A Very British Baby Shower

MUM TO BE... a very British BABY SHOWER A guide to throwing a brilliant British Baby Shower BABY SHOWERS have truly blossomed in popularity here in the UK, with two-thirds of British mums now planning to have one.* Originally, baby showers were an opportunity for women to share their knowledge of motherhood with the expectant mum - that's why only women were invited! Since these events are centred on gift-giving, friends or family members usually host them rather than the mum-to-be. +++++++ PREPARATION Choose a venue. Your home is perfect - unless you have lots of guests and prefer to hire a venue. Send out 'save the dates' via post or email as far in advance as possible. Send invites about four to six weeks before the shower. TOP TIP DON'T FORGET Your invites should say who the shower is for, when, where and what time it's taking place, who is hosting it and if there is anything guests should bring (e.g. cakes or photos for games like Baby Who's Who). to invite Mum-to-be's mum and any other members of her family she'd like to have there. YOU'LL NEED Cakes, cakes and more cakes - round up your baking friends! TOP TIP Plenty of tea supplies - why not get an array of flavours to serve? Delegate tasks to your friends, whether that's Favours for guests - soaps, sweets or candles are perfect. helping you to set up, making cakes, teas, decorations or anything else. Don't let them set up all the games though, or they won't be able to play! DON'T FORGET A present for the mum-to-be. There's no need for full meals, it's more of a tea and cake affair. Ask your guests to bring cakes to help out. DECORATING Think bunting, balloons and plenty of flowers, reflecting the mum-to-be's tastes. Pink or blue themes are lovely options, or why not be inspired by our very British theme? GAMES & ACTIVITIES Break the ice and have lots of fun with these fabulous games: Get the baby photos out. BABY WHO' S WHO ? On arrival ask your guests to give their baby photos to you without showing anyone else, stick the photos on a wall or board with tack and number them using some sticky notes. Now ask your guests to guess whose baby photo is whose on their quiz sheet. Be sure to go through the correct answers – it's a giggle to look through the photos and relive memories. You could award a prize to the winner of the challenge. ? ? YOU WILL NEED... STICKY NOTES QUIZ SHEET & PEN BABY TACK PHOTOS TOP TIP As well as giving everyone a name tag, create a little ice breaker exercise so guests can get to know each other. Mmm. Yummy! BABY FOOD TASTE CHALLENGE 13 Buy around 6-1o pots of the most obscure baby food flavours you can find, peel the original labels off and mark them 1 to 10 (depending on how many pots you buy). Make sure you keep a note of what is what. Arm your guests with a spoon and ask everyone to guess the flavour. The most correct answers wins a prize, but 6. everyone will have fun laughing at each other's faces as they try them. Lamb Hotpot followed by Chocolate and Banana, anyone? YOU WILL NEED.. 8. 6- 10 BABY FOOD POTS QUIZ SHEET & PEN SPOONS LABELS OR PEN Smell the nappy.. MESSY NAPPY GAME Place a small portion of one of the chocolate bars on to a plate and microwave for around 30 seconds or until melted. Take a knife and smear the melted chocolate bar into one of the nappies. Repeat with all the different types of chocolate bars you have bought. When you have smeared a different type of chocolate bar into each nappy, number all the nappies and put them on a table, keeping a hidden record of which number corresponds to which chocolate bar. To play, each guest must smell each nappy and try to guess which chocolate bar it is. The guest with the most correct guesses gets a prize. YOU WILL NEED... TOP TIP Create a keep-sake book for the mum-to-be, and ask everyone to sign it on the day. 6- 10 NAPPIES OR ONE FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF CHOCOLATE BARS (WE SUGGEST QUIZ SHEET & PEN STICKY NOTES A MICROWAVE, OR PERMANENT KNIFE AND EACH TYPE OF MARKER (FOR PLATE CHOCOLATE BAR LABELLING) USING 6- 10 BARS) Blast from the past. BABY QUIZ PASS THE PARCEL This is a special way of giving the mum-to-be a present, and it's fun for everyone! As you would for Pass the Parcel, wrap up the mum-to-be's gift, making a note of each layer (so you know which layer needs to land on her). With each layer, wrap up a prize and a baby quiz question or a quiz question relating to your friend. When the music stops, guests unwrap one layer to reveal the prize and quiz question. Ask the guest to read out the quiz question. If they get the answer wrong, the forfeit is for them to eat a big mouthful of baby food! YOU WILL NEED... A LAYERED MUSIC PLAYER ANSWERS TO QUIZ QUESTIONS IN EACH TREATS & SWEETS IN PRESENT FOR MUM TO BE IN FINAL SPOONS BABY FOOD PARCEL POT FOR ALL EACH LAYER FORFEIT QUESTIONS LAYER LAYER GREAT GIFT IDEAS NAPPIES BATH & BODY SPA DAY PACKAGE BABY BOTTLES LAIMAILNARAN FOR MUM FOR BABY O JEWELLERY TOYS FLOWERS BABY CLOTHES vertbaudet GIFT LIST If you're stuck, check out Vertbaudet's new gift list tool (www.vertbaudet.co.uk/giftlist) which makes it simple to create a wish-list full of perfect presents. DATA SOURCES *Data from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-middleton-enjoys-royal-baby-1859524#ixzz2uREfb1P1 Lllilililt шшшнипиишин