Last year I painted one kitchen wall with chalkboard paint. The result was dramatic, but also functional. The kids have half the wall reserved for them to doodle and draw to their hearts' content...as long as they keep their dusty paws off MY side. My clean, pristine section is mine all mine. It's where I proudly display our weekly menu. I get a great deal of satisfaction looking at it. It makes me feel organized. And on top of things. And hungry. Sometimes I drool.
When I host a party, I clean off my children's renderings and use their side to display words relating to the theme of the night. For example, during an 80's party I wrote; gnarly, gag me with a spoon, bogus, dude, grody, stoked, tubular, etc.
This puts the fun in functional right?
Until of course, your guests have a few drinks, you leave the room, they find your chalk and start defiling your pride and joy.
One night, I asked guests to make a running list of recommended movie rentals. This is what they came up with. Nice. Very helpful.
And look what happened to my beautiful and carefully appointed weekly menu after three separate parties...
The ironic part of that last picture? My MOTHER did that. While babysitting she changed my clever "fetta-cini" to "fatta-cini" and drew a fat bum with an arrow pointing to it. Well played Grandma. Just wait until I come to your house next. I'm going write on your wall. And since you don't have a functional chalkboard, Imma gonna to have to use marker.
A mom in our yummy community is organizing a baby shower and asked for suggestions for a fun game. The YMC put it out there on Facebook asking, “What's the BEST baby shower game you've ever played?"
Oh baby, who knew shower games were such a hot button issue? People either love baby shower games or they really, really hate them.
I happen to be someone who LOVES them.
Please don’t shoot the messenger (or put a diaper pin on my chair when I'm not looking). If you happen to be a big baby....shower game hater (yes, I *may* have called you a big baby) I’m going to list some of our readers' favourites, so consider yourselves warned.
Speaking of poopers, I believe there IS something we can agree on. The "Guess The Chocolate Poop in the Diaper" game is gross and it’s been done to death. And the game where you measure the mom-to-be's pregnant belly with ribbon? Unless you're one of those little mummies with the teeny baby bump, no woman wants her girth estimated.
That's almost as bad as the game, "How Much Do You Think The Mother-To-Be Weighs?" I'm not kidding. It exists. The participants of the baby shower write down their guesses, and get the expectant mom to hop on to the scales. Yikes.
So now that we’ve found common ground, maybe you’ll bear with me and read on. Or not. Either way, let's agree to NEVER subject guests to those torturous games.
Last spring I wrote two really FUN shower game posts. You can check it out here. There are some great game suggestions and food ideas listed in the comment section of that post too.
So here are the best shower games EVER as suggested by some of our yummy readers:
* Suzy likes Name The Baby. Write down the mom and dad's names and use each letter to come up with a list of baby names. Go around the room and see what names everyone else got. As people read out the names, eliminate duplicates. The person with the most UNUSED names wins the prize.
* Louise suggested an activity which means a lot to the mom to be. You get several blank cards and write a number on the card for however many guests there are. Each guest writes one special birthday message for the child for every year. Moms love reading the messages that their friends and family have left for their child.
* Cynthia said at co-ed showers, she has the dads chug water or other non-carbonated beverages from baby bottles.
* Michelle suggested a race to see who can put a diaper on a doll/teddy bear the fastest while wearing oven mitts.
* Amy likes the decorating onesies activity. People get to be creative, and the baby gets a bunch of clothes to wear.
* Tamika suggested the New Mama Relay Race. Teams have to do a bunch of crazy new mom stuff (i.e. Fold onesies, fill a bottle, wash a "dirty" diaper, swaddle a baby, exercise etc.) The first team to get all done is the winner. A bit of set-up required but it gets everyone up.
* Erin enjoys this twist on the classic Memory Game. Arrange items on a tray and everyone gets a set amount of time to write down all they can remember. However, mom-to-be is sent out of the room and the guests really have to write down things about her. Glasses? Earrings? Shirt colour etc.
* Louise suggested A Face Only A Mother Can Love. The guests have put a piece of paper up to their head and draw what the baby-to-be will look like. The guest with the best looking baby... or worst... gets a prize.
Have fun (unless you're one of the "baby shower game haters" in which case, enjoy the cake)!
WAIT! I'm full of party ideas! Just found our you're pregnant? I wrote a dazzling post about the latest craze of Gender Reveal Parties!
Photo: Safe Baby Pregnancy Tips by David & Kelly Sopp
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Father-Friendly Shower Gifts