Baby Shower ideas for adopted baby?

[sept04mama]

I hope you guys can help me.

A good friend of mine just adopted the most beautiful little baby girl. I am throwing a shower for her next week. I was wondering if any of you have ideas of anything cool to do. So far, nothing planned.

She has a 3 year old she gave birth to, then had to get a hysterectomy, so now has been able to adopt her daughter. Her son was born way early/emergency situation/NICU, so we never had a chance to throw her a shower for him. Anyway, I don't know if this background matters, but there you go.

Thanks in advance guys, I know I'll find good ideas here! :

[m9m9m9]

Was it a domestic adoption or an international adoption? Do you want to do something to honor the child's heritage?

Other than that, I can't think of anything that would be different than having a baby shower for a biological child. I had a very small shower and it was just the typical cake, cute baby decorations, and baby gifts - bouncer, stuffed animals, etc. Thankfully, we skipped playing any games.

Maggie

[DeannaK]

We had a "Meet Jake" party instead of a shower. It was a lot more casual. It was just a party where he was the guest of honor. We had a blast. I had asked for no gifts (since we had to purchase everything in advance anyway) but a lot of people bought gifts.

[SweetMamaMe]

When we adopted our little one my friend threw me a typical baby shower. The best part was that she had everyone write a letter to my little one to read when she was older and most of them were about how much we wanted her, and how special and beautiful she is, etc. It was so touching!

[SweetMamaMe]

Oh..and when this same friend adopted her little one someone got her a picture frame with an enhanced (sepia, I think) picture of the baby and she had "Love Has No Bounds" on the frame. It was beautiful.

[Sierra]

For our ds' adoption party (he was 13 months old at the time of his adoption, though we had him since he was 1.5 days old, and he was 15 months at the time of the party), we gave each person a blank card. Each one had a number on it, 1-78. This came to them with their invitation, but that needn't be the case necessarily. Then we had materials out for folks to decorate the cards and write messages inside during the party. Some people did it ahead of time. Some people are still working on theirs. Anyway, each number represented a future birthday. He will open each card on the appropriate birthday.

[Laurel]

You didn't mention the age of the baby...I think that makes a difference. Both of my dc's were adopted as newborns, and in both cases I had a typical new-mom shower, which was exactly what I wanted. I wanted to be treated just like every other mother.

I have one idea that could be adapted for a shower. A friend of mine threw an "adoption kick-off" party for her friends and family when they finished the paperwork. She had everyone there tie a quilt, which was then eventually given to the baby's birthmother as a token of the love, friendship, and gratitude of their families for the birthmom's gift. If there are going to be a lot of people at the shower, and if the adoption is fairly open, you could have the guests tie two matching baby quilts, one for your friend, and one for the baby's birthmother.

I hosted a shower once where we had people write down (anonymously) their funniest childhood or parenting experience. We then read them all aloud and people had to guess what had happend to who. The very funniest one was from an 82-year-old lady who attended. I like things like this because they get people laughing and talking, and in this case they could help get the focus off of all the pregnancy talk. I felt weird at my second shower--there were a number of pregnant women there and a lot of the conversation focused on pregnancy and birth. That was kind of awkward for me at my very own shower, having not been pregnant or given birth.

[DeannaK]

I have one idea that could be adapted for a shower. A friend of mine threw an "adoption kick-off" party for her friends and family when they finished the paperwork. She had everyone there tie a quilt, which was then eventually given to the baby's birthmother as a token of the love, friendship, and gratitude of their families for the birthmom's gift.

Wow. That is a wonderful idea.