Recipe: Baby Shower Themes, Games & Food Ideas for Joyce....

Dear Joyce,

Here are some fun ideas for you to consider. If you need recipes for the salads, quiches, etc. let me know and I will post.

THEMES AND FOOD

A surprise tea party baby shower with the theme of "Tea for Two". Arrange fresh flower centerpieces for the tables, borrow teapots, plates, and cups from a relative or friends and place a set on each table. Cover all the tables with fancy tablecloths and ask guests to dress up.

Start the menu with assorted teas, scones, Paula Deen's mini Lemon Blossoms, etc. You can serve turkey or chicken salad on a croissant, fresh fruit slices or a superb fresh fruit salad, and a assorted greens salad. At the bakery, ask them to make you a teapot cake.

Baby Brunch
Throw a "brunch" baby shower between 10 and 12 noon. Have traditional games and gifts. Foods can include "virgin" (non-alcoholic) cocktails with fruit tarts, quiches, assorted greens salad with vinagrette and assorted bundt cakes. White linens and real silver set the beautiful classy mood.

Typical foods for baby showers are:

assorted tea sandwiches (tuna, egg, ham and chicken salad)
Punch
fruit salad
ambrosia
cookies and cake

or carved ham with assorted biscuits, rolls, breads
potato salad
greens salad with vinaigrette
cake

or hot chicken salad
assorted greens salad
rolls
cake

or lasagna
assorted greens salad
garlic bread
cake

PARTY FAVORS

Baby Blooms: Give all the guests a package of Baby's Breath seeds in a terracotta pot decorated with cellophane, bows, and a little bird.

Buy some coffee mugs at a dollar store and a flat of flowers, like pansies, ora small ferns. Arrange one flower in each of them - like a flower pot.

Fill small plastic baby bottles - you can usually find them at craft stores - with hand lotion, then tie pink and blue ribbon around the neck."

Buy real baby shoes at a garage sale or consignment shop and line them with lace-edged baby socks filled with potpourri. Or you can line with cellophane and fill with dirt and a small plant.

Make pin cushions out of clean baby food jars. You just need a bit of fabric, some polyfill stuffing, and a glue gun. It sticks with the baby theme and is a useful container for straight or safety pins."

Make little cinnamon rolls (the kind that come in a can work just fine), wrap each one in pink or blue plastic wrap, and attach a ribbon to it with a tag saying: 'Thank you from (mother's name)'s bun in the oven!'"


GAMES & ACTIVITIES

Guess the Girth
Check with the guest of honor in advance on this one. Some women may find it a bit too personal, but if she's not shy, it can be a lot of fun. All you need is a ball or two of string. Ask guests to cut a length of string that they think will stretch around the future mom's belly. After everyone has had a turn, the mother-to-be measures and cuts a string that fits her belly. Compare her string to all the guests' pieces of string. The person who was closest wins. You'll be amazed at what people's estimates are. It's a great icebreaker and always good for some laughs.

Baby Picture Match Game
In advance, ask all the guests for pictures of themselves as babies. Assemble the photos on a board and assign each a number. At some point during the shower, pass out sheets of paper to the guests so they can match each baby to the appropriate grown-up. If the guests don't know each other well, name tags can help the process. The person who gets the most correct answers wins.

Baby Quiz
Ask the grandparents to write down what the parents were like as babies. Have them include vital statistics such as time of birth, height, weight, first tooth, first smile, age when toilet trained, and early indications of personality. Based on that information, make up a quiz about the future parents to hand out to guests. The person with the most correct answers wins a prize.

Melt the Ice
The day before the shower, freeze diaper pins, miniature pacifiers, tiny plastic babies, or similar items in ice cube trays. Give each guest an ice cube in a glass of water or other drink. The first person whose ice has melted so that the frozen item floats freely in the glass shouts, "My water broke!" and wins the game.

Swaddle/Dress the Baby
Get a life-size baby doll, receiving blanket, cloth diaper, diaper wrap, and onesie. Guests take turns trying to either dress or swaddle the baby. Time each guest - the one who does it fastest wins.

Don't Say "Baby"
Give every guest a clothespin to attach to her clothing and wear during the shower. Tell everyone not to say the word "baby" for the rest of the shower. If someone hears another guest say the forbidden word (and it's hard not to say it!), she gets to take the other guest's clothespin(s). The winner? Whoever has the most clothespins at the end of the shower.

Buy 12 jars of baby food in pairs of like colors - for example, a jar of green beans and a jar of peas, a jar of applesauce and a jar of pears, and a jar of carrots and a jar of squash. With a permanent marker, number the lids of the jars 1 through 12. Then remove the labels, marking the jar number on the back of the corresponding label (hide the labels to use as an answer key). Have the guests examine the jars by sight only - no tasting or smelling! - and guess what each one is. They can write their answers down on a piece of paper. The person with the most correct answers wins. After the game is over, tape the labels back on the jars and give the baby food to the mom-to-be."

Have your guests write down as many baby animal names as they can - puppy, kitten, duckling, and so on. Set a time limit - when it's up, whoever has the most names wins the prize."

"Name That Tune" Play or sing the tunes to childrens' songs like 'Pop Goes the Weasel,' 'Hush Little Baby,' 'Rock-a-Bye Baby,' and 'Lullaby and Goodnight,' and have the guests guess the titles."

Once you know how many guests are going to attend, ask the mother-to-be to pick a number. The person who brought the gift that corresponds to that number wins a prize. For example, if she picks the number eight, whoever brought the eighth gift she opens will be the winner.

Have each guest sign her name on a piece of paper. Ask each of them to guess how many times the mom-to-be will say 'baby' or talk about her baby. The closest answer without going over wins the door prize. This can get really interesting - each guest tries to coax the mom-to-be into talking about the baby, but she has no idea what's going on.

Diaper derby
To play, you'll need a four-roll pack of toilet paper. At the shower, divide your guests into four teams. Give each team one roll of paper. Using only that, each group should dress one of their team members in a diaper. They can't use pins, staples, or anything else to hold it together. The mom-to-be picks the best-diapered baby, and the whole team wins small prizes. You'll be amazed at your friends' creativity!

Write a book
Buy or make a small blank book. Ask each guest to write a piece of advice in the book for the mother- or parents-to-be.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you're prepared. You don't want to be running around at the last minute while you're waiting for your guests. Try not to get so caught up in the details that you can't have fun. Remember, this is a celebration for someone close. Don't forget to put film in your camera!

Have fun!!