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.

Even if you do not want to play the corny games usually associated with baby showers, there are many activities that you can turn into games. Women like babies and they like fashion so why not combine the two for a lot of unique baby shower fun? Baby Fashion Designer is a game that every shower guest will wonder why she did not have such fun games at their own shower!

How To Play
Choose a plain piece of baby sized clothing for each guest, for the best results choose the same item for each guest, as this game really can be played with any number of guests. Baby clothing such as t-shirts, sleepers, and onsies work best for this because you can buy them quite plain, and you can also buy quite a few at a bargain. Then, get fabric pieces, fabric paint, sequins, thread, buttons, yarn, and anything else you might associate with clothing. Then, tell each of your shower guests that they can create an outfit for your child with any or all of the items provided. The mother to be or the hostess will then judge all of the finished products and decide which participant is deserving of a prize!

Ready, Set, Go!
Tell your shower guests that they have to put together the best product they can in twenty minutes, or whatever you decide is an appropriate time allotment. This will make guests get even more creative and will also get their competitive juices flowing. Encourage all your guests to get really creative, and have some fun, you’ll be amazed how many of your friends are baby fashion designers!

There is arguably nothing more refreshing and beautiful during the springtime than the arrival of the tulips in one’s garden. Tulips just seem to symbolize spring. For the hostess looking to throw a baby shower for a mom-to-be in the springtime, a tulip-themed celebration may just be the perfect thing to have.

Decorating with Tulips
The first decorative must-have is fresh tulip arrangements for the center of each table. These can be a variety of different colors or a simple 1-2 color schemed arrangement, depending on the hostess’ preference. During the springtime, one will also find that a number of retail stores will be selling Mylar balloons with flowers on them, especially tulips, and these are a great addition to any baby shower. As for take-home gifts for the attendees, a single tulip in a hand painted pot with the baby shower information painted on it is a wonderfully unique party favor idea that many guests will truly enjoy. Also, when decorating with a tulip theme in mind, the hostess may choose from a wide range of colors for decorating the room with streamers which gives the party a festive feel.

Fun Games with Tulip Prizes
One entertaining baby shower game which is played at quite a few baby showers as it is so popular is Baby Shower Bingo. To play this game, the hostess will have prepared sheets with a bingo board on them. The only square which will be filled out prior to the shower is the center square which will have the word “tulip” in it. When the guests receive their papers, they will fill in each square with what they believe the mom-to-be will receive as baby shower gifts. While the mom-to-be is opening her gifts, the guests will play Bingo and the first person to get a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal Bingo will yell “Bingo” and win a prize. Some examples of prizes with a tulip theme include floral stationary or a tulip potpourri sachet.

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.

Just about everyone had a wacky idea of where babies come from when they were a kid, and if they didn’t they know of some silly ideas that a friend, cousin, or sibling had. These wacky ideas can make for a great baby shower game for sure. Where Do Babies Come From is a great way to start your baby shower as it will get everyone relaxed, laughing, and able to open up to having a good time.

How To Get The Laughs Started
You’ll really only need scraps of paper and a pencil for each of your guest, the more the merrier for this gut busting game. Instruct each of your party guests to write on a piece of paper where they thought babies came from when they were little. Then, instruct each of your party guests to read their answer to the question of where the little guys and girls come from. It’s inevitable; every guest will be laughing by the time each shower guest has read his or her story!

To make the game even more fun, each of the ideas can be put into a bowl or container of some sort. Then, the expectant parents can read each idea aloud to the other party guests who will then have to guess who wrote what. The person with the funniest or most outlandish idea of where babies come from will win a prize! This is a simple game that takes almost nothing to play, but will leave a lasting impression on each guest!