Went to a baby shower yesterday...

hboo2011

I'll give you the pros and cons from a guest's point of view.

Pros:

Phenomenal food. And tons of it. Appetizers, snacks, actual lunch was chicken, different types of salads, pastas, someone made a 'baby stroller' out of a watermelon. I wish I took a picture. It was adorable. And about 5 different types of desserts.

Favors were edible. Homemade cookies w/ blue frosting. As well as 'make your own bag of candy'. I think I ate all my candy on the way home!

Fairly confident she could not have to do laundry for the first 3 months of her child's life because she got sooo many clothes!

 Cons:

Way too many people for a house shower. My mom and I never got an actual head count as everyone was so spread out, but we estimated 45. There wasn't one room big enough, so everyone was separated into the family room, dining room, kitchen, back room, etc.

The MTB hung out with her friends in the back room the whole time. Didn't interact with any other guests. Granted she is only 19, so she may not know the proper etiquette of socializing during showers, but the only time the front room guests saw her was when she came in to open gifts.

We played... wait for it... the 'guess which candy bar is melted in the diaper' game. AWFUL. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD OR WHATEVER YOU BELIEVE IN, DO NOT allow your hosts to play this kind of game. Guests were complaining. (maybe they were only complaining b/c the host nor MTB was in the room we were in, but the 12 women that were in the front room w/ me were absolutely disgusted and voiced it.

Gift opening didn't start until 2.5 hours INTO the shower. Started at 1pm, she didn't open gifts until 3:30pm. Again, as we were kinda in a room by ourselves, by 2:30 we were all kinda wondering out loud 'is she even opening gifts?'. A bunch of people had already left by 3:30, so when she was opening and reading who they were from, it was very noticeable how many guests had already left.

 

Overall... Serve good food. Don't invite everyone you know to a house shower. Mingle with all of your guests. Open gifts AS people are doing something else. (many women are capable of eating and watching at the same time!) Do NOT play the diaper game.

That's all...

 

 

CraftyKayla

I would have pigged out, got my candy, and left lol. I never understand why anyone would want to play those kind of baby shower games. I don't think anybody likes them!!

blp0118

Love it, thanks for the review! Good to know!

I'm glad my hostesses are doing a great job planning already and it sounds like so far so good!

hboo2011

CraftyKayla:

I would have pigged out, got my candy, and left lol. I never understand why anyone would want to play those kind of baby shower games. I don't think anybody likes them!!

 

My dad actually dropped us off b/c his friend lives nearby and they went to go golf 9 holes. We anticipated him picking us up around 3,3:30 latest, but they were overbooked so he didn't come get us until 4:30! Otherwise, yes, we would have left by 3. Two hours is a good amount of time to spend at a baby shower when you only know a half a dozen people.

sjgurl784

Yikes.  If someone throws me a shower, I kind of hope there aren't any games.  I know in our crowd it'd just be awkward and people would definitely be grossed out with the diaper one.  Ewww.

Honestly, I'm surprised the MTB's mom or older relative didn't pull her by her ear out of that back room, lol.  My grandma wouldn't stand for that! 

mizjodi

Oh, I HATE that game! A few years ago I was at my cousin's shower, and I used the excuse of needing to walk my nephew not to play.

Some gf's of mine are insisting on also throwing us a shower, and she brought that game up and I said NO!!!! Told them exactly what I feel about that game!

jessican08

I'm leaving the shower planning to my friends who offered to throw one for me but the diaper game is the ONE THING I told them they'd better NOT do...lol. That's such a disgusting game.

PolishWonder

sjgurl784:

Yikes.  If someone throws me a shower, I kind of hope there aren't any games.  I know in our crowd it'd just be awkward and people would definitely be grossed out with the diaper one.  Ewww.

Honestly, I'm surprised the MTB's mom or older relative didn't pull her by her ear out of that back room, lol.  My grandma wouldn't stand for that! 

This!

Also, the only shower game I like is the bingo one where you fill in what gifts the MTB might receive. My friends get SUPER competitive!

crushinit

I won't lie . . . I don't hate the diaper poop game.

I didn't have it at my showers but don't hate to play it. I love candy bars so I'm pretty good at the game.

I do agree that good food is the best at showers.

I also second the baby gift bingo game. I'm doing it at the shower I'm throwing for my sister. My family doesn't really "like" shower games so I figure this one counts as a game and keeps people interested in the gift opening.

Myreppboys

You poor thing!!!

My mother in law is throwing my shower in July and she just asked me last night if we wanted to play games, and I said NO!! I also said lets get someone to cater and only have this shower for about 2 hours so everyone could still enjoy their Saturday. She totally agreed I didn't want to sound picky or like I was demanding certain things but I didn't want the above to happen. 

alikat07

Sounds like that wasn't the best shower - I completely agree with your assessments.  I only invited people as spaced allowed, I opened my gifts when everyone was eating cake and the only game we played was a little quiz about H and I as babies and predictions about the coming baby.

missypups33

I have never heard of the diaper game! I have beent to my share of baby showers, but never seen that one. I am pretty sure I will not be having that one at my shower.

Mrs. Rohde

That game is so stupid. I don't really like very many games, to be honest and it's not very fun to be at a shower where the MTB isn't even mingling. That's so rude! Maybe it was her age but I would still expect an adult to show a bit of maturity and etiquette. It's annoying to me when very young girls get knocked up then expect gifts for it-I have been invited to several of those showers and decline to go because I don't want to reward their irresponsible behavior.