I recently co-hosted a baby shower for a friend who is having her first baby soon. It’s a boy.
It was fun to know the gender of the baby because we had a nautical theme with lots of blue. It was really beautiful. I just received Mike’s grandmother’s wedding china so I decided to use it at the shower. Why not celebrate the joy of a new life by bringing together Mom-to-Be with her closest friends and family?
She insisted no games. This made me laugh. I had already started a Pinterest page with party games for baby showers. My favorite was freezing mini baby dolls in ice cubes…guests had to melt them in their hands to see “whose water broke” first. That looked fun.
When I was young I remember my mom hosting a baby shower with party games. Who remembers sifting through rice while blindfolded, trying to find the diaper pins? Now no more pins, safety or any other kind. So that put a stop to the “diaper a doll” game.
There was also the “drop the clothes pin in a bottle game,” probably to give the new mom lots of clothespins for all the cloth diapers she faced. I think cloth diapers on the clothesline also might be a thing of the past.
In the ‘70s most people did not know the sex of their new bundle of joy before birth so there were a lot of pretty yellow and green baby clothes. No pink or blue in sight at those showers.
There was also a rule that no one could cross their legs at the shower because the “mommy to-be” was too big to cross her legs. Fruit punch and Jell-O salad were standard baby shower cuisine.
Watching mommy open her gifts is the best part, mostly to see all the new baby inventions. My youngest is 16 and I couldn’t believe I survived without a stow-and-go portable baby seat. It folds up as small as an umbrella but the baby can safely sit in it when you visit family and friends or go outside. I was also impressed by all the swaddling blankets and clothes. Do they make these in adult sizes? They look soft and cozy.
We served our guests a beautiful nautical vegetable platter and deviled eggs with red peppers cut to look like sail boats. Bags of “Ready to Pop” popcorn were also a poke in the ribs at the soon-to-be mom. The main course was baked spaghetti with three types of sauce. I promised the guests that I would publish the recipe in the paper. This is easy to make ahead and serves a big crowd. Depending on the sauce they choose it’s easy to accommodate vegetarian guests too. Don’t wait for a new baby to gather friends together. Host a sit down dinner soon and maybe try this recipe.
A toast to soon-to-be Baby Boy Rabbenort. A baby’s laugh is an angel’s voice.
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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