Co-Ed Baby Shower Ideas to Help With Your Planning

Co-Ed baby showers are coming more and more popular as there has been a shift in the focus of baby showers. Historically, baby showers were parties where the new mother introduced her first baby and was congratulated with items that she needed to raise and care for a child. These items were expected to last her throughout each subsequent birth. Nowadays, we have more than one shower, both mom and baby receive gifts and the shower is more like a celebration of new life. More and more dads are engaged in the entire pregnancy and labor process, making visits to the OBGYN and being great partners at breathing classes. Why not include them in a co-ed baby shower!

Male Etiquette at a Co-Ed Baby Shower

Now if you are a man invited to a baby shower, there are a few tips I would like to share with you!

1. Ask the hostess if you will be the only guy at the shower. If she says yes, ask if it will be ok if you invite a friend. Even if you are not the only male attending the shower, and you want to bring a pal, it is proper etiquette to advise the hostess that you will be bringing a guest. This is necessary information the host will need to assist her in her planning for good, favors, games, etc.
2. Don't ask for beer - Remember that the expecting mommy can't have any!
3. Be prepared to engage in conversations about parenting and babies
4. Don't be anti-social with the opposite gender - Mingle with both men and women attending the party
5. Don't sit out on the games - Participate and like it! Don't be an a-hole as the host probably put a great amount of effort in selecting and picking a game that would be enjoyed and suitable for a co-ed-baby shower.
6. Don't forget to bring a gift

Hostess Etiquette For a Co-Ed Baby Shower

Planning a Co-Ed Baby Shower can be stressful as you can spend a great deal of time searching for games, favors, and food that would make everyone happy. DON'T! You will never be able to make everybody happy and even with your greatest effort put forth, you will still have some men who just must let all the other guys know that they are not the baby shower type of guy! Trust me, they probably still had a good time. Below are a few tips for hosting a co-ed baby shower:

1. Serve both the expecting parents first
2. Try your best to invite more than one man so they will have a greater comfort level.
3. You can call it whatever you want - it doesn't have to be a "Baby Shower," it could be a "Welcoming Party" or a "Celebration of New Life"
4. Get the father-to-be engaged in the planning process as he will be able to assist in building the guests list and picking the theme and/or games that the men attending the co-ed baby shower will be happy with. However, he should not get to override any decisions the mommy-to-be wants!
5. Let them have clear cups if there is a lot of pink or special favors just for the guys
6. Invite the couple to register together so the guests will not have such a hard time picking a gift for both of them
7. Let Dad participate in the opening of the gifts - He could be responsible for opening while she reads the cards.

Food at a Co-Ed Baby Shower

• Chips
• Soda
• Beer
• Candy

Games at a Co-Ed Baby Shower

There are plenty of games you can play at a co-ed baby shower that everyone will enjoy.

• Bottle Drinking Contest - Fill the bottles up with a beverage of your choosing, and with the nipple on, see which guest can finish drinking first
• Diaper the Baby - Blindfold the guest and see who can put a diaper on the doll the quickest.
• Mulitasking - force the guests to do more than one thing at once to show how much the new mommy will be doing.
• Price is Right - Have some of the gifts or baby items displayed and have the co-ed baby shower guests try to get the costs correct.
• Let the men put the toys and/or nursery items that need assembly together.
• Exchange labor stories - if you don't think the men will enjoy this you are crazy! Everybody likes to tell the stories about the day their loved ones came into this world and the couples always have different versions. Your guests will laugh all night long.
• Picture Match - Have all the guests submit their favorite baby pics before the date of the co-ed baby shower. Paste the pictures on a huge piece of poster board and number them. Hand the guest out a sheet of paper and have them number it and put the name of each adult the baby pic belongs to beside the corresponding number.
• Build a Bear - Break the guests up and give them some supplies and tools to dress up a bear. The group with the best bear wins
• Build a Baby With Play Dough - Give the guests play dough and see who can build the best baby. Allow the expecting couple to pick the winner
• Candy Bar Game - Buy all the candy bars in the list below and place them in a paper bag. Give the corresponding clues, (that are in the list below), and the guests who guesses the correct candy bar wins it.
  • College Fund: 100 Grand
  • Time Alone: Zero
  • Lull-a-byes: Symphony
  • Hospital Bills: Payday
  • First Year of Parenthood: Rocky Road
  • Dirty Diapers or Dirty Laundry: Mounds
  • Night of Conception: Skor
  • Hospital Nursery: Sugar Babies
  • Breast Feeding: Milky Way
  • Contractions or 9 pound baby: Whoppers
  • Twins: Twix
  • Grandparents or Epidural: Lifesavers
  • Boys' names: Mike & Ike
  • Umbilical cord: Twizzlers
  • Father: Sugar Daddy
  • Baby Fat: Chunky
  • Girl's Name: Baby Ruth
  • Use your eyes - Look
  • A Famous New York Avenue - 5th Ave
  • A sign of romance - Kisses
• Onesie Designs - for an inexpensive baby shower, break the guests up and give each group a onesie along with non-toxic paint and other decorative items to allow them design the onesie. Allow the expecting couple to pick the winner
• Diaper Messages - let the guests write messages on the diapers so that for days later the expecting parents would get to read the little messages
• Diaper Toss
• Pass the Bottle - This is a fun co-ed baby shower game where the bottle is placed under the neck and passed along from neck to neck without the use of hands. See the video!
• Diaper the Men - Force the men to lay down and hand their partners a roll of paper towels. The partner then diapers the man with the roll of paper towels in a way that stays on when the man gets up is the winner.

Great Themes for a Co-Ed Baby Shower

• Books - have everyone bring their favorite children's book to start the baby's first library
• Jungle Baby Shower
• Diaper Baby - have diapered stuffed animals all around the room and play the Diaper the Baby Game as described above
• A Star is Born
• Frog

Gifts to Give the Expecting Father at the Co-Ed Baby Shower

• World Best Dad Mugs
• T-Shirt
• Daddy Tool Belt
• Picture of wife pre-pregnancy
• Back Pack - to use instead of a diaper bag
• Car Seat Mat- to keep dad's car clean

Example of Co-Ed Baby Shower Invitation Wording

Here are a couple of verses for your co-ed baby shower invitation.

It's a Co-Ed Baby Shower
For Amanda's blossoming flower
So hop on over and be our guests
A frog themed gift is our only request

Well Tickle me Elmo; Tickle me pink
It will be a girl, Amanda thinks
Bring Neutral gifts just to be safe
And join us for a Co-ed Baby Shower! Don't be Late!

While cards are very nice
They are only read once or twice
For this Co-Ed Shower, bring a book please
They are treasures all infants need
Michelle and Dan will be very merry
When they see Anne's first library
- Anne is the baby's name