Are you tasked with thinking of and organizing a baby shower? Many people who organize baby showers tend to go with a theme in order to streamline the organization of the party. This will help in knowing which invitations to send out, what wording to use, the colors of the party, what food to serve, the decorations, the games, and a whole lot more. The theme unifies all aspects of the baby shower into one cohesive unit.

When choosing a theme for a baby shower, you should also check it with the parents if they like the theme you are considering. If it’s a surprise baby shower, it’s safer to go with a concept that the mom loves. A theme can also be that of colors and not particular concepts so for example, for a surprise shower, the mom’s favorite colors are pink and yellow then you should incorporate that into the theme. Some popular themes you could consider are:

Noah’s Ark Theme
This seems to be a popular theme since I’ve been to a couple of baby showers that had this theme. I guess it’s because the idea of many animals almost equate to the many fun ideas you can do. In the decoration department, for example, almost any animal can be used as decoration. You can have plush animals and animal-shaped pillows around. You must not forget about the ark as well. Invitations could be in the form any animal. Party favors can be cookies in animal and ark shapes. The animal and ark theme can be used in all aspects of the party. This is also great if you’re planning a co-ed baby shower as this theme won’t be too dainty for the men in attendance.

Tea Party
Smaller gatherings among friends require a much more intimate theme. This tea party theme is best utilized if expecting only a few people in order to preserve the intimacy of a theme party. The invitation could be formal tea party invitations but with wording fit for a baby shower, and you can serve tea and scones and other pastries as most tea parties would. You can decorate the place in an old English style with flowers and lace. Be as dainty as you want.

Sports Theme
Is the mom a sports fan? Is she expecting a boy? Well, even if she was expecting a girl but is not the typical girly mother, she would certainly appreciate a baby shower that reflects what she is. This is also great because the men won’t feel too out of place in a roomful of women. Make the central baby shower theme in the colors of the mom’s favorite sports theme and have cakes and cookies decorated accordingly. It is sure to be a fun, raucous time.

These are just a sprinkle in the many other baby shower options that you can throw. As for decorations, these are readily available in party supply stores. Bigger ones may even have a special baby shower section so you can get everything you need in one area. Also, have someone to help you even if it’s just for a small bit. Any little help goes a long way.

What’s a great baby shower gift to give the expectant parents?

That is the question most guests to a baby shower ask themselves. What makes it difficult to choose a baby shower gift is the sheer amount of things that you have to choose from. Gift givers today are given a ton of options especially when it comes to baby showers. It’s almost stressful, but why turn such a joyful event into a stress-fest?

Many people rely on the power of the gift basket when it comes to occasions such as this. A gift basket is truly a great idea to give, but how do you make yours unique, how do you set it apart from all the rest of the gift baskets that have been given and will be given? A way to do this is to decide on some sort of a theme for your baby shower gift basket.

Speaking of themes, modern baby showers usually have themes. You may want to coordinate the colors of your gift basket to the colors of the baby shower, but what we mean by baby shower gift basket themes has to do with the content rather than what it looks like. However, it wouldn’t hurt if you coordinate the appearance of your gift basket with the rest of the baby shower. The new parents will surely appreciate this attention to detail.

You can put pretty much anything you want in a gift basket, but deciding on some sort of theme would actually make your baby shower gift basket much more appealing. For example, you can give a Sleep Time gift basket. Its contents would be a nice teddy bear and a baby blanket. You can even further personalize this by having the yet-to-be-born baby’s name embroidered, or at least give the parents the option of having it embroidered in the future. If the baby shower has a Noah’s Ark theme, for example, you can choose a blanket that has the same design aesthetic (animals, ark) or decorate your basket accordingly. This is one idea.

Another is a Meal Time theme, and this would contain anything from baby bottles, sippy cups, baby spoons, baby bowls, anything that could be used in baby’s meal time. You could even put in a breast pump in there so the mother can express some milk for storage, as well as some bibs and towels to help clean up any meal time mess.

There are so many possible baby shower gift basket themes that you can conceptualize and make a gift basket from, but do remember that the best baby shower gift baskets are those that come from the heart. It doesn’t have to be extravagant as long as you put your heart into it.

What’s a baby shower without games? Games are ever-present at baby showers and any other type of shower for that matter. It is a way to get all the guests together and perhaps even get to know one another. It also makes the baby shower enjoyable for everyone present.

There are many baby shower games resources on the internet that you can get for free. You can even try being a bit more creative by inventing some games yourself or even modifying some well-loved childhood games into baby-shower appropriate games.

The internet also provides you, the baby shower planner, with lists of great baby shower games, how they are played, and what materials are needed if any. The suggestions on these sites – many of them baby shower planning sites themselves – are very fun and are quite easy to follow. These are worth checking out.

And since baby showers these days tend to include the husband and the husbands and significant others of the guests, make sure you choose coed baby shower games that could also involve the males in the group. It could be team games that have all-male teams, or male-female teams. It’s up to you.

What to give for prizes?

Prizes don’t have to be big. After all, these are just little fun games. You can all play a game where the prize is food, i.e. winner gets a brownie or cookie. Have plenty of these at hand because even though your guests are adults, they’d still want to win. Other good game prizes are little office supplies such as sticky notes or tape flags.

Like weddings, a baby shower invitation is other people’s first look at what the baby shower could be. You may think it’s just an invitation with details of the event, but it could help people get a feel for what is about to happen.

People say that the most difficult thing about getting baby shower invitations done is picking out just one type to have done. There are that many options available to people these days that it could be overwhelming at times. One way of making your job easier is to stick to the colors of the party, or stick to 2 colors/color combinations. That way you could have narrowed about half of the invitations available. Then be on the lookout for several details that you require in the invitation. Do you want birds? Other animals? From there you could have an easier time picking out the final invitation for the baby shower.

As for sources, you have different ways of going about it. You can go to the printers and have a special design made just for you. Of course it can be a bit pricey, but most printers offer discounts after a certain number has been reached. Some price their invitations per piece with only about a minimum of 10 invitations, which is great for smaller gatherings. Besides, these invitations are very beautiful.

If you are one of the creative types, you can make them yourself. Arts and crafts supply stores have just about everything you need when it comes to making invitations. You have at your disposal card stock, paints, scrapbooking stuff that also look great with invitations, glue, glitter, sequins, and everything else. Not only could it be a showcase of your creativity, you also show the mom-to-be how much she means to you by undertaking this labor of love.

The internet has also been a godsend when it comes to invitations. Not only can you find great ideas to use in your own design (should you decide to make them yourself or have them made)online, you can also find printable baby shower invitations and templates. A quick search of “printable baby shower invitations” can yield a lot of results. Go through them, choose which one you like, make sure you have the paper you want for it, and print away. The designs available as the ones you can see in stores, and ends up being less expensive.

Welcoming a child into the world is truly a joyous event, and so the gifts that people bear to a baby shower reflect just that. A popular baby shower gift is the gift basket, though there are still many ways that you can make it unique and truly your own.

Many gift basket companies offer baby shower gift baskets that have different contents and you can certainly choose among them. There are many pretty cute and unique ones online and they deliver fast. Another popular baby shower gift is the diaper cake, which is like a gift basket in many ways because it comes with it some small baby stuff (toys, trinkets, etc.) other than the diapers. For a truly unique and personalized baby shower gift, you can try putting together your own gift basket. This could be a lot of fun and it’s a great thing that you could choose for yourself what goes into the baby shower gift basket.

Once you pick a container that is sturdy enough to hold what you plan to put, you now move forward to actually purchasing items to put inside. Here are some suggestions on what you could put in your personalized baby shower gift basket:

• Baby bottles – it’s best to put around 2 standard sized baby bottles and 1 smaller one for water. When choosing baby bottles, make sure they are made from safe, non-toxic materials.
• Story books – While a newborn may not be old enough to understand any of the stories, at least the baby will have some good story books when he or she is old enough to be read to. Instill the love of books to a child. Equip your gift baskets with the classics like fairy tales and Dr. Seuss books.
• Baby care stuff – items used in baby care are thoughtful items to put into your gift basket. Things like burp cloths, wipe cloths, teething rings, diapers, rash cream, booties, bibs, baby wipes, Vaseline, socks, that sort. These are usually the things a new mother and baby need but people don’t give often enough.
• A plush toy or rubber ducky – every baby shower gift basket needs a touch of a whimsical childhood. Who knows, that toy may be the baby’s favorite toy.
• A card – let the mother know your well wishes for her and the baby and send a lot of love on her way.

Line your container with paper or tissue and arrange your items. You can cover it in mesh or just simply tie a ribbon around the container and there you have it – a baby shower gift basket that’s a labor of love. I’m sure the mom-to-be will appreciate it.

Baby showers can be quaint tea parties or raucous events reminiscent of the mother-to-be’s younger days. Whichever feel your baby shower takes over, games are a great way to have everyone in attendance participate in the fun and keep the party going.

Good thing there have been a ton of baby showers in the past and many of them have documented and shared their experiences so you have a lot of sources with regards to themes, supplies, food suggestions, and of course, games. As they are done during a baby shower, these games usually involve the pregnant mother and the baby, or having anything to do with babies in general. A lot of the games could involve the men in attendance as well, as baby showers have evolved to include even the dads in the fun.

A little searching online can yield a lot of results. Best of all, these baby shower games are free and if you are on a creative streak you can even personalize it to your own tastes or even modify it as to include couples (like making it a team game of some sort) or boy-girl teams. Co-ed baby shower games make the men feel like a part of the celebration. You’ll be surprised at just how many are willing to participate in such silly games.

Here are some fun baby shower games you may want to try:

· Baby Picture Guessing Game – Have everyone to bring a baby picture of theirs, the youngest version of them that they could find and have people (they could be individuals or partner them up) guess who the person in the picture is. Of course, the owner of the picture is automatically not included for that round where his or her picture comes into play. This is fun because everybody will get to see how everyone looked when they were all so cute and tiny.

· Name as Many Baby Items as You Can – a pen and pad of paper is all you need for this game. Give the participants about a minute or so to write down as many baby items as they can. The one with the most number of items wins the prize.

· Guess Haw Many – this game has two versions. One involves passing around a jar full of safety pins and have everyone guess how many pins are there. The other one involves a large plastic container filled with diapers of the same size and have everyone guess how many diapers there are. In both cases, the person who guesses closest wins the prize.

· Pin the Sperm on the Egg – since everyone at the baby shower is an adult, why not try an adult version of the children’s party classic “Pin the Tail on the Donkey?” The principle is the same, you pin a cardboard cutout of a sperm cell to the egg which is attached to the wall. The person who places the sperm well inside the egg wins!

As baby showers take on the atmosphere only seen in children’s parties, it’s only proper that the prizes are just as fun and young. The prizes for baby shower games don’t have to be expensive or unusual. They can be in the form of candies, small notecards, pens, refrigerator magnets, you get the idea.