Parenting & New Baby Advice Blog

Archive for June, 2010

When a baby girl is on the way, it's fun to give the new mother frilly outfits to dress baby in!  It is also a great idea to provide bibs so mom can keep these beautiful new clothes clean during feedings.  Baby Gifts & Gift Baskets can help with both gift choices, we carry a wide selection of baby bibs, many of which can be personalized.

If you would like to help decorate baby's room, you'll find an entire line of personalized baby furniture on our website.  We offer dozens of hand painted design options including our bright and colorful blooms and butterflies.  When my first son was born, my best friend gave him a piggy bank that still sits on top of his dresser.  You can purchase personalized piggy banks that come in all shapes and sizes, including a cash box, dinosaur, and blooming flower as shown here .

Other useful blooming flower baby gifts include a flower-themed diaper bag filled with diapers, wipes and diaper rash cream.  Many new mothers appreciate a gift to pamper her, so consider floral-scented bath oils, hand lotion or aromatherapy candles.  Although not necessarily tied into the blooming flower theme, gift cards for local restaurants are a lifesaver when a new baby takes up much of mom's time, and gift certificates for a cleaning service are highly prized by new parents.

Related Articles:

• Handmade Baby Gift Ideas
• Top 10 Personalized Baby Gifts

I may be corny, but my favorite part of a baby shower is game time!  Maybe it's my competitive nature, or my love of winning prizes, but in any case I'm always first in line for game time.  Over the years I've played some fun baby shower games and even been inspired to create a few.  The ones listed below work perfectly for a flower-themed shower:

Flower Word Scramble - Scramble up the letters to popular flower names and have guests arrange them in the proper order.  The first one done (or the one with the most correct answers) wins a prize.  Excellent flower names for this game are gladiolus, daffodil and delphinium, but you'll also want to include a few easier names like rose, daisy and tulip.

Guess That Flower - Visit a flower store or farmer's market prior to the shower and gather a number of blooms.  Make sure you know the name of each flower, and put each flower in a different vase (baby bottles work well for vases in this case).  Number each flower and have guests write down the name - the person with the most correct answers wins.  A great prize for this game is to gather all of the flowers into a beautiful arrangement and present it to the winner.

How Many Petals - As mentioned in my previous post, ask your shower guests to estimate how many petals are contained in a certain bloom (daisies are perfect for this game).  Let mom pull the flower apart and the person with the closest estimate wins!  Present her with a floral-scented candle, bubble bath or hand lotion.

Flower Colors - Announce certain flower names and have each guest (including the mother-to-be) write down the first color that comes to mind (like red roses, white baby's breath, yellow daisy, purple iris, etc).  See which guest has the highest number of matches to the new mom and reward that person with a suitable prize.

X Marks The Spot - Purchase personalized blooming lemonade packets and mark one of these packets with an X on the back.  Place the packets in a basket and make sure your guests select one (or two) as a take-home favor.  Before the shower ends, ask your guests to check the back of their packets, the person who holds the marked packet wins a prize!

Related Articles:

• Five Cheap Baby Shower Games
• Baby Shower Theme Ideas

Perfect for an outdoor or springtime party, your Blooming Flower Baby Shower can be a fun way to introduce the new baby girl to her new friends and family!  With a few simple and colorful decorations, exciting baby shower games and cute take-home baby shower favors, your guests - and especially the guest of honor - will have a great time.

Introduce shower guests to the theme with your blooming invitations.  Purchase themed invitations online or create your own by cutting daisy shapes out of construction paper.  Write shower information such as when, where and what time on each petal, then put the star of the show in the center of the bloom!  If your flowers are too large to fit in a standard envelope, fold the petals toward the center so your guests can watch the details "bloom" as they unfold the invitation.

Decorate your shower tables with large bouquets of colorful daisies.  Use these bouquets for a shower game where you ask guests to count the flowers in each bouquet or count the number of petals on a certain flower.  Sprinkle flower petals across a plain white tablecloth or use a different colored cloth for each table for a bright and cheery presentation.

When guests arrive at the shower, greet them with a large flower-shaped sign announcing "Welcome to (the new mother)'s Blooming Baby Shower".  Make sure to have a corsage for the guest of honor and a refreshing beverage for her to relax with.  I recommend lemonade or a light fruit punch to keep with the theme.

Daisy cupcakes are a tasty and relatively easy dessert option for this type of shower theme.  Either decorate individual cupcakes with daisy designs or frost them in different colors and arrange in the shape of a flower.  I saw a really unique dessert idea at kraftfoods.com (see photo on right) and you could easily put your own unique spin on it.

As guests are getting ready to leave, bring out a basket of blooming shower favors so they will each have a memory of the special day.  Help mom pack up all of her baby gifts and send her home with a beautiful flower bouquet to keep her special theme alive as long as possible!

More Baby Shower Theme Ideas:

• Top 5 Baby Girl Shower Themes
• Top 5 Baby Boy Shower Themes