Open Baby Shower

An "open house" style baby shower where guests could come and go whenever they wanted and participate in whatever activities they liked. We had a mild book and retro toy theme. Overall we tried to be conscious of what we wanted to do and what we didn't need to do (avoiding scope creep) while still meeting the goal of our guests enjoying themselves, having fun, and leaving with a sense that they did something meaningful for our family.

• Desserts

  Brownies, mini cheesecakes, strawberries, and grapes.

• Party Favors

  Buckets with cute ribbon and containing flowers or herbs.

• Activities / Games

  Decorate Wooden Blocks for baby, Guess Alternative Book Titles, Ladder Golf, Guess Baby Weight.

• Budget

  Low budget. We tried to use items we had on hand as much as possible, and avoided spending money on things we didn't really NEED to make the party enjoyable for the guests. (No scope creep!)

• What People Ate

  Logistically simple cold and room-temperature finger foods. Cheese, crackers, pita, olive/meat/cheese medley, veggies, hummus, spinach and artichoke dip, seasoned nuts, Spanish potato tortilla (like an omelet), turkey club wraps sliced up, ham bites, deviled eggs, shrimp salad in cucumber cups, apple and blue cheese salad in endive lettuce leaves, and breadsticks.

• What People Drank

  Lemonade and iced tea (sweet and un-sweet) from Chick-fil-A. We also purchased iced coffee, water, soda (Pelligreeno), and little juice boxes for the kids.

• Blog

  Blog post with more details on the party: http://miscgblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/open-baby-shower.html