Looking for some unique ideas for a baby shower this spring?  As every Savvy Auntie knows, there is a trend toward being eco-friendly with these parties, and so take note of ways to reduce, reuse and recycle while baby shower planning!

If you know what gender the baby will be, then try the following colors to bring your baby shower theme together:

Girl: Fuchsia, Pink, and Lime Green

Boy: Aqua, Blue, Yellow, and Lime Green

If neutral (i.e. you don’t know the sex of the baby): Yellow, Aqua, and Lime Green will work well.

Invitation Tips:

Send out your baby shower invitation, and request that guests bring a small book instead of a card to the shower to begin baby’s first library.

In order to cut down on paper waste, ask guests to wrap their gifts in nursery themed fabric…cute, useful and eco-friendly.

For the Decor:

Hang bright colored onesies on a clothes line. These can be given to the mom-to-be as additional shower gifts.  Use one of these onesies as a guest book for the guests, providing fabric pens for them to sign their names and a special message to the Mom-to-be and baby.

To reduce waste, use ceramic dishes, drinking glasses, silverware, and plates instead of disposables.

Fill baby bottles with bright color candies and use around the party tables, side tables, and gift table.

Use pacifiers of all colors as confetti around the party room.

For your centerpiece, place brightly colored floating candles in a large bowl of water to add festive color and light to your party table.

For Games:

Guess the Baby
In your invitation, ask each guest to bring a picture of herself as a baby. (You may want to remind the guests before the shower to bring the photo with them, because without the photo they can’t be involved in the game.) Take the picture from each guest as she arrives and lightly pencil a number on the back, being careful not to damage the photo. Make a list so you can tell later which photograph corresponds with which guest. Then give each guest a piece of paper and pencil, show all the guests a photograph and tell them the number. The guests write down whose photograph they think it is. Do the same with the next photograph. The guest who identifies the most photographs is the winner.

Don’t Say “Baby”
The object of the game is not to say the word “baby” at any time during the shower. Give each guest a diaper pin when she arrives and ask her to pin it to her clothing. If one guest hears another guest say the word “baby,” the hearer can claim the speaker’s diaper pin. The guest who collects the most pins is the winner. (If you want, you can set a time limit of 30 minutes so that people can relax after that!)

Mom Trivia
Ask the mom to give you a total of 20 interesting pieces of information about herself. These questions may revolve around anything, but facts about the mom when she was a baby or a kid would be particularly fun! Use these answers to create a quiz for the guests to take. Whoever gets the most questions right wins!

For the Menu:

One of the best and easiest ways to create snacks that match a baby shower theme is to purchase cookie cutters in the shapes of a baby carriage, a teddy bear, a baby bottle, baby rattle, etc. and use them to cut out small tea sandwiches filled with smoked salmon, cucumber and dill, egg salad, and/or chicken salad. They will be very cute. The cookie cutters can be used to make darling iced sugar cookies, as well.

Other snacks to serve at your baby shower include:

• Chips and dips: French onion dip with chips, salsa and guacamole with tortilla chips or spinach or hot artichoke dip with pita bread cut into small baby shapes using the cookie cutters.
• Cheese and crackers: Serve a variety of crackers along with a blend of hard and creamy cheeses.
• An assortment of fresh-cut vegetables with a ranch dip
• Chicken skewers served with teriyaki or peanut sauce
• Shrimp served with cocktail sauce
• Mini quiches
• Fruit salad made up of whatever is seasonal
• Deviled eggs
• Olives and sweet pickles for a relish tray
• Nuts
• Chocolate truffles
• Personalized M&M’s
• Mini Fruit Tarts served with a small scoop of raspberry sorbet
• Place the nuts and candies around the party room to get people who don’t necessarily know one another mingling!

For a parting favor, send the guests home with personalized mint tins. So cute, a great remembrance of the event, and also quite useful!

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs