Co-Ed "Baby Shower" Thoughts

[bizzylizzy]

We are having a Co-Ed shower and I was wondering if others have done this and what ideas you've come up with for entertainment. If we do games what things are fun for both guys and gals? It's going to be in Feb (so inside options only). I've only gone to traditional baby showers so I'm at a loss visualizing how this is going to go down. Are there any cool names for a co-ed baby shower that won't have my husband's guy friends running for the hills?

Any and all ideas are welcome!

[emnic77]

I had co-ed showers...most of my friends are boys so it only made sense.
We didn't plan a whole lot - it was just a typical get together, with food, booze for everyone else, and chit chat.

[buckeye_bebe]

Our shower was a co-ed family affair. It was really a surprise shower, we had organized a small housewarming BBQ, and some friends turned it in to a surprise baby shower.

But the men and women naturally segregated so the guys went off to do guy things like stand around the grill and eat chips and salsa while the women sat on the sofas and talked about vaginas.

[Buzzer Beater]

Originally Posted by buckeye_bebe

But the men and women naturally segregated so the guys went off to do guy things like stand around the grill and eat chips and salsa while the women sat on the sofas and talked about vaginas.

[Lan84]

Both of mine (one in Canada and one in the US) were coed. At the Canadian shower, the games we played were "pick the due date" (prize will be given after the baby's born obviously) and "guess that baby picture". We all brought in baby pictures and the hostess put them up on boards and assigned a number to each picture. Everyone was wearing name tags and we went around guessing who was who. It was fun for everyone.

At my American shower, the games we played were "guess that myth" where the hostess printed out a sheet with a bunch of myths for guessing gender (craving sweets = X, having nausea = X type of stuff) and everyone guessed, whoever got the most myths right won. They also did a "present bingo" where random cards were made up with things like "baby blanket", "diapers", "bottles", etc and with opening each present people would X out on their cards what I got. The last game was "guess how big she is" where the hostess measured my belly with some yarn and then the roll of yarn was passed around and everyone had to cut it to the length that they thought I was. Longest without going over won. Lol, of course my best friend who is a month behind me in her pregnancy won.

Both were fun and no one felt left out. We had afternoon showers so that people could have hors d'oevres or lunch and some cake. We served beer for the guys. Both showers were very successful (men and women all hung out together, no segregation) and I can't imagine having had them without my male friends and family there with us to celebrate. I've never understood why baby showers are for women only. Bridal showers, well yeah, but it takes both sexes to make a baby.

[TSomm]

I went to a co-ed shower where one of the games was baby bottle beer guzzling. Bascially, they filled many small bottles (4 oz?) with beer and we all raced to see who could finish it first... through a nipple, of course. That was pretty funny.

Another game was strictly for the mom and dad and entertainment for everyone else. Parents were separated and blindfolded. Mom was given various baby items (diaper cream, thermometer, receiving blanket, botte brush, etc.) and she had to guess what the item was. Then the same thing was done to dad. Whichever parent got more items correct won.

[neonalee]

I went to one a year ago that was actually pretty fun (I usually avoid these types of things). Games were all done in teams of 4 - putting a preemie diaper correctly on a doll the fastest; each team got a small jar of baby food and tiny spoons and had to finish the food first - everyone had to have at least 1 spoonful - and these were not the 'good' fruity ones, we had peas; a bunch of baby socks were dumped in piles on the floor and had to be matched. I think there was another game or 2 but can't remember now. This was for the first mom in a group of friends, so the results were pretty funny.

[sere234]

Hahaha! Those all sound like fun ideas!

[crazyrunningmama]

Gross, but kind of funny - I was at a shower where they melted chocolate bars into diapers (one bar per diaper in the microwave briefly) and went around showing people. The goal was to guess what kind of chocolate bar it had been. Whoever guessed the most correctly won that kind of bar.

[Jenica]

At my brother and his wife's baby shower they did the diaper race too (who could put a diaper on the fastest) but there was a separate competition for men and women. It was hilarious watching the guys who didn't have kids trying to diaper a doll.

[texaspeach]

we didn't have games at our coed shower. it was fine. everyone clapped when I mentioned we wouldn't be playing games

[sostinkinhappy]

Originally Posted by buckeye_bebe

But the men and women naturally segregated so the guys went off to do guy things like stand around the grill and eat chips and salsa while the women sat on the sofas and talked about vaginas.

x 2

This is pretty much what happened at our co-ed baby shower. It was close to hunting season, so my (now ex) husband & his dad pulled out their bows & did some target shooting in between eating the chips and salsa while standing around the grill. And the women did pretty much what buckeye_bebe describes.

All in all, it was a successful baby shower for all of us.

[Cricket Girl]

Those all sound like fun ideas.

[ProtoLawyer]

I went to the co-ed shower from hell once.

I'm from Wisconsin.
My in-laws live in Texas. By some weird fluke, I ended up at my now-stepsister-in-law's baby shower. (My husband and I had been together long enough for a "meet the parents" trip, which we scheduled maybe 2 months in advance, then, surprise, we got a shower invitation.)

All of the women there except me and my now SMIL were former drill team members, and their moms who were ALSO former drill team members. All tall, pretty, coordinated, made-up. The few children who were there were super-dressed up (think little china doll pageant girls).

My now-stepdaughter was 3 and we dressed her in, I think, dinosaurs.

We spent the afternoon inside, oohing and ahhing over every onesie and fork-and-spoon set and eating insipid mini quiche from Sam's Club. Literally nobody talked to me (my SMIL was busy hostessing--it was at her house--so I don't fault her). When I tried to make conversation, "oh, you're from Wisconsin?!!" became the novelty for two minutes, then they went back to their drill team days.

I was praying for my stepdaughter's meltdown. Finally, she freaked that there were a bunch of new toys and she wasn't allowed to play with them, so I excused us from the room.

Oh, and the men? They disappeared to the lakefront to drink beer and play with the boats.

[cocoanib]

Originally Posted by ProtoLawyer

I went to the co-ed shower from hell once.

Oh my, this sounds horrible!

We are having a baby blessing that will be coed, all fam and friends.
No games or anything, so I can't help you there. I think if you have plenty of good food and a variety of folks, people will naturally socialize and have a good time.