If you're planning a baby shower for a friend or co-worker, you might be trying to stay away from some of the traditional overly cute shower games per the guest of honor's request. Or you might be looking for some ideas to add a real memory-making opportunity to the shower for everyone involved.
Either way, I suggest you check out Mothering magazine's September-October issue. It's their pregnancy edition, and it includes a neat feature full of new baby shower activities that will add to the memories and subtract from the silliness. Granted we all need a good giggle and a break from time to time, but this article offers ideas that can be both fun and comedic or serious and sentimental in nature.
For instance, they suggest creating a ceremony out of the shower, rather than just looking at it as a party where some lucky mom rips open gifts she registered for and tries to oo and ah when there are duplicates.
Ideas include:
- Providing a blank notebook for shower attendees to share their wisdom, tips, or encouragement.
- Give each guest a tapered candle. Have an older female light a large, central candle, then allow guests to light their own from the main flame and bestow a blessing upon mom and baby during the process.
- Offer guests small flowerpots and let them plant seeds, bulbs, or seedlings; when they finish, ask them to bless the new life of the plants and your little one on the way.
- Share a song (especially one in rounds) or ask attendees to share a special quote or thought with everyone.
There are plenty of other interesting ideas in the piece that will surely inspire shower planners further. Don't be afraid to take their concepts a step further. For instance, I loved the idea of asking each guest to bring some canned goods to donate to a local women's shelter. You might also consider asking for an extra baby item instead, and you can journey together to donate the contributed goods to a domestic violence shelter or crisis pregnancy center. They are always in need of things like diapers, formula, and infant clothing in good condition, and savvy shoppers will enjoy helping both the guest of honor and another woman prepare for a blessing-to-be!
If you've ever hosted a non-traditional baby shower, I'd love to know what sort of activities you enjoyed or ceremonies you performed or other guests performed in honor of you and your child. Many of these, such as sharing thoughts, blessings, prayers and wisdom, carry over to other important times in a baby's first few years. During my daughter's first birthday, guests were asked to jot a special thought or hope on a piece of acid-free paper that I then placed in her scrapbook. One close family friend arrived at the hospital when she was first born with a lengthy letter detailing all his hopes and dreams for her, and for me, her Momma. All of these special offerings will be something she can look back on and treasure as she gets older!
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