baby - 4 Simple Steps For Hosting the Perfect Baby Shower

No need to go overboard on the upcoming baby shower you are hosting! Just follow these simple steps, and you will be off and running towards baby shower success! Free Baby Shower Game Ideas: Scoop It Up! For this game, open up a bag of cotton balls and place them in a large bowl. Set an empty bowl beside it. Instruct the guests that they are to scoop as many cotton balls as possible from one to the other while blindfolded. Hand the first player a wooden spoon and blindfold them. Give them 30 seconds to scoop up as many cotton balls as possible and place them in the second bowl. This is challenging because the balls are so light that you have no idea how many cotton balls you have, if any. Count the cotton balls after each guest plays. The guest with the most wins! Fun and simple! Ice Cube Game! Buy a package of tiny plastic babies (found at craft stores) and freeze them in ice cubes. Give each guest a cup with water and an ice cube with a baby in it. The first one whose baby is 'born' wins! Don't Say Baby! The object of this game is to NOT say the word 'baby.' When guests arrive, hand everyone a clothespin or safety pin. If someone catches you saying 'baby' during the course of the shower, she gets your pin. The person with the most pins at the end of the baby shower wins a prize. When Will The Baby Come! Take a page or two from a calendar and have it enlarged on a copy machine (at your local copy shop). Pin the page(s) up on the wall at the baby shower and have guests sign their name on the date they think the baby will be born along with what time he/she will be born. You can either have each guest pay a dollar to place a bet and give the winner the money, or you can have everyone play for free and the winner gets a prize. The prize will have to be given after the shower so you might want to get phone numbers to call the winner. Baby Shower Decoration Ideas: For a great baby shower decoration idea, and to avoid having to pass all of the presents around the room: hang a clothesline (heavy yarn or string) across the room and put clothespins on it, every time the mom-to-be opens a cute outfit, receiving blanket, socks, or a bib, hang it up on the clothesline, so everyone can see it. Very cute! Sprinkle baby-themed confetti all around countertops and tables Fill empty baby food jars with jelly beans and top with a t-lite candle Decorate tables with baby bottle vases! Fill baby bottles with water and put daisies in them! Use teething rings and baby key rings as napkin rings For a baby shower centerpiece, fill a baby bath or mini red wagon with tons of baby good! Socks, onesies, bibs, stuffed animals, you get the idea...then give it to the mom-to-be as your gift to her! Baby Shower Cake/Invitation Wording Ideas: Oh Baby! Happy Labor Day! True Blue! A Giggle, A Curl, A Sweet Little Girl! Baby Shower Punch Recipes: Serve some festive baby shower punch and float cute little rubber duckies in them! Be sure tto make blue punch for a boy and pink for a girl! Blue Baby Shower Punch Recipe: 1 package blue, berry flavored unsweetened drink mix 1 (2 liter) bottle lemon-lime flavored soda 1 (64 fluid ounce) bottle white cranberry juice 8 scoops vanilla ice cream 1 cup white sugar, or to taste In a large punch bowl, stir together the drink mix, lemon-lime soda, and white cranberry juice. Taste, and stir in sugar to your liking. (I like to add the whole cup.) Float scoops of ice cream on the top. The ice cream melts somewhat and turns the punch a beautiful baby blue color with frothy white clouds floating on the top. Perfect Pink Baby Shower Punch: 1/2 cup fine granulated sugar 1/2 cup lemon juice 1 pint raspberry sherbet 1 cup orange juice 2 cups cranberry juice cocktail 28 ounces ginger ale, chilled Combine the first four ingredients in a punch bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved. Spoon in sherbet. Pour ginger ale over all. Serve some simple baby shower snacks such as croissants with ham and cheese, a veggie platter, some strawberries and a bowl of mixed nuts. Now that you're all set, remember to relax and have fun! This baby shower is going to be a blast! Amy Cordray runs a website full of cute baby shower ideas! She lives in WA state with her husband and 2 little girls. Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Cordray baby - Celebrity Baby Names: What's In A Name? What is it with celebrities and what they name their babies? Decades ago we had Frank Zappa, who named two of his kids Moon Unit and Dweezil - but we sort of expect that from a rock star, don't we? To top it off, he named his other two kids Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva - so at least in that family they all have rather unique names. I admit that I thought it was pretty cool when Demi and Bruce named one of their daughters Scout, in honor of the young heroine from "To Kill A Mockingbird" - but then they went and named the other two Rumor and Tallulah Belle. Not sure why they did that - thankfully they seem like nice, normal kids. No need to discuss what Michael Jackson named his children - that's the least of his, or their worries, frankly. I had a cat named Coco when I was a child, and now David and Courtney Cox Arquette have a daughter named Coco. And how about Apple for a name? Seriously, why would an Academy Award winning actress name her child Apple? Will Gwenyth name the one she's expecting this spring Banana? Or maybe go with something from the vegetable family? Don't get me wrong - I think trying to find a unique name for your child is wonderful. There are more than enough Bob's in the world right now (my husband being one of them). But aren't there better ways of choosing a name for your baby than drawing a name out of a hat or trying to recall what you ate just before conception? And isn't life already going to be hard enough for these celebrity kids without being saddled with bizarre names? Not all celebrities have given their offspring strange names. Thankfully, Britney Spears named her son Sean, and Kate Winslet chose the simple, but strong, Joe for her son. And there are lots of celebrity sons named Jack and Henry out there, along with a few Grace and Samantha's, so not all is lost. But what I wonder is if celebrities know there are "Baby Naming" books out there to help them. Years ago we got one of those books when we considered starting a family. With the last name Ryder, of course we played around with some fun names - like Ezekiel Zechariah - E.Z. Ryder. Or Paperback. Maybe Horseback. But would we have actually done that? Of course not. Well, at least not Paperback or Horseback. Then, when we didn't have children, we used the book to name our pets. We may be the only people in the world with a Siamese Cat named Dugan - and actually know what it means! And we used the book to offer "helpful" suggestions to family and friends. These books are great - not only do you get thousands of possible names, you also get their heritage and meaning. So if any of you know Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, I have a suggestion for the perfect baby shower gift for them - a baby naming book. Or who knows what those two might come up with for a name. I shudder even thinking about it.