Anyone ever been to a Jack and Jill shower?

sundaerose

I am throwing my sister a baby shower in April and she insists that it be Jack and Jill. (Coed). I need some advice/insight as to how to make this a fun get-together for men and women alike. Ever been to one? What worked? What didn't?

 Also, she is not keen on the idea of them opening gifts at the party. Ever heard of this? Thoughts? I want to make her happy, but I want to make sure the guests are happy too.

 Thanks for any and all help on this.

DaniLovesPink

I don't know about the Jack & Jill thing.  But, in regards to the gifts: I personally could do without sitting around ooh-ing and ahh-ing at little clothes and blankets, car seats, etc., for an hour or more, so I think her desire to open gifts on her own is perfectly acceptable.  The only thing is, since she is not showing appreciation verbally in the presence of the gift giver, it is of even more heightened importance that she send a thank you card promptly.

robinsokj

We are having a coed shower.  There will be beer and pizza in the basement for the guys, along with cards and beer pong for when they get tired of the loud women.  To be honest, I'd rather be down there with them instead of dealing with people fussing over me. 

EastCoastBride

My take- plan on it being more of a "party" than a shower.  And yes, if her group drinks, then have alcohol.  (Seriously, by and large, men are NOT into showers).

However, the gift thing- you will still have people coming who expect a gift opening.  It doesn't have to be a big to-do, but I think she needs to open gifts. People expect this and may be a little put off if she doesn't.  Because in a way, it feels like "Hey, show up and give us a gift - but we aren't going to take the time to open it.".  Some people LIKE having their gift opened and everyone see it.

If she doesn't want to open gifts, then she shouldn'[t have a "shower". 

slukd79

While I completely understand not wanting to open gifts for all the oohh and ahhing, it really is for the gift giver.  They enjoy seeing reactions and would probably feel short changed if you did not open gifts. Just a thought!

iheartnutella

I would make it more like a party (cards / games, drinks, good food, music, etc) and still encourage them to open gifts.  But it doesn't necessarily have to be a everyone-sitting-around-watching thing, maybe it could be done while there is something else going on too, like hors d'oeurves or a card game (mom and dad to-be don't play, they open gifts during)?

sundaerose

You guys have all been so helpful. Thank you for your insight. I think you're right about opening the gifts.

SLPgirl

I am helping give one next weekend. We are having a few apps, a chili bar with fixins and a keg and wine. The shower is from 6:30pm-????. No games. The mom to be will open gifts but it is going to be kind of casual and quiet so noone feels like they HAVE to watch. I bet it will just end up being the women watching. And we are having minimal decorations (based on the color scheme of her gender neutral nursery) still pretty- but not super girly. It's just going to feel like a fun party like the pp said.

Legally Nads

I went to one and all the guys felt out of place. The games were weird for them and we only had two-- (1) diaper cake -- trying to remember everything on the cake and (2) guess how many candies in the baby bottle. 

Although one game I heard about sounds fun for guys-- who can drink a baby bottle full of beer the fastest! (its more difficult than it looks because of the slow dripping nipple).  

trennad

I had a co ed with DS and it was fun. The host did a few games just for guys and some for everyone. They had a good time and there was stuff set up for them to escape too if they wanted.

robinsokj

I wasn't really interested in games, but DH wanted them (strange, I know) so I googled coed baby shower games and came up with a few that sound like they could be interesting for our kind of crowd.  There are some that sound really fun but get messy or wet and need to be done outside and its too cold for that.  DH really wanted the game where you tie yourself to your partner then yo uhave to change a diaper while each person uses one hand, so we're having that.  There is another game that I cant remember that we are doing that the men can choose if they want to play and if not it doesnt really matter

Lauryn216

I've been to two. They were both more like grown-up parties (not beer pong college parties) with wine and beer in addition to food and non-alcoholic drinks. There weren't really 'games' just people mingling, talking, enjoying each others' company. They did open presents, but I have been to a shower where a woman opened the presents as people arrived and thanked them on the spot. They then had a place to display all of the gifts. That way she wasn't sitting there while a huge crowd watched her open a billion gifts. GL!

maureen1984

We're doing a Jack & Jill shower on the 21st. Its a night time party, 6:00-10:00, we hired a DJ, and are having a open bar and a hot buffet with things like eggplant rollatini, chicken francese, hibachi station, turkey carving table, sweet potatoes, penne ala vodka, seafood aqua pazza. We want to keep it more like a fun cocktail party mixer than a formal party. We're having small cocktail tables of 5 to 6 chairs instead of big banquet tables. We also decided not to open gifts at the shower so everyone can really enjoy the DJ.

BarbieNCSU

One of my best friends had a Jack and Jill shower and to say the least it ended up being pretty odd overall. The idea behind it was good - lots of food, beer, and wine - so it was more like a get together. However, towards the end the guys started getting really bored - not to mention there were some single guys that just looked uncomfortable. So in my opinion I would definitely try to make sure that you have something to keep everyone entertained - mainly the guys.

If the mom to be does not want to open gifts you can always make it sort of like a Bridal Tea where the gifts are opened as they are brought in and placed on a table with a card that states who the gift is from. This would eliminate the time of opening gifts in front of people, but those who are interested can still oogle over the gifts.

ShellShockedMama

I went to a few and most have sucked, lol. The men are all "WTF am I doing here" and were desperate to find other things to do, which really was drinking beer. There wasn't anything for them to do.

The only one that was marginally ok was one that was sports themed. It centered around hockey--i think. So that gave something for the men to do while the women talked about babies and dilation.

ShellShockedMama

maureen1984:

We're doing a Jack & Jill shower on the 21st. Its a night time party, 6:00-10:00, we hired a DJ, and are having a open bar and a hot buffet with things like eggplant rollatini, chicken francese, hibachi station, turkey carving table, sweet potatoes, penne ala vodka, seafood aqua pazza. We want to keep it more like a fun cocktail party mixer than a formal party. We're having small cocktail tables of 5 to 6 chairs instead of big banquet tables. We also decided not to open gifts at the shower so everyone can really enjoy the DJ.

this one sounds like fun!

usfgirl97

My sister and close friends threw a Jack and Jill party for my first. It was a backyard cookout. It was a lot of fun and everyone, including the guys had fun. The games we played included: Guess the poop (different chocolate bars melted in diapers); guess what's in the bag; and gift bingo.

The gift bingo was great because everyone got into it. It was also a great way for people to pay attention while we (my husband and I) opened the gifts.