you as the babysitter. This will make the mom feel like she is having a mother to be shower and not just a baby shower.

When it comes to wrapping the baby gifts, your creative side may come into play. A diaper cake is a popular item for a baby shower. These cakes can be bought online or you can try doing one up yourself. Get together with a couple of the new mom’s closet friends and plan all that should be added to that diaper cake. Besides the diapers, put receiving blankets, bottles, bibs, or even stuffed animals in the cake arrangement. All of the baby items can be used over and over again. This is a feature that any new mom to be will love. You can have your diaper cake decorated to fit a new baby girl or a new little boy or just a baby friendly one for those moms who chose to wait until delivery to find out what they are having.

Other presents can be wrapped in various ways. Consider buying wrapping paper with rattles or bottles on it and have all of the baby shower guests write a personal note to the new mom to be. All of the gifts can either have all the guests’ notes on them (which will require a get together before the big day) or each guest can wrap their own gift and personalize it alone. Wrap your gifts according to the party theme. If it is a Disney theme, then buy that type of wrapping paper or that particular type of bow and wrap your gift. You can also attach a baby item to your gift including a rattle or a teething ring.

Any new mom to be loves to get presents for her new bundle of joy. It makes it an even more special occasion if those gifts are personalized. Get all of the baby shower guests involved with the gift-wrapping to ensure that the new mom you are celebrating has an unforgettable time at her baby shower.

Baby showers can be very successful as long as they are met with a great theme. We all know that a baby shower is a celebration of a new bundle of joy. There are many different ideas for a theme. These can include cartoon characters, the season in which the baby will be born, or utilizing a holiday that the baby will be born around. Be creative when choosing a theme. All the decorations are centered on the corresponding theme, so plan well.

Consider having an ABC’s baby shower party theme. Invite close friends and relatives of the mother to be to her big party. Divide up the alphabet between the guests. If you are having a large get together, then each guest can take one letter and buy a gift pertaining to that specific letter. If it is more of an intimate baby shower, then each guest can take a few letters and begin shopping from there. For example, for the letter “A” aspirin (baby aspirin, of course) can be purchased as a gift. For the letter “B” booties can be bought and so on down the alphabet. Decorate the place where the baby shower takes place with balloons shaped as letters and cookies in those shapes as well.

Any thing can be used for a theme for a baby shower. The most important thing to keep in mind is the mother to be. If she loves teddy bears, decorate with plenty of those and have stuffed teddy bears all around. The way the mom to be has decorated her new little one’s nursery is a good start to planning a theme for her baby shower. If the nursery is modeled around precious moments, celestial, or trucks and trains on the go, then decorate the party accordingly. When the gender is known of the baby that does make it easier to decorate. You cannot go wrong with soft pinks and blues.

You, as the hostess, want your baby shower to be special for that certain mother to be. The decorations and theme are very important for the success of the party. It is easy plan around a new mom when you know what she loves and the look that she wants for her new bundle of joy. Talk with her and view her baby registry to become familiar with her desires in motherhood. If you are planning a surprise baby shower, speak with her closet friends and family to gain a clear perspective of her wishes.