Overwhelmed Grandma-to-be needs ideas for Baby Shower favors!

[Soozie4Him]

My oldest DD is 6 months pregnant and we're having a fairly early Baby Shower for her two days after Thanksgiving because her two best friends from high school (who live on the other side of the country) will be home for Thanksgiving. Also, the other Grandma-to-be will be here too, as she'll be joining us for Thanksgiving. I'm very overwhelmed with planning Thanksgiving, the shower, financial stuff for my own mom who is in a nursing home, and I have to plan her funeral (yep, she's still alive) and pay for it and get a cemetary plot and pay for it before Thanksgiving (we're applying for MedicAid - long story). Also, I'm getting 35 piano students ready for a Christmas recital. So I have some very happy events going on, and some sad/stressful ones as well.

How can you help? Well, thanks for listening, first of all! <g> I made the shower invitations and got those in the mail (everyone was notified by phone ahead of time) and now I realized that I have to PLAN this shower (food, games, cake, etc), and just yesterday I thought "SHOWER FAVORS!" Yikes!! So I need something easy, but cute, for favors. It's a small shower, so I only need 13 or so. I'm also going to be stamping baby thank yous so my daughter can use those to write her thank you notes.

I had thought of just getting Bath and Body Works foamy soap and tying a pretty ribbon around it, but I was thinking I might be able to come up with something stamped. But it has to be easy... I've seen people stamp things to put around water bottles - would there be anything baby-oriented that would work? Any ideas are welcome, and prayers for my peace-of-mind are appreciated!!

I'm an SU demo, so I have Bundle of Joy and Bundled in Love and Everything Baby and some retired SU baby sets.

[dstfrommi]

The last baby shower I threw I made mini loaves of banana bread and added white chocolate chips to the recipe. I wrapped them up in pretty paper and ribbon and got a lot of good feedback. Banana bread is easy to make and I found out I could get 4 mini loaves from each recipe.

Good luck and I'm sure some other ladies on here have some good ideas too!

Can you get someone else to help you? It seems like you have a lot to do for just one person!

[lbirus]

I just posted a thread about how to mass produce mini composition books:

Forums at Splitcoaststampers

These would be fantastic done in baby paper with some baby embellies on them... and they are soooo easy and cheap to do!!!

Bonus, people actually like them and will use them.

Need more ideas?
Here are some Butterfly Kisses boxes with a treat inside I did for a wedding shower.

or maybe do some clippies like these only in baby paper.

or 'altered' nuggets like these

Just a few to get you started.

[peggyf]

Since you are short on time, just make some Brag Books. Go to Michaels or a dollar store, buy some mini photo albums with the clear covers. Stamp a cute page that you can slip into the cover. For the Grandmas, you can make a larger version. Everyone can use a brag book and it ties in with theme.

Quick party game - No shopping necessary - Use a roll of toilet paper and everyone has to tear off the amount that they think would fit around the Mother-to-be's stomach. Who ever gets the closet wins a small gift (you body work product would be good with a cute tag handing off).
Peggy

[calgramma]

Something else that is a WOW is sour cream containers. You can get little candies at a party store that are pink or blue (whichever you need) and put in them. HTH And, try not to stress....it will all be fine!!!

[cindybstampin]

Hi Susan,
Here's an idea from today's tutorial, have you seen this?

[Jessica'sMom]

I found a pattern for a tag punch nugget tent a long time ago and saved it. They are small and would be quick to put together. It's from Qbee, but now I can't find it in her gallery. It may have been from a thread? Not sure. Hopefully I can copy/paste it from Word:


1.Start with a strip of card stock 1-3/8” x 5”.
2.Mark the card stock with a pencil at the �”, 2”, 3” and 4-3/4”
3.Feed the strip through the front of the tag punch and then out the bottom of the back. If you have trouble doing this, feed the strip through on the diagonal and then straighten before punching.
4.Punch the tag using the �” mark as a guide for the end.
5.Repeat the punch for the other end using the 4-3/4” mark as a guide.
6.Score the card stock at the two middle pencil marks.
7.Stamp as desired.
8.Bring the ends of the strip together and punch the top with a 1/8” circle punch.
9.Put some dotto on the inside bottom of the tag tent.
10.Place one Hershey’s nugget on the dotto.
Tie the top with ribbon.

**if someone can tell me quick how to do a thumbnail i'll show you the pic i have**

[Soozie4Him]

Thanks so much for all the support and great ideas! I will definitely be looking at all these things!!

[greatgrammy]

Good grief, Susan, I feel worn out just reading about everything you have on your plate right now.

First:
Concentrate on Thanksgiving dinner. You have so much for which to be thankful.

A mother who is still with you (mine died 34 years ago at age 52)
A daughter expecting a baby (this is an absolutely wonderful experience).
Friends coming to celebrate Thanksgiving and the upcoming birth.

Personally, I think you have done your part considering you are fixing the meal for Thanksgiving and hosting the baby shower. Throw in the piano recital for 35 students, and I say find a bottle (or case) of wine (if you imbibe) and a quiet corner in your home and take a little time for yourself.

Back to the shower, a small favor in the form of a candle, a fragrant bar of soap or a shower gel sounds wonderful to me. Talk to your daughter, I'm sure she doesn't expect you to wear yourself out trying to arrange three major events within a short time frame by yourself.

Be sure to ask your friends and family for help. If your daughter's mother-in-law is coming for both events, I bet she would be glad to help with the food and games for the shower.

Take good care of yourself. This the time of year to enjoy your blessings.