What do people like about baby showers?

At the shower for my new great niece or nephew----just did the diaper raffle.. I hate shower games so this was great.

Food and opening the presents! That is all I am there for.

Things I like about baby showers: celebrating the parents to be and their new baby!


Things I hate about baby showers: Everything else, except maybe the food and cake 

I’m going to get stuck going to one in a few weeks. I hope it’s not too bad. The only people I’ll know there are the mom to be, her mom and sister. Probably 30 people invited. Should be fuuuun. Not.

I think they’re a little more fun after the baby comes because at least that way you can see the kid. I haven’t been to one in years so I’m not sure what people do now.

Free cake.

Nothing.
lol.

Honestly, the only baby shower I’ve been to that I liked had a customize your own mimosa bar, an omelette station, a crepe station, and the most delicious catered food I’ve ever had. That’s what I want in a shower. There were no games and we ate all through the opening presents.

I liked the guess the price game.

went to one recently and groaned internally when they said "games are up next!!!".

i have to admit, one was pretty funny.... her BFF scoured the internet for pics she put on a card (almost like a bingo card) and they were lettered a A-I and everyone got one. then underneath there was a list of blanks. the pics were either women in labour OR women from porn. so you had to put an "L" or "P" beside each letter.

at first (i was there with DD who was 18 at the time) i was a little um, er, okay. AND i was sitting at the same table with mom-to-be's grandmother and her BFF. but everyone was game and it was surprisingly much harder than i would have thought. as a side question, who wears FULL FREAKING MAKEUP during labour??? apparently, some do. and as another side question, some women get REALLY sweaty and tired looking in porn. who knew?

honestly, i don't think you need games or activities if there are going to be a lot of people there! maybe some recipe cards where people can fill out the best parenting advice they ever got or heard and a box to collect them?

there were about 40 people at the shower i went to and by the time all.... the....gifts...... were opened and ooohh'd and awwww'd over - i was ready to go.

i just want to say hi to everyone i know, eat, have some yummy dessert and go. but that's me.

I want to be done in 2 hours or less.

I don't want to be asked to participate in a diaper raffle, nor to give a book instead of a card. By the time I spend the money on those 2 things, there isn't much left for the gift.

I prefer games that go on while the gifts are being opened so they don't take up time. To speed up gift opening at a couple of showers I have attended, the bride to be/mother to be did not unwrap things. She had one friend who would open the card and hand it to her, then open the gift and hand it to her, so she knew who gave it and then held it up. She then passed those items to a second friend to get them out of the way and a third friend wrote what the gift was inside the card. I thought that was a little odd at first, but it got us all out of there a lot faster.

I want to celebrate the happy couple, but I don't love showers!

LOL.  Me too.  As long as it's pretty easy going and the mom likes it, I'm fine.  Even the $200 diaper bag (but you wouldn't get it from me!)  I remember what I was like after 3+ years of infertility and $$$ all spent on just getting pregnant ($10,000 in one month, and that was 1996.)  I was just so excited to experience all aspects of the pregnancy and I know I was obnoxious with it.  So I'm happy to just go along with whatever the new mom wants.

I like to see family and friends and the cake.   And I love to oooh and awww over tiny baby socks and anything with an appliqué or embroidery on it.  I'm still in mourning for Gymboree.

I'd say the most successful shower I ever hosted was for DD's 1st grade teacher.  I got the principal in on the plan and made up a little book of helpful advice from 25 1st graders.  It was pure gold!  Evidently the 6 year old crowd strongly approves of the use of pacifiers.  I also had jars of baby food with the labels torn off.  The kids had to guess the flavors.  I had popsicle sticks for them to use and there were a lot of ewwwwws and some really funny guesses.

To not take up my entire Saturday or Sunday afternoon. No games. I like seeing photos of the parents when they were babies. I like buying a book rather than a card even though I make cards and it adds to the cost to get a book. However, if you are having this at a restaurant, there may already be other costs for the guests. Are you providing all food or are the guests having a meal as part of the event? I wouldn't participate in a raffle.

I also expect a thank you note. I know some people think this is outdated but I don't care. Showers are outdated. I often make my gifts and even if I just ordered something online, I still took the time and money to gift. If I didn't get a thank you note for the wedding gift, I won't be at the baby shower.

Food! I'm not a big fan of showers, but our kids (and most of our friend's kids) are teens/college aged, so no more baby showers for us.

No games. I had a table set up with guessing games like, how many candies in this jar, how many pounds of candy were used for the shower, etc. We ate, then unwrapped gifts and during gift openings I announced the winners of the games.

The thing the mom to be liked best was I had an empty chair next to her and as she opened gifts I had the giver sit next to her and took photos. It worked out really well and the attendees seemed to like it too. I had two copies of each printed. Then she used copies of the photos as thanks you cards by writing on the back.

I’m another who doesn’t like a diaper raffle. And please don’t do the poopy diaper game! If you must do games, keep them simple and quick and don’t make people get up in front of everyone.

I love to see all the cute baby gifts—that’s my favorite part with good food being second place.
Keep it in the short side, and start it on time! No waiting for the tardy people. I made an effort to be on time and I want to get home.  Don’t penalize me because someone couldn’t be on time. That’s their problem.