WWYD Co-Ed Shower Options

JCWhitey

My good friend offered the day I got my BFP to throw me a shower.  At first I almost said "no" since she is one of my three female friends and having four of us sitting in a room just seemed depressing.  But upon hearing this my male teammates got all excited and asked if they could come, too.  H's two best friends, whom we have dubbed the baby's "Fairy Godmothers" also said they wanted to come or even plan a shower if someone wasn't already.  So I OKd the shower and the friend is doing the basic planning with a little help from me now.

So it's looking like about 20 guests between my friends and H's friends and family with only four female guests (my two friends, MIL, and SIL).  With the vast majority of the guests being male my friend is planning the shower at a Brewery and for one activity we were going to have some of the guys debate parenting and birthing styles and whether the baby should be a 49ers fan or a Packers fan (we are all a part of our college debate team so this is sort of our thing).  But beyond that we can't figure out what we can do to entertain everyone. 

So is it OK to just order a bunch of beer and hang out and talk after the debates are over?  Will people get bored if it's not super scheduled?   And do I have to open gifts in front of everyone?  I feel like this would be the most awkward part of the shower (for me personally) but I wasn't sure if this is something people look forward to and would miss if it didn't happen?  My family generally just hosts little BBQs in someone's backyard for the entire family and I've never really been to a "real" baby shower before.

1026pumpkin

Your shower sounds like a lot of fun, and I don't think you need to have it super scheduled with games.    I think people generally expect gifts to be opened, but you can get through it pretty quickly.  Maybe ask your host about playing baby bingo while you're opening gifts to make it competitive for the guys.  Basically people mark off common baby items like blankets, onesies, etc. on a bingo board.

MamaMcCleary

This...

Sounds like fun. Generally people love to see mamas reaction to the gifts. Since it is heavily guy based have your hubby and you both open gifts then it is not so uncomfortable and will help speed it up. 

EastCoastBride

Super scheduled showers are boring to me.  I don't need to be entertained w/ a bunch of games!  The showers I've had the most fun at are the ones that don't have games, "entertainment", etc. 

Opening gifts at a shower like this won't be a big deal - people will be drinking and talking during it anyhow, so "all eyes" won't be staring at you 100% of the time.

somebuddiesgettingmarried

I had a co-ed shower since I have several very close male friends and a brother. We had a blast. My DH and I opened gifts together. We had a few games available but people didn't really play too much (and we didn't fuss about it too much either)! 

IMHO, this is OUR baby and I wanted DH to be involved in the fun. He did turn a hilarious shade of purple when he opened the "My Brest Friend" breast feeding pillow, but overall, he really enjoyed himself and I was so happy to have him be part of that experience. 

9fraulein

I had 2 co-ed baby showers, it wouldn't have been as fun without the guys. It didn't seem weird at all to have guys there, I think it would have felt more weird or like a "tea party" or something without them. They get really into the games too...they tend to be super competitive so it makes it fun.

How about having games that are not traditionally baby shower games? We play these Minute to Win It games at work for like "team bonding" activities and they are pretty fun. It's too much hassle to get everyone to play, so we just draw numbers to get a few contestants to participate in a game and everyone else watches. Watching a couple people duke it out is more fun than actually playing the games!

https://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/how-to/ 

Also, we did open the gifts in front of everyone...my least favorite part...but everyone wants to see that you like what they brought, or they want other people to see what they bought you (especially if it's a gag gift, to be expected from male guests). But yeah, I think near the end of it my "Oh! How cute!" reaction was overplayed, so maybe practice some gift-opening reactions before hand! 

BriDaily

You could do a "How well do you know the mommy and daddy?" game to open up. Things like what are your favorite colors, where were you born, etc. can be asked. Have a prize for the person who answers the most correctly.

Sounds like a lot of fun! Really, just enjoy the time with friends and family - don't stress about it. Too many people already do that!