2011 in review
Posted by: Rebecca on: January 10, 2012
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,400 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.
Mother Goose Shower
Posted by: Rebecca on: November 23, 2011
THEME: Children’s Nursery Rhymes
INVITATIONS: An invitation for this shower could have a picture of a nursery rhyme character on the outside, and the message could be written in rhyme, adapted from a Mother Goose rhyme, such as:
“Hey, diddle, diddle, the cat with the fiddle
Is playing a lullaby;
So come to the shower for (woman’s name) ,
Whose baby’s coming is nigh.”
MATERIALS FOR ACTIVITIES: A chair for each team; a baby doll and blanket for each team; prizes, if desired, such as candles, plastic rings or small bells.
FOOD: Serve food from the nursery rhymes, such as tarts, plum pie, homemade bread and butter, pudding pie, curds and whey (cottage cheese), plum cake and sugar candy, etc. Try to serve them in appropriate dishes.
DECORATIONS: The Mother Goose Shower can work with any colors you choose, especially bright ones. Trace pictures of nursery rhyme characters from children’s coloring books and enlarge them at your local copy center. Then color them and use them on walls, tables, etc. Streamers and balloons are fine, but you can also set out items that will recall familiar nursery rhymes, such as a cat and a fiddle, a dish and a spoon, a miniature lamb, a candlestick, a pumpkin shell, a pail of water, a pipe and bowl, a large shoe, a plastic spider, a clock and toy mouse, a hard-boiled egg with a face drawn on it, etc.
BLOW-BY-BLOW: When all the guests have arrived and you have stowed their gifts, make sure everyone knows everyone else and then divide them into two teams for the first game.
To play the Diddle Diddle Dumpling Relay, the two teams line up on one side of the room. Opposite each team, at the other end of the room, is a chair. On a signal, the first player on each team runs to the chair, takes off a shoe and puts it back on before running back to tag the next player. The second player does the same, and the relay continues until every player on one team has completed the action. That team is the winner and may be awarded a prize.
Next is the Baby Bunting Relay. This is similar to the relay above, except the players on each team must run to a doll and swaddle it correctly in a blanket, before tagging the next player who must then un-swaddle it, etc. The first team done wins, and you may choose to give them a prize.
The players can relax a bit for the next game. For the ABC-Nursery Rhyme Game, you can keep the same teams, but the players get to remain seated with their team during the game. You might flip a coin to decide which team will go first, and then the other team sings the alphabet while the starting team quickly chooses a nursery rhyme. At the end of the alphabet song, the starting team must sing a nursery rhyme, then they sing the alphabet while the second team decides on a nursery rhyme for their turn, and so on. The first team to be unprepared with a nursery rhyme to sing on their turn, or to sing a rhyme already sung, loses. You may choose to give the winning team a prize, if desired.
Now the guest of honor may open her presents. As always, have someone record each gift and who it was from on a piece of paper for the mother-to-be. Pass the gifts around to be admired, and then serve the refreshments.
Variations and Comments: With a little ingenuity, you might create all kinds of games from nursery rhymes. You could have an egg toss (to commemorate Humpty Dumpty) or a relay going up and down a hill with a pail of water (no tumbling required). Or, you could have a quiet game where players have to fill in the blanks with the correct words from nursery rhymes. The possibilities are endless! But you might want to get a hold of a good book of nursery rhymes before you start planning.
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“Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice” Shower
Posted by: Rebecca on: November 12, 2011
THEME: Gender-related for baby girl
INVITATIONS: Use pink construction paper and decorate by gluing on cinnamon sticks and hard candies.
MATERIALS FOR ACTIVITIES: Paper and pencil for each team; baby doll with diaper and two diaper pins for each team; clothesline or string stretched across all or part of the room, doll clothes, clothespins, a small basket and a stopwatch; prizes, if desired, such as bags of candy or jars of spice.
FOOD: Anything sweet will do. Perhaps you could serve a spice cake with pink frosting, decorated with candies or flowers. Also set out bowls of mints or other small candies.
DECORATIONS: Like the boy’s shower above, decorate in distinctive feminine style. Pink should be the main color, and you can use pictures or posters of little girls, as well as large (real or artificial) lollipops. Set out dolls and other girlish toys. Bouquets of flowers would be a nice touch, too. Be sure to keep a table or corner clear for the gifts. If the baby has been born, have a pretty, frilly place to put her as the real guest-of-honor.
BLOW-BY-BLOW: When all the guests have arrived, introduce everyone and seat them in two teams lined up for the first game.
To play Add-A-Word, give the first player of each team a pencil and paper. On a signal, the first player of each team writes on the top of her team’s paper a word associated with babies. She quickly passes the paper and pencil to the second player, who must write beneath it another such word which begins with the last letter of the preceding word. As soon as she writes the word, she passes the paper and pencil to the third player, who writes a word beginning with the last letter of the second player’s word. Play continues until the last player adds a word. She takes the list and pencil to the head player, who stands and waves the paper to indicate her team has finished. The first team to complete a correct list wins the game. The team finishing second checks the first team’s list to make sure the words are spelled correctly, begin with the correct letters and have something to do with babies. If any word is questionable in one of these three areas, the second team may challenge the first team’s players, who will have to defend the word satisfactorily for it to count. If the first team makes an error, the second team wins. You may choose to award a prize to the winning team.
The next game is Diaper Relay. Use the same teams as in the previous game and have them stand in two lines at one end of the room. At the other end, opposite each team, place a baby doll, a small diaper and two diaper pins. On a signal, the first player in each team runs across to her doll, diapers it and carries it to the next person on her team. The next player runs across the room, unpins and removes the diaper, and runs back to her team, leaving the doll there. The third player on the team does the same as the first player, diapering the doll and bringing it back. Play continues in this manner until one team has made use of every player. The first team finished wins, and you may choose to award them a prize.
The last game is a Laundry Contest. You will not have teams for this game but will time each person individually. For the contest, each person must hang all the clothes in the basket on the “clothesline,” then remove them, fold them and put them back in the basket. The contestant who can do this in the shortest amount of time wins and may receive a prize.
Now it’s time to open the presents. Seat everyone in a circle so the presents can be passed around and admired. Record each gift and giver for the new mother.
Serve the refreshments when all the gifts have been opened or while they are being opened, if it’s a large gathering.
Variations and Comments: Instead of doing the Diaper Relay, you may wish to do a Braiding Relay, using two dolls with long hair and a rubber band or other fastener for each of them. This relay would be similar to the Diaper Relay, except that the players would be braiding and un-braiding the dolls’ hair, instead of diapering and un-diapering as explained above.
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