Parenting & New Baby Advice Blog

Archive for August, 2009

One of the best parts of any baby shower are the games – guests love to interact and do crazy things that they wouldn’t dream of doing in public!  Here are a couple of fun game ideas that incorporate your baby bottle shower theme at the same time:

Bottles Up:  This unique shower game will have everyone rolling with laughter!  Each guest should have their own baby bottle filled with a beverage (juice, soda, etc).  Once you say “go”, the guests need to chug their beverage as fast as they can – through the nipple!  The first one done with their drink is the winner.  You can purchase individual baby bottles from a store or order a six pack of bottles (as shown here) that are the perfect size for the bottles up game.

Baby Bottle Bowling:  Set up 10 baby bottles just like bowling pins.  Each contestant gets 2 chances to knock down all the pins.  If someone knocks down all 10 pins, they earn a “bonus” roll.  Add up the total number of pins that each contestant knocks over and the person with the highest number wins.  Make the game more challenging by filling the bottles with liquid so they won’t fall over as easily.

You can also fill up a large plastic baby bottle with jelly beans or M&M’s, then have each person guess how many are in the bottle.  The person with the closest guess wins the treat!

Decorating for your bottle-themed shower can be lots of fun!  You can find bottle-themed tableware, balloons and party favors that are both affordable and a perfect fit to your theme!

For your food table, you can purchase some inexpensive baby bottles at the nearest dollar store or discount center, then remove the nipple and fill each bottle with nuts, mints or candies so your guests can pour out as much as they want.

To decorate your guest tables, consider bottle-shaped candle favors like the ones pictured here.  You can either light the candles for some ambiance at your shower, or leave them packaged and let your guests know they can take one home.

A fun way to give motherly advice from guests who have “been there” is to create a tip jar for mom.  In this case a large plastic bottle is the perfect vessel to hold the tips.  Each guest can write their motherly advice/tip on a piece of paper and slip it into the bottle.  Then the host or guest of honor can transfer these tips into a keepsake album for future use.

A Baby Bottle theme is a great idea for your next baby shower!  Not only is it practical, but it’s also a fun way to add variety to your decorating and games.  Especially if your guest of honor is a first-time mother, bottles will be something she will quickly become accustomed to – so you may as well give her some experience with them.

Starting with the invitations and finishing with your dessert, it’s easy to incorporate bottles into every aspect of your shower.  Cut homemade invitations into the shape of a baby bottle before mailing; or roll up your invitations, stuff each one into a small baby bottle and hand deliver your “message in a bottle” invitations.

Bottles also make a great choice for shower favors.  The miniature baby bottle favors shown here are filled with bath salts for your guests.  You can also order bottle-shaped cookie favors for each guest to enjoy as a tasty alternative to cake, or you can present them with baby bottle cookie cutters so they can make the tasty treats at home!

Winnie The Pooh is always ready for some fun, so make him an integral part of your baby shower games! A great way to add Pooh to a game is by incorporating his favorite food – honey.  Compile a list of items that are served with honey (scones, cornbread, tea, toast), then scramble up the letters to form a “word jumble” – you can even use Pooh’s favorite saying and call it the “Rumbly in my Tumbly” game.

Another entertaining game for your guests is a Winnie the Pooh trivia game.  Ask simple questions regarding Pooh and his friends (Q: Where do Pooh and his friends live?  A: The Hundred Acre Wood), then present a classic Pooh storybook to the winner.  Or split your guests into teams of 2-3 players and have them come up with as many baby names as they can using the words Pooh, Tigger and Piglet.  This game can be made even more challenging by asking for only girl’s names or boy’s names (if the mother-to-be already knows the sex of the baby).

You can add a Winnie The Pooh influence to virtually any shower game by simply changing up a few words.  This will bring unity to your shower and add some fun to the event!

When decorating for your Winnie The Pooh baby shower, you can go with classic primary colors or more muted, pastel decorations.  Each color scheme has their own Pooh icon to match, you should be able to find a number of ready-made Pooh decorations to go along with matching streamers, balloons and tableware.

Since Winnie the Pooh’s favorite thing in the world is “hunny”, make him right at home at your shower with a personalized honey jar for each guest.  Decorate each party table with a Pooh diaper cake or Winnie the Pooh baby toys that the guest of honor can take home with her after the festivities.

With his joyful smile, cute red t-shirt and cuddly bunch of friends, it’s no wonder that Winnie The Pooh is the most popular theme for baby showers!  Perfect for boys and girls, old-fashioned or trendy parents, Pooh and his gang make a great decorating scheme for the baby’s nursery as well.  Start your Winnie the Pooh baby shower with adorable invitations – you can purchase fill-in-the-blank Pooh invitations or create your own invites using Pooh stickers, stamps or  embellishments such as medallions, buttons and ribbon.

When selecting your Winnie The Pooh theme, keep in mind that there are a few versions of Pooh and his friends available for decorating – there is the most common grown-up Pooh and friends, a newer, trendy baby Pooh with his pals, or a retro, more old-fashioned style of Pooh.  You can mix and match Pooh designs, but most shower hostesses will choose one style and stick with it.  If your mother-to-be has decided to use a Winnie the Pooh theme in her nursery, be sure to include that information on the invitation.

When entertaining guests at your “It’s A Boy” shower, keep the games simple and focus on the guest of honor!  A fun way to do this is to have her leave the room, then come back into the room with a tray full of odds and ends (kitchen gadgets, baby-related items such as pacifiers, a diaper, onesie, lotion).  She can parade around the room for a few minutes, and then must leave.  Ask your guests questions about mom or what she was carrying on the tray – such as “Was she wearing shoes?”, “How many rings did she have on?”, “Was there a can opener on the tray”, etc.  The person who gets the most answers right wins a prize – great prize ideas are lotions, candles or restaurant gift certificates.  Other fun baby shower games include Baby Bingo, Baby Word Scramble, and Guess the Baby – where each guest brings a photo of themselves as a baby and others have to guess who it is.

When sending invitations, be sure to mention to your guests if the mother-to-be is registered at any stores such as Babies R Us, Wal-Mart or Target.  This helps guests (especially those who don’t see the mother-to-be on a regular basis) choose items that the new mom really needs.  Upon arrival at the shower, make sure guests are directed to the gift table, or have younger “helpers” in charge of bringing gifts to the table.  If faraway guests are unable to attend the event, advise them to shop online for baby boy gifts that can be shipped directly to you to hold until the shower.

When planning decorations for your “It’s A Boy” shower, it’s fun to include all shades of blue.  From tablecloths to candies to balloons and confetti, mix blue stripes with patterns and polka-dots to add variety and a touch of whimsy to the event!  Fill baby boy-themed favor boxes with blue M&M’s, jelly beans or Jordan almonds and use them to tie down helium balloons.  Cover your gift table with a paper or plastic tablecloth, then lay out a marker and have guests leave words of wisdom on the table cover.

Keep your party favors tied into your theme with a practical compact mirror or personalized lip balm favor that features the image of an adorable baby boy!  Fill a fancy basket with your favors so guests can grab one on their way out, or ask the new baby’s older sibling to pass them out after all guests have arrived.  Stay true to your “It’s A Boy” theme by filling the room with blue and ordering your favors to match.

Before you know it, your friend’s home will be filled with snips and snails and puppy dog tails – items certain to indicate a little boy lives there! But before he starts chasing puppies, give him and his mother a fun-filled “It’s a Boy” baby shower.

The most obvious color choice for your shower decorating is blue – but don’t discount bright red, green or purple – primary colors make a bold statement and add a masculine feel to the shower. If you do decorate in blue, choose varying shades to add depth and variety.

When inviting guests to the shower, include details about where mom is registered so they can shop accordingly. Depending on the time of day your shower is held, you may want to serve dessert only, a light lunch or a full meal. Check with your guest of honor for any recent cravings and serve some of her favorites. You may also want to offer vegetarian choices or sugar-free desserts for guests with special dietary needs.

Pull the shower together with It’s A Boy shower games and table centerpieces. Along with the mother-to-be, honor any older siblings-to-be by giving them a special game to host, decorating a chair just for them, or having a special gift to present to them as mom opens all the baby gifts.

Baby Gifts & Gift Baskets offers a number of shower favors, personalized  baby gifts and shower centerpieces designed to complement a fun “It’s A Boy” shower – we’ll explore them in posts to follow.

Your shower date is quickly approaching, but you still haven’t decided on the menu or what to get the mother-to-be for an appropriately themed gift. Don’t worry; Baby Gifts & Gift Baskets can help with a number of gift ideas and some great pea-themed menu items!

In my last post I talked about decorating with a Diaper Cake centerpiece. Not only does it make a great centerpiece, it also doubles as a useful gift for the new mommy! She is certain to use the diapers in the cake, and you can add some personal touches by tucking rattles, spoons, pacifiers or socks in between the layers. If you know the little sweet pea is going to be a girl, our Personalized Sweet Pea Baby Basket is a darling gift that comes already wrapped! If your shower is to celebrate the arrival of twins, we offer a number of gift baskets designed with twins in mind.

I have tried and approved some tasty baby shower menu items that fit in with your peapod theme. A tasty way to start is with a fresh vegetable tray that includes snow peas and/or snap peas. My favorite vegetable dip consists of 1 cup mayonnaise, 1 cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon minced onion, 1 tablespoon dill weed and 1 tablespoon seasoned salt. Mix up the dip the night before to let the flavors blend well prior to serving. A light and delicious salad option for your shower is listed below:

Tortellini Salad with Salmon and Peas (serves 6, double or triple as necessary):

• 8 oz salmon fillet, skin removed (fresh is best)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb cheese tortellini
• 3/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup fresh or frozen (defrosted) peas
• 1/2 cup finely chopped basil leaves

1. Season salmon with salt and pepper. Grill on high or pan fry with very little oil. Cook through until the fillet easily flakes apart with a fork (12 to 15 minutes). Set aside.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook tortellini according to package directions.  Drain, run under cold water and drain again.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise and lemon juice.  Toss in tortellini and peas to coat.  Season with salt if desired.  Gently stir in salmon and basil and serve.

(Recipe courtesy of All You Magazine)

Finish your sweet pea baby shower with a themed cake or tasty cookie favors! Be sure to have enough cake for all of your guests; I’ve found that a 9×13 cake will feed approximately 15 and a 9” round is roughly half the size of a 9×13. If you are expecting 25 guests at your shower, the cake described below should be the perfect size:

Sweet Pea Baby Shower Cake

• 9×13 cake, baked and cooled
• one dozen cupcakes, baked and cooled
• frosting and food coloring

1. Frost the cake in a neutral background color.  Cover all cupcakes with dark green frosting.  If you are creative, decorate one cupcake to resemble a baby’s face (or two, if there are twins).
2. Using a decorating tip, make the outline of a peapod in green frosting on the top of the cake.  Fill in with green frosting.  Leave room for wording such as “Welcome Sweet Pea”, “Two Peas in a Pod”, etc.
3. Determine the number of cupcake “peas” you want to place on top of the cake.  Slice the tops off these cupcakes and carefully center them on top of the cake.  Include your baby face cupcake(s) in the center of the pea pod.
4. Arrange the remaining cupcakes around the cake, add vine and leaf details with decorator tips.

If your mother-to-be prefers cookies instead of cake, bake up a batch of round sugar cookies and decorate in a similar fashion. The simplest icing recipe I have found consists of powdered sugar, melted butter and milk (experiment with proportions until you have the desired amount and consistency). Use a mixer for fluffy frosting suitable for cakes, make a thinner icing using a whisk or spoon to ice your cookies. All of the recipes I have listed can be prepared in advance, so on the day of the shower you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor!