Back to the first sentence, I am not a party planner.  There are a bijillion fantastic baby shower themes out there and beautiful tutorials.  I failed miserably at this part.  We ended up hanging a cluster of 15 white balloons over a blue-draped table filled with food.  I think if it wasn’t co-ed, I wouldn’t have been able to pass on the lack of decorations, but the guys definitely didn’t notice and the food and game made up for it.

We had tortellini soup, butternut squash soup, three different breads, and two different autumn-y salads.  For drinks, we served Martinelli’s and I kept dessert simple with homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Everyone ate and mingled first.  And I didn’t take one picture.  In fact, all of the pictures I did take were after the shower was over and some people had already left.  I panicked and made the remaining guests group together.

Once it seemed like everyone was winding down with their lunch, we started getting the game going.  Chris and I brainstormed a lot about what game to play.  Because it was a co-ed shower, and the first baby shower for every man there, we knew that crafts or any game involving guessing what type of candy bar poop was in a diaper was out.  We wanted to get everyone involved, and make sure the guys and girls had a fun time.

So we came up with “The Newly-Parents Game” which follows the same rules as  “The Newlywed Game.”  The tough part was thinking of questions that were appropriate, could spark some laughs, and didn’t leave anyone crying or feeling like a bad parent. Asking trivia questions about how to raise a child were not a good idea.  We didn’t want anyone feeling bad or getting upset.  So, to keep things light, we kept the questions light.  First, the ladies and gents went to opposite sides of the room and were each given 5 pieces of cardstock with 5 questions typed on top.  The men and women had different questions.  We passed out markers for everyone to answer the questions large enough to be read by everyone.

The questions we came up for the girls to answer were:

-What was your biggest craving while pregnant?
-How many pounds did you gain during pregnancy?
-What’s the first thing your husband said when he found out you were pregnant?
-How many pounds did your husband gain during your pregnancy?
-What nursery rhyme does your husband know all the words to?

The questions we had the guys answer were:

-What scares you the most about a newborn?
-What’s your first pick for a girl’s name?
-What is the best brand of diaper?
-How long does a newborn sleep in your room?
-Besides diapers and wipes, what is a must-have in the diaper bag?

 We can’t wait to meet the newest Marcum addition.  He couldn’t be coming to two sweeter people.  We love you Cam and Kasey!