BABY SHOWER IDEAS:

BABY SHOWER INVITATION IDEAS:

• Roll up an invite and place inside a baby bottle and mail the bottle to each guest

• Trim card stock into the shape of a baby’s bib with the invite info on the front of bib and the top of invite, tie a pink or blue ribbon

BABY SHOWER DECORATION IDEAS:

• Hang a clothesline and hang various things with clothespins like onesies, socks, clothing, bibs, gowns – or you could cut out in block letters to spell out the babies name and hang each letter on a clothespin and hang over the table

• Have each guest come dressed in pink (if a girl) or blue (if a boy) – it looks great in pictures!

• If the guest-of-honor already has their bassinet – use that as a focal point in the shower to hold all of the guests – place in a corner of the room and hang tulle from the ceiling wit gifts flowing out of it and pm the ground around it

• Float rubber duckies in the punch bowl

• Use pictures of the pregnant mom-to-be as decoration on your main table

• Set out a meal delivery sign-up sheet for any guests that are willing to bring a meal for the new mom – be sure to ask for phone #’s and you will need to call to schedule and organize with guest-of-honor

BABY SHOWER GAME IDEAS:

• Provide baby onesies for each guest along with cardboard to slide through the middle and provide fabric paints and have each guest decorate a onesie for the baby – whoever has the most creative – wins! Mom receives the onesies once they dry

• Have a purse scavenger hunt – have a list of items (the most odd has more points awarded) and everyone can dig through their purses to see how many points they can collect

• If the guest-of-honor is a scrapbooker, have small scraps of cute paper out at your table and have everyone write advice to the mom-to-be – or if she is not into scrapbooking, buy a nice journal and have everyone write in the journal. The guest-of-honor can read each person’s advice before opening each guests’ gift

• Pass around a spool of ribbon and have the guests cut a strip by guessing the amount of ribbon that will go around the pregnant belly – the person closest wins

• Don’t say Baby! – give everyone a clothespin (or 2 or 3) and if anyone says “Baby” during the shower and someone else catches them, then they have to give their clothespin to the person who caught them – whoever has the most pins by the end of the shower wins (Variation: Don’t cross anything on your body! – you can’t cross your arms, legs, hands or ankles and if anyone catches you, you have to give up your clothespin)

• Have each guest place a piece of paper on their heads and have each guest try to draw a picture of a baby and they have 30 seconds to do it! Whoever can draw the best baby picture wins!

• Purchase 6-8 jars of baby food and remove the labels off of each – label each jar with a # at the bottom and have a master sheet for the host to keep of each jar # and what the flavor is – have each guest try to guess by smelling each baby food jar – whoever gets the most correct wins

• Pass out blank cards to each guest with an envelope labeled 1 through …. (# of guests) and have each guest write a birthday card for the year on their envelope to the baby that is coming – the mom can keep as a keepsake and for the baby to open throughout their life

• Type out the ABC’s on a sheet of paper and have each guest write out a word that has to do with a baby and begins with that letter of the alphabet – whoever comes up with the most words within a designated time limit wins

• Play a celebrity baby name game – try to guess the baby name to the celebrity – whoever gets the most correct wins – you can find lists of celebrity baby names on numerous websites

• Split the shower up into groups and have each group write down as many songs that have the word “Baby” in it that they can

• Pass out fill-in-the-blank sheets with Baby Weight, Date of Birth, Time of Birth and Baby Length and keep until the baby’s birth and see who guessed the closest

• Tradition says the 7th gift the guest-of-honor opens is the next person to get pregnant!

• Take the babies name and type out on the top of a sheet of paper – have each guest come up with as many words as they can with the letters within the name – set a time limit

• Ask each guest to bring a baby picture of themselves, as the guests arrive, take the picture and lay out in a central location and have the guests try to guess the baby picture to the guest

• Pre-purchase the guest-of-honors thank-you cards and place the envelopes to the cards on the main table and have each guest write their name and address on each envelope and place in a basket, towards the end of the shower, have the guest-of-honor draw a name from the basket for a small door prize – after the shower, she will have all of thank you cards already addressed!

BABY SHOWER FAVOR IDEAS:

• Take a large, square cocktail napkin, fold in ½, corner to corner – then fold all 3 corners together and glue so the tips are slightly overlapping. Then use plastic pink or blue safety pins (found at your local craft store baby shower section) and hot glue to the front and it is a little diaper! You can put candies or Hershey kisses inside and give as favors

• Give out pink or blue bracelets and attach a tag on it to be a reminder to pray for the baby when the guest ever wears it

• Pass out packets of seeds like “Baby Blue Eyes”or “Baby’s Breath” with a tag attached noting that it symbolizes Life

• Wrap Hershey kisses in tulle rounds and tie off with a thank-you tag

• Give out small picture frames and print off the baby sono pic and place in each frame as a thank you

• Use empty baby food jars and fill with pink or blue m&m’s and hot glue an artificial flower to the lid

HOUSEWARMING PARTY IDEAS

HOUSEWARMING PARTY INVITATIONS:

• Create a moving box out of brown cardstock- insert white cardstock with party details and tie a little ribbon on the corner to use as a pull tab.

• Take a picture of the front of your new home and attach to folded cardstock. Have a small key embellishment tied with ribbon attached to the top inviting them to your new home.

• Moving into a new house is an exciting event. You do not need to wait for that last box to be put away or for every wall to be painted. There isn’t a time limit on when to have your housewarming party, you can have it within the first few weeks or even wait several months so that you have had time to decorate if desired.

HOUSEWARMING PARTY THEME IDEAS:

• Color theme- gifts are not always expected, but if preferred, you can let your friends and family know of certain colors that you are using throughout your home and they can bring something of that color- such as brown (rugs, towels, picture frames, etc…)

• Item theme- if you have a certain collection such as decorative plates or wineglasses, spread the word so that guests can bring one item from the theme you have chosen.

• Open house style- guests can drop by and leave whenever they need to. You can give them a tour of your new home and offer them a refreshment. This will give you the opportunity to spend short periods of time with many different guests.

• Pajama party- let your friends and family know that you welcome them to feel just as at-home in your new surroundings as you are- ask them to come dressed in their favorite pajamas.

• Wine tasting- ask your guests to bring a bottle of wine for a combination wine tasting and viewing of your new home.

• Garden party- if you are transitioning from an apartment to house, the most exciting thing to show off is your yard.

• Newly renovated- if your housewarming party is to show off new additions and renovations you have made to your home, then post before and after pictures throughout the areas that were remodeled. Then guests can really see how much it has changed.

LINGERIE SHOWER IDEAS

LINGERIE SHOWER INVITATIONS:

• Use white cardstock and cut small enough to fit into the envelope without folding. Cut out a picture of a sexy nightie or lacy underwear and use it as your pattern. Write the information on this cutout. You could add satin ribbon or a pretty lace to make it more realistic

• On a white cardstock, have shower wording as top 1/2 of invitation and bottom 1/2 put a clip art or die of a high-heeled shoe at the bottom in red or black – cut a portion of a marabou feather boa poof and add to the toe of the shoe with hot glue.

LINGERIE SHOWER DECORATIONS:

• Hang a clothes line above your table and hang cute, colorful panties from clothespins – give to the guest of honor after shower is over

• Use lots of lace for a sweet shower – use lots of feather boas for a more fun and funky shower

• Use garlands of pearls as decoration on the tables (found at local craft stores)

• Use tablecloths with a animal print for a WILD theme!

LINGERIE SHOWER GAMES/ACTIVITIES:

• Have each guest write anonymous advice for the bride-to-be on her wedding night – have her read aloud before opening each present for a good laugh

• As the bride opens each gift, have a note-taker write down some of the bride’s responses as she opens the gifts – string some of the responses together to answer the question “What will the bride say on her wedding night?”

• Instruct on your invitation for each guest to bring a super-naughty panty and $1 Lotto ticket in a paper bag. Have the bride-to-be scratch off the lotto ticket – if she wins then she does not have to show the panty but if she loses, crank the music up loud and let her strut her stuff wearing the panty (over her clothes)!!

• Have the girls come over in their pajamas and treat the whole party as a sleepover and play games like “Truth or Dare”

• Distribute a little bit of play dough to every guest and have them all take a few minutes to mold a "body part" out of the play dough – have the bride-to-be pick the best creation!

• On the invitation, ask everyone to bring an unwrapped new pair of underwear for the guest of honor and have them discreetly drop it into a bag or basket as they arrive at the shower. Play a game of Whose Panties are These? by having her guess which guest brought which panty – if she gets it right, then she gets to keep them, if she gets it wrong, then she has to try again. The bride-to-be goes home with a new panty wardrobe!

• Play a game of Pass the Teddy – have everyone sit in a circle with the music playing – everyone passes around a multi-layered wrapped “teddy” in the circle and when the music stops – that person has to unwrap a layer of paper – before the game starts, tell everyone that whoever gets to the last layer of wrap – has to model the teddy and of course NO ONE wants to do that. After the last person has the last layer or wrap – instruct them to go into the bedroom and come out to model the “teddy” which will REALLY be a teddy bear!!

LINGERIE PARTY FAVORS:

• Playgirl Magazine

• Massage Oil with custom label

• Condom lollipops

• Candles

• Scented bath oils or potpourri in a sachet bag for guests to place in their panty drawer – use a tag with a fun thank you saying (one idea – “For Your Drawers”)

• Sachet bag filled with Red Hot Candies with a tag that says “Thank you for making Susan’s honeymoon night ‘Red Hot’”

WEDDING SHOWER IDEAS

INVITATION IDEAS:

• Use a die-cut of a dress and at the waist, attach a piece of tulle or lace to extend down to the bottom of the dress – like a skirt – have shower info on back

• Use a die-cut of a high heel shoe, and use white card stock. Glue Jewels over the strap of shoe and print the invite text over the appropriate place

• Cut out a diamond ring shape out of yellow card stock, cover the diamond area with silver glitter to look like a sparkly diamond. On a 3x5 white cardstock – use a brad to attach to the side of ring (all can be purchased at your local scrapbook store)

DECORATION IDEAS:

• Decorate with pictures of the bride-and-groom to be around the main shower area

• Use small frames as decorations and instead of pictures put in love quotes or sayings – the bride can take them home after the shower

• Stack gift boxes (largest on bottom and smaller going up) to look like a wedding cake in various places of your shower

• Use recipe cards as place cards

• Use cookie cutters as napkin holders

GAME IDEAS:

• Each guest receives a clothespin when they arrive, as the party is going, no one can cross their legs (or cross anything else on their body) and if anyone catches them, they can take their clothespin. Whoever has the most pins by the end of the party – wins!

• Include with your invitation – recipe cards and have each guest write their favorite recipe to give to the bride-to-be at the shower (variation – have each guest bring their recipe card with a “Recipe for a Happy Marriage” advice)

• Separate the group into teams and one person from each team has to be the bride and the others within the team wrap the bride with toilet paper by designing a wedding gown for her on her wedding day – whoever has most creative – wins!

• at the beginning of shower, place out all of the ingredients to bake a cake with along with a few extra ingredients to confuse things (ie baking soda, oils, spices) and have the bride put the necessary ingredients together to bake a cake with (she has to do from memory) and then bake during the party – once ready, take out to see how the bride did – she has to taste it!

• Type out 12-15 questions about the bride, groom or wedding out on sheets of paper and pass out 1 per guest – have each guest write the answers and after everyone is finished, have the bride-to-be say the correct answers and see who gets the most correct answers right

• Have the bride leave the room, then pass out questions regarding the brides’ hair, clothes, shoes, jewelry, eyes, etc. and have the guests answer each question – then have the bride come into the room so the guests can determine how many questions they answered correctly

• Get around a dozen different spices, and cover the outside of the container with paper and number it 1-12 – pass around each spice and have each guest write down the guess for for each spice – then announce the answers to see who received the most correct

• Before the shower, ask the groom 12-15 questions about the couple’s relationship such as “what date was your first date” and “how many kids do you want” etc. Then at the shower, ask the bride each question and each question she gets wrong, she has to chew a piece of bubblegum – possibly getting up to 15 pieces in her mouth!

• Have thank you cards out at the shower and have all of the guests write their address on the envelope, then have let the bride draw from the names for a special door prize, then the bride gets to take home all thank you cards – and her cards will be addressed for her!

THEMED SHOWER IDEAS:

• Couples Shower – very laid back – just a fun get-together

• Lingerie Shower – (see lingerie shower ideas)

• Wine Tasting Shower – have crackers and cheese and have the guests bring wine for the bride and groom

• Brunch – something more intimate with your closest friends

• Holiday Shower – have the guests bring something that has to do with any holiday (Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentines, etc.)

• Around the Clock Shower – when you send out the invitations, assign each guest a ‘time of day’ and have each guest bring a gift that would correlate with that time of day like 6:00 pm – might be pots and pans or dinnerware, etc. Garden Shower – decorate and have guests bring gifts for outside gardening

• Dessert Shower – great couples shower idea – have lots of candlelight and soft music

• Christmas Shower – have each guest bring an ornament for the bride and groom’s first Christmas that reminds you of them

FAVOR IDEAS:

• Bud vase with rose or daisy

• Heart shape cookie cutters in red sachet bags

• Tulle round filled with mints with tag that reads "Mint To Be" with date of wedding printed on tag

• Chocolate bar with custom printed wrap

• Wedding cake shaped frosted cookies

• Sachet bags for a lingerie drawer with tags "For Your 'Drawers'"

• Recipe cards

• Miniature bottle of champagne with ribbon tied around it with a tag or poem attached

• Wrap candy or individual spice packets with tulle at the end of a wooden spoon, tie a bow just above the spoon with coordinating colored ribbon