need help with baby shower

[Kali]

Need an idea for a theme and/or entertainment.

This is for a young woman who is kind of a freak - lots of tattoos, ex-addict. The baby is scheduled for a c-section delivery on Halloween.
The guests (and Grandmother to be) are a group of ladies who have done many nice parties. Halloween has been done and is too obvious.

Others this group have done:

Formal Tea
Western BBQ with hayride
Freakshow with fire/glass eater/magician
Palm/fortune teller
Middle eastern theme/Arabian nights with food and fabric (heh)
Pot luck with personal cultural heritage dishes

I think they should do a 50's Luau with Hula dancers, hors d'oeuvre made from spam and lots of pineapples/Tiki type stuff. Another vote is renting out the local nail place and doing pedicures (not my idea!)

[Shell Beau]

1. My shower is next weekend. They

are throwing a Mexican Fiesta shower. Margaritas and all! I can't have any of those ( x( ) but everyone else will enjoy. They are doing Mexican dips and chips, etc. It is going to be fun.

[Kali]

2. Hard to go wrong with that - except

the mom and grandmother are of Mexican decent and we are talking Arizona here. That wouldn't be too exciting or different!

I AM thinking maybe flamenco guitar and tapas, though! Maybe dancers too. Ole!

[Sequoia]

4. Babies! When is your due?

Salsa !!!!! I love Mexican food, when I'm hungry that's what makes my stomach happy.

[Monk06]

24. Have virgin caesars and load up with celery sticks and raw asparagus spears.

[evlbstrd]

3. I think baths are more appropriate for babies.

[seemunkee]

5. We threw a dumpling party

Not quite as exotic as a freakshow with a glasseater. The parents to be were referring to the baby as their little dumpling so we had samosas, empenadas, gyozu, etc. For entertainment we bought a bunch of plain onesies and several packs of sharpies. Everyone decorated a onesie for the little dumpling.

[Kali]

9. cute

and the food sounds yummy

[Sequoia]

6. How about space alien's, outer space, etc.

UFO muffins and drinks with dry ice.

[Kali]

7. possible

yeah that whole Species thing - heh

[AlCzervik]

8. local nail place might be bad because of the chemicals, at most nail places here

they do fake nails and the people that work there wear masks, the smell is like a toxic waste dump. My friend had fake nails and i met her in there one day and i had to leave almost as quickly as i walked through the door.

[Kali]

10. and wasn't there some other health scare a while back

about the water something in those places? fungus infections or maybe worse?

[AlCzervik]

11. there were a few reports on the local news here sometime back about that issue

what they totally skipped was the smell, that cannot be healthy for the employee's even wearing a mask.

[tigereye]

12. wow, I want to come to baby-shower/parties with your friends...

most (not all, but most) of the baby showers I have been to have been too conventional....


I was thinking of the luau- type theme for my upcoming 50th birthday party...

[Kali]

13. hee

I have been wanting to do a luau for so long. I just LOVE fake palm trees.

[grasswire]

14. who doesn't like luau?

And so much stuff is available to make it festive.

Or it could be a fifties party. Not rock and roll, but I Love Lucy/sunglasses/dresses & heels type of fifties.

[Fleshdancer]

15. For the only baby shower I hosted....

I didn't have a theme, but I thought the activities were interesting. I hired a hypnobirth representative to come out and give an introduction to hypnosis for birth and other pain management.

I also bought several packages of plain onsies and printed out cool graphics on iron-on transfer paper. People could pick and choose which graphics to add to their onsies. This was fun because the designs catered more to the style of the mother-to-be as opposed to the usual ducks and teddy bears, etc. Some were tattoo styles, others included funny quotes or album covers from Led Zeppelin and Bob Marley...the stuff you normally don't see on baby clothes.

[Kali]

16. some good stuff - kicking for the late night crowd

More!

[khashka]

17. I'd go with the arabian nights theme

Kind of freaky but fun.

Khash.

[VenusRising]

18. Something I wanted to do for my sister but didn't get the chance...

Find an artist that will do a plaster of paris mold of the mommy's pregnant belly. It can then be decorated with any kind of medium. The cutest thing was a little heart shaped jewel where the belly button was. The one that I saw finished, there was an area where you could actually see the baby's head shape.

[fight4my3sons]

21. I wish I had done this too, especially with my twin pregnancy.

My mom threw me a shower that was great. Really low key with fried chicken that was to die for.

[eyesroll]

19. Have you talked to the woman in question about what she might want?

I say this as someone for whom showers are the ninth circle of hell: Tailor the party to the (pregnant, possibly emotional, possibly socially phobic, etc.) guest of honor, not to what the "group of ladies" (you didn't say whether these ladies included her peers, or her mom and her mom's friends) want. For instance, many pregnant women stay out of nail salons and away from nail polish during pregnancy because of the chemicals.

I prefer the lower-key end of things...the formal tea and potluck, from your list of past parties, are the most appealing to me...the luau would be fine without the Hula dancers (too much! way too much!) and without the spam (because, well, eew)...but my point is, this is just me, and everyone is different. You may find your guest, underneath her tattoos, wants to be Cinderella or Captain Kirk for a day...or you may find she want to eat little sandwiches, drink punch, and play Bingo.

[Kali]

20. You may have a point

Although I have to assume it was at least partially her decision to schedule the birth for Halloween.

(this is actually for some friends of my sister, the prospective hostess - I'm just helping with the brainstorming and DU is the main place I come for help!)

[just a girl]

23. Asking what the mother wants is a good suggestion

The last gal I hosted for said she wanted "A Non-Traditional Shower."
We ended up having a spa party at the house - facials, pedicures, manicures, etc.

[Kali]

22. kick