and I'm already in over my head! I don't even ATTEND baby showers, much less PLAN them! (I hate showers, and typically avoid these things as a rule, but I always send a nice carefully thought out gift.)

Now what? It's not a surprise, so does the mom-to-be pick the place? What about the guest list? I have someone who has offered to do the cake and mints, but I don't know where to start!

Oh, and to top it off, she's new in town, not really a close friend, but since she's so new here, I thought I'd be nice and offer to have the shower for her, since she's not working yet due to the pregnancy and doesn't really know a lot of people here yet.

I do want to do this, I just don't know what the heck I'm doing!

HELP!!!! Where do I start?

and I'm already in over my head! I don't even ATTEND baby showers, much less PLAN them! (I hate showers, and typically avoid these things as a rule, but I always send a nice carefully thought out gift.)

Now what? It's not a surprise, so does the mom-to-be pick the place? What about the guest list? I have someone who has offered to do the cake and mints, but I don't know where to start!

Oh, and to top it off, she's new in town, not really a close friend, but since she's so new here, I thought I'd be nice and offer to have the shower for her, since she's not working yet due to the pregnancy and doesn't really know a lot of people here yet.

I do want to do this, I just don't know what the heck I'm doing!

HELP!!!! Where do I start?

Hmm, I've only been to a couple baby showers and have to host one myself in a couple months for my best girl friend.

I would say that you need to talk to her about location - generally the mommy to be doesn't do anything for the shower so having it at her place might make that a bit harder and make her feel like she should pitch in. Is your place a viable option? If not, you may want to talk to her about having it at her place but you taking care of things.

Invitation wise, do you know a lot of the same people? I would ask her to put together a list of people who she would like to attend and then if you can think of others go ahead and invite them.

As for food - tea, coffee, punch, and then finger food type Snacks, sausage rolls, veggies, whatnot. Keep it simple.

Games - if you want to have any little games to pass the time and have some fun, there is a game where you get a bunch of really really really long pieces of string and you have the people cut them to guess how big mommy's belly is (ie: wrapping a string around your waist type of guess) and whoever guesses closest could get a small cheapo prize.

Another game is you get a small tray or platter and pick easy to remember items (about 15-20 of them).. ie: paper clip, tweezers, nail clippers, spoon, etc and you go around the room and people only get a short time to look at them and try to remember them. Then you have to write down as many as you can remember, and the person who remembers the most wins.

Presents - when the mommy to be opens the presents someone (if you're organizing it I would guess it would be you, but whoever) sits beside her and takes the cards and writes the item received on the back of the card so that she can send out thank you cards later that are more personal.

Hmmm, I'm out of other suggestions. Hope this has helped a bit. Good luck!

If it were to be held at my place, we would only be able to invite 3 guests....I have NO space. I'll ask her where she would like to have it, though, and let her decide.

Thanks for the ideas, though, and if anyone else has any more, please don't be shy!!!

What about a local park???Depending on where you live, of course... We have a local arboretum that rents their gardens relatively cheaply...Then you could just rent tables etc and make springy finger foods.

Favor: a bag with candy...pastel colors because it's a baby (which are easy to find right now because of Easter)...tied with a bow. --you could use a breastmilk storage bag... Everyone appreciates getting something they can nibble on the way home...and then dispose of...Nobody (except my mil) really appreciates any type of chochke (spelling???)...they just get chucked and fill up the landfills. Besides, candy is cheap!

Tough spot..does she have any relatives who can help you finance the whole thing??

Edited to add...you can make it a couples shower...so less stress on the mom to be...and I always prefer to have mixed company!!

Rain

You could always play the dirty diaper game! Here's how to play it:

Fold small white napkins or squares of fabric into little diapers and fasten with a diaper pin. Place an opened candy kiss in one of them. Give them to guests as they arrive at the party. Warn them that one may be a dirty diaper and they'll get to change it when everybody has arrived. Have everyone open their diapers together at some point during the party and the one with the kiss wins a door prize.

I went to a shower not long ago held in a local tea room--a small restaurant, they served the cake that was brought in, and tea.the Mom to be, opened her gifts....they passed out pastel note cards and had each guest write a helpful hint on the card. Then they had given each of us a diaper pin when we went in, and you could not say "Baby" if you did, and someone caught you they could take the diaper pin, the one with the most pins won the game.

I have been to them where they have the puzzles with scrambled letters--making baby related items---like... etlotb = bottle. Or word circle puzzles...all baby related themes. Most Halmark shops have books of them for baby shower games.

I would sit with her and see where she was most comfortable having it. The advantage to her house, is people can see the nursery, and she does not have to lug lots of things home.

I would ask her for a list of who she wants to invite, and then since she is new, if you have friends you want to introduce her to, include them.

Find out from her if she is registered anywhere----and include it on the invitation, also whether they know if it is a boy or a girl.

As someone has pointed out, now is an awesome time to begin gathering things for the shower, everything for Easter is out, and pastel----lots of baby animal decorations....Easy!!!

Pastel balloons----friendly chatting, and it will be over before you know it!

Keep in mind I have given 2 showers where Mom was in labor the entire time!!! Both give birth later that evening!!! LOL

Kat

A game they played at my DD's baby shower, I forgot, and we laughed ourselves silly....was similar to Scattergories. The hostess would give the categorie, and then around the room, each person had to name something in the category that began with the same letter as their name----so it worked well at learning peoples names as well. Since she is new.....

But let me tell you there are few baby toys, or baby foods, or baby furniture items that begin with K-----------especially since there was a woman 2 seats ahead of me named Karyn!!! Some of them were far fetched, but it was fun watching people scramble for something to name!!

Good luck!

Kat

and I'm already in over my head! I don't even ATTEND baby showers, much less PLAN them! (I hate showers, and typically avoid these things as a rule, but I always send a nice carefully thought out gift.)

Now what? It's not a surprise, so does the mom-to-be pick the place? What about the guest list? I have someone who has offered to do the cake and mints, but I don't know where to start!

Oh, and to top it off, she's new in town, not really a close friend, but since she's so new here, I thought I'd be nice and offer to have the shower for her, since she's not working yet due to the pregnancy and doesn't really know a lot of people here yet.

I do want to do this, I just don't know what the heck I'm doing!

HELP!!!! Where do I start?

Wow this is too weird - I am in exactly the same position, except that this is a really good friend of mine. I don't know what I am doing either. We are doing it at her house, so that she won't have to cart gifts home. I asked her to register at Target, BabiesRUs and Dillards. And I used eVite to do online invitations. That's as far as I got so far. Good luck and I will be watching these responses so thanks for posting.

My mother in law and sister in law held a shower for me that was quite different so I thought I would share. We had it at one of those places where you pick out a piece of pottery and then hand paint it yourself. SO, in addition to the baby gifts I received, each guest picked out a piece of pottery for the baby and hand painted it. They are beautiful. Some things are just decorative, but others we actually use. I have a soap dish and lotion dispenser in the bathroom with little ducks on it. They are really cute. I have several little canisters with lids on them that I keep hair ties (she's 2 now), q-tips, cotton balls, etc. In the invitation they also asked each guest to write a quote or some words of inspiration down for mom and dad or baby which are now beautifully displayed in my little girls baby book. For food... they made "sack" lunches. haha They were kinda fancy sack lunches though. They made chicken salad on croissants, tomatoe, basil and mozzarella salad and mini cherry cheesecakes. YUM! They decorated the sacks with small pieces of material which my mother in law collected at the end of the shower and made a quilt out of! As far as cost, the only thing they paid for was the pottery that I picked to paint since I was the "guest of honor" and whatever pottery they painted. It really was a fun FUN FUN shower! I have some very precious gifts that will be cherished for a lifetime

Kat, that is hilarious! Two moms to be sitting through their baby showers all the time IN LABOR! OMG.

I'm starting to wonder what I've gotten myself into.... I was thinking really small scale. The mom-to-be has given me a list of names, and it includes 5 people, not including myself, and 4 others I'd like to invite. So the expense isn't really going to be a problem, since there will likely be less than 15 people in attendance. I'm mostly worried about getting the place and date set first off, and then figuring out how to entertain everyone. She isn't married, and the dad isn't welcome, so I was kind of wanting to keep it just for the girls, since I don't want her to feel weird. Her two sons are 13 and 15, though, and I'm sure they will be included since they're a very close family.

Thank you to everyone who has posted ideas so far, and please, KEEP 'EM COMING!!!

ALWAYS make sure you have the envelopes for the thank you notes so the guests can fill out their own address on the envelope. Then, you can put them in a basket and draw names from it for door prizes.

My mother in law and sister in law held a shower for me that was quite different so I thought I would share. We had it at one of those places where you pick out a piece of pottery and then hand paint it yourself. SO, in addition to the baby gifts I received, each guest picked out a piece of pottery for the baby and hand painted it. They are beautiful. Some things are just decorative, but others we actually use. I have a soap dish and lotion dispenser in the bathroom with little ducks on it. They are really cute. I have several little canisters with lids on them that I keep hair ties (she's 2 now), q-tips, cotton balls, etc. In the invitation they also asked each guest to write a quote or some words of inspiration down for mom and dad or baby which are now beautifully displayed in my little girls baby book. For food... they made "sack" lunches. haha They were kinda fancy sack lunches though. They made chicken salad on croissants, tomatoe, basil and mozzarella salad and mini cherry cheesecakes. YUM! They decorated the sacks with small pieces of material which my mother in law collected at the end of the shower and made a quilt out of! As far as cost, the only thing they paid for was the pottery that I picked to paint since I was the "guest of honor" and whatever pottery they painted. It really was a fun FUN FUN shower! I have some very precious gifts that will be cherished for a lifetime

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this idea! We live in a very small town with ONE place where you can paint your own pottery, and they have very limited hours, but I will definitely be running this by her to see if she might want to give it a whirl.

I'm glad you liked the idea! I DEFINATELY could not have asked for a better shower! We had a great time You might want to check with the pottery place as far as if they are going to charge anything for the time or just for the pottery so you know what you are up for before you talk to her. Just a thought. Good luck!

Does she know what she is having yet? Is she set up for the baby? Any way to incorporate getting the nursery ready into the shower??

Kat

i didnt read through all the posts, so sorry if these are repeats.

i just had a baby shower for a friend and these are a few of the games i did. if you want copies of any of them, pm me your email and i can send you copies.

the candy bar game. i had a list of different words and you had to come up a candy to match. like "night of conception" was a "skor", "grandparents and/or epidural" was "lifesavers", and so on.

the price is right. i bought like 10 different baby items, lotion, wipes, shampoo, etc... and then typed up their name w/ 2 different prices. had to pick the right price and then the mom to be got all the stuff.

the 3-letter body parts--had to name the 11 3 letter body parts...actually came up w/ a 12 at the party!

i also have a word scramble w/ baby related items. and a game where you match the mommy animal name with the baby animal name.

buy thank you cards and have everyone self address them for her. that is a HUGE help. i also got some index cards and had everyone write a bit of "mom" advice on it for the new mom. we got things from make sure you sleep when the baby sleeps to take time for yourself.

you could play the dont say "baby" game. everyone gets a clothes pin at the start of the shower and then if you hear any one say baby you get their clothespin and whoever has the most at the end wins.

i will keep thinkin of any more ideas for ya.

hope that helps.

Here are my suggestions: no games, but lots of wine and interesting food. Painting pottery sounds like fun. Drinking while painting pottery sounds like fun, too. Wine loosens people up and then they will talk, laugh and have fun. Food always puts folks in a good mood.

I suspect that the best gift that you can give her is some new friends seeing as she is a recent arrival to your town.