Unique Ideas for a Dreaded Baby Shower

Baby showers can be categorized so easily because it is usually the same from mother to mother: the blue or pink invitation, the shower games involving a length of rope and guessing the girth, the passing of the gifts with the group "awwwwww" at a pair of socks that will soon be covered in spit up, the 5th blanket you didn't register for. Here are some suggestions for different ideas when throwing a baby shower.

Avoid the embarrassment. The point of the shower is to comfort and encourage the new mother; it should never be used to make her feel embarrassment at her size. Many mothers do not like hearing how big they have become even though it is an obvious fact. Games where the girth of the mother is guessed by everyone in the room should not be the object of any topic. Consider the feelings of the already hormonal mother.

Help the mother-to-be. 5 practical tips.
1. Pass around a sign up sheet to guests for bringing a meal to the new family.
2. Have guests fill out their address on the mother-to-be's stationery for sending the thank you notes. Be sure to give the mother-to-be the list of gifts and givers.
3. If you give the mother-to-be words of encouragement, have the guests bring them in advance in order to have more thoughtful and artistic displays of advice to attach in a scrapbook.
4. Sometimes a mother has had several showers from different groups. Suggest a book shower so there actually are surprises when the presents are opened. There is also an option for a diaper shower with the first 3 sizes of diapers purchased. Even if the parents are using cloth diapers, disposable diapers are always useful and sometimes required when on the road or at a day care/church nursery.
5. Give the mother-to-be the option of opening the gifts after guests have left. Some people really like to see their gift opened, but could care less about the rest of the gifts being opened since they already saw it on the registry.

Remember the party. 5 fun tips.
1. There is still room for guessing games. Have guests guess the date, time born, weight, length, and gender if not yet known. Send email to all guests when baby is born to announce the birth and the winner with the most correct information guessed. A betting pool could be done here.
2. Choose food items with a stuffed theme: stuffed mushrooms, tomatoes, cupcakes, etc.
3. Have guests decorate onesies or burp cloths with craft items such as ribbon and embroidery thread, iron on designs printed before the party, fabric markers. Baby will use these items.
4. Have guests bring sentimental fabrics of theirs to create a blanket or quilt conglomerate.
5. Create an invitation using a scanned image of the most recent ultrasound. If not available, any ultrasound will do since they all look alike Type the party details around the image to look like the ultrasound details. Photoshop baby holding book, cake, or a teddy bear.