Halloween Baby Shower... where to begin?

September 19, 2008 11:20 AM

I need ideas for a Baby Shower with a Halloween theme. It's a co-ed event, and I'm particularly interested in making the guys feel welcome (since most of them understand "shower" to mean "girl gab fest"). The new parents are having a little girl, if that affects any of your answers. Basically I want something fun, and, well, different. Thanks in advance1
posted by purpletangerine to society & culture (7 comments total)

We're having a co-ed shower for my wife this weekend, the plan is for it to be more of a party than a traditional 'girl gab fest'. Lots of booze, food, and music should make most everyone comfortable. Though I suppose it depends how the mom-to-be feels about everyone but her getting plastered at her shower...
posted by foodgeek at 11:43 AM on September 19, 2008

We did one of these last year. Basically, we had an awesome day at the beach that featured presents for the new parents.

In the invite you may want to make fun of the lamest shower activities to establish the anti-shower tone. Make sure you note that you will not be wrapping toilet paper around the mom's belly or having doll diapering contests. That way everyone knows that it's a party not tea cakes and gossip shower.

The only decent game is the baby/child picture one.
posted by 26.2 at 12:02 PM on September 19, 2008

This is not very classy but definitely fits the theme... I know of a shower that had a game where they took various chocolate candy bars and squished/melted them inside diapers. The diapers were passed around and the players had to open them up, examine the contents, and guess which candy bar it was. Most correct (they wrote their guesses on a sheet of paper) got a prize.
posted by xo at 12:04 PM on September 19, 2008

I went to a co-ed shower for my boyfriend's sister (it was multigenerational, too -- parents of the parents-to-be, little kids of their friends and then the 20-30-somethings). It was basically just a party with a portion where she opened gifts for the baby. That was it -- there was still food and wine and music and talking and fun.

So just have a Halloween party (maybe with costumes optional?) and don't worry to much about making it a "shower." I'm not exactly sure how it was conveyed, but I certainly didn't go to his sister's shower expecting stupid games or gossiping (but then, they're not those kind of people).
posted by darksong at 12:52 PM on September 19, 2008

This sounds a little strange, but I have a friend who did a "Babies and Beer" party (including root beer for the people who didn't want to drink alcohol), and did a seasonal local brew tasting in addition to baby games. This will work for some groups, not for others, but it was fun for us.
posted by markblasco at 1:10 PM on September 19, 2008

Thanks for the help, all. I think I am going to just have a "party" that's for new parents, rather than a "shower". There definitely will not be shower games (but we might have some halloween games). If anyone is still interested in answering at this late date, I'd love some ideas specifically geared towards the halloween aspect of the party. Or how I might address the event in an invitation: "Come welcome the Smiths' newest goblin..." or what have you.
posted by purpletangerine at 6:41 AM on September 20, 2008

I like "newest goblin" that's adorable.
posted by radioamy at 8:33 PM on September 20, 2008