With Tiny Hands
With tiny hands and tiny feet
I hope that very soon we'll meet.
I hope that you will stay a while
And make my mommy (and daddy) smile.
And although I can't be there today
There's something that I'd like to say,
Thank you for your gifts and wishes
And please help mommy with the dishes.
Love from Baby.

Baby Shower Favor Ideas

* Small potted plants make lovely favors.
If you have plants of your own a good value alternative to purchasing them, is to take cuttings and plant in small pots; tie a ribbon around the pots in a color that coordinates with the baby shower colors or theme.

Or cut felt into triangles; put these around the little pots then fold up the bottom corner, then the other two corners to make a diaper. Secure with a diaper pin. The felt could be white or this too could coordinate with the baby shower colors.

* Candy, Jordan almonds or Hershey kisses, in tulle, favor boxes, or cellophane bags tied with a bow, and personalized with a little baby related charm, wrapped candy bars and chocolate lollipops are always popular choices.

* Homemade cookies are a nice idea, there are lots of cookie cutter shapes to choose from, a teddy, ducky or bunny would be cute; small currants could be used for the eyes. Or cut the biscuits into rounds and decorate with icing to resemble a baby’s ball.

* Small soaps are available in lots of sweet shapes. Try to find a shape that is appropriate for a baby shower. A soap could then be presented in a cellophane bag and tied with ribbon or raffia.

* Seeds are a favor that your guests will get a lot of pleasure from. Perhaps something with baby in the name.

* Making your own potpourri sachets is easy, they make an excellent affordable favor that your guests will adore and can then use to give their linen or clothes a delicate scent; just purchase some pretty colored sachet bags, and half to two-thirds fill with potpourri.

Add a baby charm, or choose sachets bags, bows or ribbons that match your theme.

* Candles wrapped in tulle, or simply tied with ribbons that coordinate with the baby shower colors, are not only pretty but practical too.

Baby Shower Centerpiece Ideas

* Position and fix a piece of florist’s foam (oasis) in a basket. There are many shapes and sizes of basket available, so you’ll be sure to find something you like. Into this arrange fresh flowers, these could include baby’s breath, foliage and carnations, or any seasonal flower. Colors could coordinate with the theme of the baby shower.

* A basket lined with a receiving blanket and filled with baby items will make a nice centerpiece. Some of the following items could be included - baby lotion, baby shampoo, baby powder, teething ring, rattle, bib, washcloth, little socks or booties and a rubber ducky or soft toy, with helium balloons attached to the handle(s). Or the basket could be wrapped in cellophane, with a pretty bow

* A cute centerpiece can be made by putting some glass pebbles in the bottom of a clear glass bowl. Then two-thirds fill the bowl with water. Instead of floating candles have floating rubber duckies. You could have all small rubber duckies or a mommy (and daddy) and baby duckies.

* If the mom-to-be is expecting twins Noah’s ark is a popular choice for a baby shower theme or centerpiece. For a fun and simple centerpiece attach helium balloons to 2 soft toy animals, such as 2 teddies, 2 elephants or 2 rubber duckies.

Shower Games

Get them to unscramble as many words as they can, writing the correct answer in the adjacent space, in a set amount of time say five or ten minutes.

The guest who gets the most answers correct is the winner.
Most of the scrambled words are fairly easy to solve, but if everyone is having trouble with any of them, them give them a clue to the answer.

Baby Word Scramble Answers

1 Bottle____________tebolt

2 Motherhood____________rodeomothh

3 Feeding____________gefined

4 Formula____________oralfum

5 Layette____________teatley

6 Baby Walker____________abby kwaler

7 Booties____________toobies

8 Onesies____________osneesi

9 Milk____________kilm

10 Baby Bath____________abby bhat

11 Teether____________herette

12 Diaper____________paired

13 Baby Buggy____________abby gugby

14 Cradle____________dacler

15 Rubber Ducky____________ubberr yuckd

16 Stroller____________rollters

17 Bassinet____________sinbates

18 Mommy____________yommm

19 Nursery Rhyme____________unserry hemry

20 Teddy Bear____________tyded reab

21 Pacifier____________recipiaf

22 Shower Games____________howser mages

23 Playpen____________paynpel

24 Doll____________ldol

Before the game starts Put 15 to 20 small items associated with babies on a tray. These should be items such as a bottle, pacifier, baby sock, safety pin, baby's brush, baby oil etc.
Give each of your guests a piece of paper and a pencil to write down their answers.

To start the game bring the tray into the room and place it where all the guests can see it but tell them not to touch, leave the tray in that position for one minute and tell the guests to memorize the items that are on the tray, then remove the tray from the room and give the guests five minutes to write down on pieces of paper what all the items were. The guest who gets the most items correct is the winner.

The Cotton Ball Game

With this game you will need two large bowls, one of which should be filled with cotton balls plus a large kitchen spoon and a cloth to use as a blindfold.
Each guest in turn competes in this game. Blindfold the guest and give one minute to transfer as many cotton balls from one bowl to the other just using the kitchen spoon.
Make a note of how many of the cotton balls each guest can transfer in exactly one minute. The guest who transfers the most cotton balls is the winner.
Due to the fact that the spoon is quite heavy and the cotton balls are quite light it is very difficult for the guests to tell whilst blindfolded whether they have anything in the spoon, consequently they will spend most of their time transferring an empty spoon. This is very amusing for the other guests to watch.

The Rice and Safety Pins game

Take a large bowl and half fill it with dry rice, then take a pack of small gold colored diaper pins and mix them in with the rice.
Then each guest in turn whilst blindfolded has to find as many diaper pins as they can in one minute. Make a note of how many safety pins each guest finds.
The guest who can find the most diaper pins in one minute is the winner. This is a harder game to achieve then you may think as the safety pins feel very similar to the rice when blindfolded.
Be sure to replace all the pins in the bowl of rice before each guest takes part.

Guess the Baby

In your invitation ask each guest to bring with them to the shower a picture of themselves as a baby. It may be a good idea to give the guests a reminder before the shower to bring the photo with them as without the photo they can't be involved in the game.
Take the picture from each guest as they arrive and lightly pencil on the back a number, being careful not to damage the photo and make a list so you can tell later which photograph corresponds with each guest.
To play the game itself give each guest a piece of paper and pencil, show all the guests a photograph and tell them the number then tell them to write down whose photograph they think it is.
Then do the same with the next photograph.
If there are a lot of baby shower guests it may be necessary to pass the photographs around as they may not be able to see the photograph clearly.
The guest who identifies the most photographs is the winner.

Mommy's Tummy Girth Game

Give each shower guest a length of ribbon say four feet long and ask them to tie a knot in the ribbon to guess how large mommy's tummy is.
The ribbon is then wrapped around the mommy's tummy to check the length chosen, the nearest guess wins.
As an alternative to using ribbon you can use string or wool or people can tear off a length of toilet roll.
You should of course ask the mommy when you are planning the shower if she will be happy playing this game.

Don't Say 'Baby' Game

Give each guest a clothes pin (or possibly a diaper pin) when they arrive at the baby shower and ask them to pin the clothes pin to their clothing either on their shirt or hem of their skirt.
The object of the game is not to say 'baby'. If a guest hears another guest say the word baby then they can claim their clothes pin.
The guest who collects the most clothes pins is the winner.
Set a time limit of half an hour for this game so that people can relax after that.
This game is a very good way to get baby shower guests who do not know each other or do not know each other very well to chat.

Another variation on this game is for guests not to be allowed to cross their legs or ankles for half an hour. If a shower guest sees another guest crossing their legs or ankles then they can claim their clothes pin. The guest who has claimed the most clothes pins in half an hour wins the game.

Get approximately ten jars of baby food and remove the labels, as you remove each label number the jar and make a list of the contents of that jar number. To play the game each guest has to guess what is in each jar by looking at the jar.
By keeping the jar closed the baby food can be kept and used by the mother at a later date.

A variation on this can be by allowing the guests to open the jar and smell the contents or you can put the contents on paper plates and give them a spoon so they can actually taste the baby food.
This can be great fun as baby food is not usually to the liking of adults and it can be very amusing to see the expressions on the guests faces

Information About The Mommy

Ask the mommy's mommy or husband or close friend or you could ask the mommy herself to give you a total of twenty interesting pieces of information about the mommy, such things as what were her favorite toy, as a baby and a child ? Which school did she attend? Any unusual pets she might have had. What is, currently, her favorite TV program ? What is her favorite film ? etc.
Use these answers to hold a quiz to guess the correct answer to these questions. Ask the guests to shout out if they know or think they know what the correct answer is.
Facts about the mommy when she was a baby could be interesting and fun

Baby Sketch Game

Give each guest a paper plate and a pen or pencil and tell them to draw a picture of a baby and they have 30 seconds to finish the drawing. However instead of doing the drawing with the plate in front of them, they have to hold it on top of their head, whilst they are drawing.
The mommy judges which picture is the best and which is the funniest, with some prompting and advice from the audience in general.

The Price is Right shower game

Get 10 to 20 items relating to babies and list exactly how much each item cost.
Show all of the guests one of these items, and ask them one at a time what they think each item cost and to also write down the cost so that this can be remembered.
Repeat this process with each item. The guest who guesses the most and closest price to the right price wins the game.
Examples of items:
Baby food,
Baby Toy,
Rattle,
Diapers,
Baby's bottle,
Diaper pins,
Bib,
Teether,
and so on.
It would help the guests to figure out the price if you could tell the guests which store each item was bought from.

Make a Diaper Cake

Ingredients
Disposable newborn diapers
Rubber bands or yarn
An empty paper towel roll (you’ll only need the tube) or a tall baby’s bottle
Lots of ribbon (narrow and wide)
Little baby items eg. pacifier, rattle, hair brush, bib, teething ring, little socks or booties
A small soft toy, rubber ducky or a baby’s bottle to top the cake, or something of your choice
A large cardboard disc covered in aluminum foil or baby gift wrapping paper, or a cake board or suitable tray.
A spoonful of patience or possibly an extra pair of hands

Begin by rolling as many diapers as you think you may need and securing with a rubber band, narrow ribbon or yarn. You can always roll and secure a few more if you find you haven’t done enough. Then stand the diapers vertically around the base of the paper towel tube.

Hold in place by tying a length of narrow ribbon or yarn around them. Around this first circle of diapers stand a second row of rolled and secured diapers, and hold these in place as before.

Repeat this process until this cake layer, or tier, is the size you would like, firmly securing around each row. So that in effect you have circles within circles.

For the second tier, starting next to the paper towel tube and on top of the first tier, stand more secured and rolled diapers, securing the completed circle as before.

Continue as for the first tier, securing around each complete circle of diapers with ribbon or yarn until the second tier is completed, this should be smaller than the first tier.

Repeat this process for the third tier, making this layer smaller than the previous two layers. Then wrap a length of wider ribbon around each completed tier.

This will not only help to keep the layers in place but will also hide any rubber bands, or yarn that you may have used in securing the diapers.

To decorate the cake tuck little baby items into the wide ribbon, and top the cake with something suggested in the ingredients or with something of your choice.
note: You may find it easier to secure the paper towel tube onto the middle of the cake base first, and work upwards. This will also help as a guide to the size of the first tier.

How to Make a Diaper Cake Type 'B'

Ingredients
Disposable newborn diapers
An empty paper towel roll (you’ll only need the tube) or a tall baby’s bottle
Rubber bands or yarn
Little baby items eg. pacifier, rattle, hair brush, bib, teething ring, little socks or booties
A small soft toy, rubber ducky or a baby’s bottle to top the cake, or something of your choice
Lots of ribbon (narrow and wide)
A large cardboard disc covered in aluminum foil or baby gift wrapping paper, or a cake board or suitable tray.
A few drops of patience or possibly an extra pair of hands

How to Bake the Diaper Cake

Begin by unfolding the diapers. Wrap a diaper around a paper towel tube or baby’s bottle. Secure firmly with a rubber band, yarn or ribbon. Then take a second unfolded diaper and wrap this around the first, again securing firmly. Continue to wrap the unfolded diapers around each other, securing as necessary until the first tier is the size you would like. Then tie ribbon or yarn firmly around the completed tier.

For the second tier, starting next to the paper towel tube and on top of the first tier begin as for the first tier, wrapping an unfolded diaper around the paper towel tube and building up the size of the layer by wrapping the diapers around each other.

This second tier should be smaller than the first. Repeat this process for the third tier, making this tier smaller than the previous two tiers. Then wrap a length of wider ribbon around each completed tier. This will not only help to keep the layers in place but will also hide any rubber bands, or yarn that you may have used.

Decorate

Tuck little baby items into the wide ribbon, and top the cake with something suggested in the ingredients or with something of your choice.
note: You may find it easier to secure the paper towel tube onto the middle of the cake base first, and work upwards. This will also help as a guide to the size of the first tier.

If you decide that you would sooner buy a ready-made diaper cake, then take a look at this inexpensive diaper cake