Baby Freebies

Baby showers are joyful get-togethers usually consisting of 4 main activities : socializing, eating, playing games and the best one of all, opening all those baby gifts! Planning a baby shower is an important part of creating a fun event for the new mother and other guests.

Lasting roughly two to three hours, it’s often a good idea for the host to outline a schedule of baby shower activities beforehand so the pace of the party remains steady.

Baby Shower Schedule: The start of the baby shower is a good time for socialization.  The majority of the guests will want to greet one another and talk with the mother-to-be to discover the small print of her pregnancy.  

Food is always anticipated at a baby shower and it need not be complicated.  It’s just got to be prepared ahead of time.  Finger foods are simplest and guests can eat throughout the entire length of the shower, with a special time, usually towards the end, devoted to eating the cake.

Perhaps the most popular activity in most baby showers is the game time. Baby shower games are fun and there’s no end to the game options, either.  Practically any game can be remodeled to make it acceptable for a baby shower.

With a fun group, plan on playing several different baby games.  Just be sure to decide on the games about 3 weeks prior to the shower so you know what games that may be played as the host will have to make sure she has masses of game pieces and necessary supplies.  And she’ll need to get a prize to award the game winners, too!

Guessing the circumference of the expectant mother’s belly is a standard game that is’s played at most baby showers.  A simple game involves filling a baby bottle with jelly beans or q-tips and having each guest estimate how many the bottle contains.

There is also baby Bingo, baby tic-tac-toe, pin the dummy on the baby, and so many more.

If games don’t seem applicable for the group, for whatever reason, plan a group project instead.  When the project is finished, it will be given to the honored guest as a technique to remind her of this special day.

Some project ideas include scrapbooking, covering, making a video documentary, or making something like a hand-painted floor mat or wall hanging that the pregnant mum can make use of in her home.  

Making an advice book is straightforward.  Get a notebook full of blank pages and pass it around to each guest.  On a fresh page, each guest writes down a little bit of parenting recommendation and signs the page.

If you are inviting men, plan the baby shower as more of get-together, perhaps an outside BBQ.  The men can make the food and assemble the baby gifts as they’re opened while the women chill and have fun!

Saving the Best for Last: Opening the baby gifts is definitely the highlight of the baby showers (at least from the mother’s standpoint).

Be sure someone is in charge of writing down an inventory of the baby gifts and the person’s name who gave each.  Set aside the bows, too so that when it’s all finished, the guest of honor can be topped with a funny bow hat!