PARENTING ARTICLES & TIPS

Baby Shower Ideas

If you're planning a baby shower, try to come with some unique baby shower ideas, instead of sticking with traditional ones ...

I'm the first to admit that I absolutely do not look forward to attending baby showers, bridal showers or any sort of party that even remotely resembles those ideas. Everyone does the same things over and over again. I hate having to introduce myself and tell everyone how I know the bride-to-be or mother-to-be. I don't enjoy playing the silly games and smelling baby food to guess what it is. To me, that's just very strange. But, it is tradition and those are the majority of the baby shower ideas that circulate.

I have done plenty of research in trying to come up with new baby shower ideas that fight the traditional silly ones, but haven't had too much luck. As I said, most baby shower ideas that I've found are simply boring and tacky.

When my friends threw me a baby shower, they had a few unique baby shower ideas that I enjoyed. However, there were also games that I could have done without. It was a surprise shower, at my house - which I was less than thrilled about. I had known that it would be a girl, so everything was pink. My best friend had found some baby shower ideas that she liked and ran with them. She did the normal toilet paper around my belly, which I was embarrassed about, and the clothespins that each person got when they arrived. They'd lose their clothespins if they said the word "baby".

That actually ended up being a game that we had some fun playing. However, I threw a baby shower for my best friend a few months ago. I tried to desperately come up with some baby shower ideas that were unique and catered to her. She did not know what the baby's sex was, so it wasn't easy to pick a theme. However, one of the baby shower ideas that I implemented was a 'time of day' theme. Each invitation I sent out had a specific time of the day written on it. Whatever time of the day that was, the guest was to cater to that time.

Whether it be the morning and playtime attire or evening bath attire, everyone had their own time period that they were responsible for. In my search for finding baby shower ideas, I had found a suggestion for a time capsule. I turned that into making a memory box for the baby. I enclosed an index card for all of the guests with instructions on bringing something that is relevant to the year that the baby is due. It could be a coin with the year, a newspaper article, current music - anything that would be representative of the birth year. It is one of the baby shower ideas that doesn't cost anything - just requires creativity. Some of the other baby shower ideas that I came upon suggested having everyone bring a picture of the mom-to-be that they didn't mind not getting returned. I took all of those photos and made a collage of them at the shower. The mom-to-be loved it. If you're planning a shower, try to come up with some unique baby shower ideas. Don't just stick to tradition.

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