Thursday, February 2, 2012

Shower for Mommy-To-Be, Nickie

If you witnessed me running around like my head was cut off any day last week it's because I was preparing a baby shower for my lovely sister, Nickie. Phew! My sister has A LOT of friends. With that said, we packed them all into her house to shower her with gifts and advice for her baby boy who makes his grand entrance this March.

I have never thrown a shower before but I have learned quite a few lessons along the way. One very important lesson learned was to pick a theme and start planning EARLY. I think I was more stressed about this shower than I was for my own wedding! In the end, I hope everyone had a great time and enjoyed themselves! Below are some small details from the party. If you can't tell, I went with a train theme and was excited to design the invitations, banners, tags, and game pieces.

The Invitation
Baby Shower Banner!
Food Tags
Ducky Bath Punch & Prizes
The afternoon consisted of love, laughter, and everyone being pregnant at once (I'll get to that in just a  bit). As everyone began to settle in, mingle, and eat, I decided it was time to begin our first game. Once the room was hushed to a silence, I announced that Nickie was not the only one pregnant in the room. Once the words slipped out of my mouth and saw the look on my mother's face, I knew what everyone was thinking. But alas, the phrase was just to start the first of many games I had planned :) Everyone was going to be "pregnant" and we started a game called "My Water Broke". I passed out cups with a plastic baby inside, surrounded by frozen water. Whoever got their solid to a liquid the quickest had to yell, "My Water Broke!", resulting in a prize. I have to say, it was pretty entertaining watching everyone find a way to melt their frozen block of ice the fastest. I hate that I forgot to take photos of everyone trying to get their ice to melt, however, I was able to capture a few photos of friends and family throughout the shower!

My mom is VERY happy to be a Grandma :)
Soon-To-Be Mommy & Daddy!
Childhood friends
Family
While the race to be first to have their water break was underway, my sister began opening all of her wonderful gifts. While she opened gifts, guests got in on the action and played "Baby Bingo". For each gift my sister opened, they would cross off a gift listed on their bingo card. Whoever got 5 in a row first, won! I never thought of a tie coming up and of course there happened to be a 5 way tie! I didn't have that many prizes to give away so I threw in a little trivia question as a tiebreaker. Whoever was closest to guessing Nickie's due date, won!

Presents!
Baby Shower BINGO
Nickie racked up on the gifts! She got a TON of awesome things for the baby and probably won't have to buy clothes for the first year! Not only did she rack up on gifts but diapers as well! That's right, we had a diaper raffle! For every package of diapers you brought, your name was entered into a raffle. The lucky winner received a movie basket...something I wouldn't have minded myself!

Diapers!!!!
Diaper Raffle Winner!
Once all gifts were open, I figured I would give our guests a few more attempts to win some prizes. We played a game of "Guess Who" where you had to guess which baby picture belonged to the guest at the party. It was great to go back in time and remember those precious moments when we were all kids. I must say, we were some cute babies!

Guess Who Banner & Photos

Any guesses on who this beauty is?

We ended the shower with a little poem I stumbled upon online. Once the poem ended, a lucky lady would find the final gift give-away in their lap!

Pass the Present
1. The news is out, quick send a cable, the gift goes to the lady across the table.

2. If someone wears a dress of blue, she must take this gift from you. If blue cannot be seen, it goes to the one wearing green.

3. I will now read another verse… Please pass it to the gal with the largest purse.

4. We are getting tricky, here is a real humdinger! Pass it to the one with the most rings on her fingers.

5. Wow! What a success! Pass it to the guest with the most buttons on her dress.

6. Alas, this gift is not for you. It now goes to the one with the largest shoe.

7. Let’s get this party started girls… Pass it to the one with the cutest curls.

8. Mommy is anxious. Daddy is nervous. Now pass this to the lady who drove the furthest.

9. There won’t be time to practice, there won’t be time to rehearse. Pass this gift to the gal with the most money in her purse!

10. We hope you all are having fun. We have tried to include most everyone. From the largest purse to the largest shoe, pass this gift to the right of you.

11. We’re ending this rhyme, this is the last poem, the gift you are holding is yours to take home.
Winner of "Pass the Present"!
Ahhh, I survived throwing my first shower! It was stressful, but in the end, it was all worth the worry. I couldn't have done it without the help of my mom, sister, Michael (daddy-to-be), Jeremy (he helped an enormous amount), and all others who came to my side at the last minute. THANK YOU! The shower was a success and I hope each and every guest had a wonderful time! One more month until the baby arrives!!!!!! :D :D :D

Baby!

P.S. I made cake pops for dessert and I'm so mad I didn't take a picture of them! They were part of the reason I was stressing over this party! Oh well. I shall share a picture later this year of my precious cake pops that I make in the future.


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