It's a Girl!

Your first granddaughter is on the way, you’d like to help your daughter out, but are not quite sure what to do. You’ve been through this yourself, after all, you had your daughter. You’re pretty much an expert, but you remember what it took to get where you are right now. The first child comes along with a whole load of learning experiences, and you don’t want to take those away from your daughter by doing too much. You’ll have to find a balance between being helpful and letting your daughter be self-reliant. Throwing a baby shower for your daughter is a great way to find that balance and be a part of this amazing experience. Following are a few ideas to make your baby shower a success.

Guess Mom’s Circumference

This game starts out with a roll of toilet paper or a skein of yarn. Toilet paper is best because it tears easily so you don’t have to use scissors. The toilet paper is passed around to all the guests, who are seated in a circle. Each guest estimates the size of the mother-to-be and tears off that length of toilet paper. When everyone has had a chance to do this, the actual size of the new mom is measured and the guest who guessed the closest wins a prize.

The Name Game

For the name game each guest is given a blank sheet of paper and a pen or pencil. They begin by writing the names of the mom and dad-to-be at the top of their paper (make sure they know how the names are spelled). Next someone starts a timer for five minutes and everyone writes down as many names as they can think of that are made up of the letters in Mom’s and Dad’s names. They may not use the letters more than once per name. You can choose if you want them to write only names for the gender of the new baby or if they can write names for both boys and girls. At the end of the five minutes, each person, in turn, reads one name from their list. As the names are read everyone crosses off names on their papers that others have. If no one else has written the name down they do not cross it off. When all the names have been read, the player with the most names left wins a prize. You can also give a prize to the person who thought of the most names initially.

Baby Items

In this game a tray has been prepared full of baby items (fifteen to twenty) such as a rattle, a diaper, a pacifier, a bottle, a bib, and anything else you’d like. The tray is displayed before the guests for a short period of time, no more than three minutes, and then it is taken out of the room. The guests then have five minutes to write down as many items as they can remember. After the five minutes are up the lists are read like they were in the name game, and prizes are awarded accordingly.

Party Favors and Decorations and Prizes

Party favors, decorations and prizes are fun to pick out and there are so many things to choose from. Flowers make great decorations, and you can make them extra special by having them embossed with sayings such as "It’s a Girl." Party favors and prizes can include a baby flower. Another idea is candy pacifiers made from two life savers and a jelly bean. One life saver is the handle, the other one the main part of the pacifier, the jelly bean is the part the baby sucks on, and you glue them together with frosting. After the frosting has dried you can tie a ribbon through the handle.

Good luck and congratulations with this new phase in your life: Grand-parenting.

Emily Lyon is a client account specialist at 10x Marketing. Get more decorating ideas as well as newborn gift ideas at Speaking Roses.