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#Post#: 82162--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: jpcher Date: October 24, 2025, 2:28 pm
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Hi all -- just wanted to let you know how the party went . . .
it was awesome! ;D
The party planner at the venue we chose was excellent. She
helped me with menu selections, seating/table arrangements,
thoughts for games and answered all of my questions in a timely
manner.
The guests made comments like "How did you find this place?",
"This is an awesome venue!" and oh, so many comments on how
delicious the food was.
I do think that having a buffet appetizer table (instead of a
sit-down meal) helped in the mingling process of the event.
We had a couple of activities like building blocks that people
could decorate (blocks and markers spread across the tables) and
"Advice for the new parents" cards. We also had a "Guess how
many" jar filled with small pacifiers. All of which people could
do whenever during the party.
We planned five games, only played four (including the "Guess
how many" game).
I do have an etiquette question following the descriptions,
which I'm really curious as to your thoughts.
1 -- Memory Game. Father-to-be wore an apron decorated with baby
items. He walked around the room, chatted with guests (he was in
his glory ;D) and showed off the items. After he took off the
apron, guests were given a form to fill out. The person (or
team) with the most correct items on the form won. Niece and her
family won.
2 -- Stick the Binky on the Baby's Mouth. Just like Pin the Tail
on the donkey. The very first person (Aunt) who played the game
got it spot-on. I was surprised to see the line form of lots of
other guests who still wanted to play! They all had fun, but
Aunt was the clear winner.
3 -- Don't Say Baby. Wear a clothespin. If someone says the word
Baby, take their pin. The person who has the most clothespins at
the end of the day wins. Niece had a whole lot of clothes pins.
(see below)
4 -- Guess How Many. Aunt was the closest. The next closest
guess was one away. (see below)
Etiquette Question -- were we wrong to "fudge" the winners?
Judges being me, DD#1, DHsam and DD#2.
For the Don't Say Baby game -- someone noticed that Niece had a
lot of clothespins, so they investigated. Turns out that a lot
of guests were just giving Niece their clothespins so that she
could win (again). That someone got a bunch of other guests to
give their pins to a friend so that Niece wouldn't win again.
Sigh. Friend won.
For the Guess How Many -- We gave the prize to the second
closest guess.
Etiquette question -- Were we wrong for fudging the prize
awards? Giving prizes to four guests instead of the actual
winners, which would have been two guests receiving two prizes
each? Instead of four different winners?
What do you think?
#Post#: 82163--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: oogyda Date: October 25, 2025, 8:00 am
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"YOU" didn't fudge the winner of the clothespin game. The
players did.
In regards to the "Guess how many" game, I think my opinion
would be influenced by a variety of factors mostly dependent on
aunt's personality.
Did aunt know she actually won, but graciously conceded due to
already having won? Not wrong
Would aunt have pitched a fit knowing she won but didn't get a
prize? Still not wrong
There are other considerations where I might think you were
wrong, but overall I think it was nice of you to do.
#Post#: 82164--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: jpcher Date: October 25, 2025, 2:32 pm
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Aunt did not know that she had the closest guess. I'm not sure
what she would have done if told or asked if the prize be
awarded to the next closest guess. She is rather competitive . .
. for the Memory Game, she was one item off. She asked to see
her list and compare it to the master list just to see what she
missed.
If she did receive a second prize? She would have gloated.
[quote author=oogyda link=topic=2638.msg82163#msg82163
date=1761397203]
"YOU" didn't fudge the winner of the clothespin game. The
players did.
[/quote]
Good point! Thanks for that validation. ;D
#Post#: 82165--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: Rho Date: October 25, 2025, 9:18 pm
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You were a good hostess ensuring as many guests as possible left
happy that they won something.
I always will remember a gathering with games where one man won
three games of chance. At the 2nd win I thought he should have
given the prize back for someone else. At the third win his
wife publicly scolded him for not returning the prize.
Glad to know the shower was a sucess.
#Post#: 82166--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: oogyda Date: October 26, 2025, 7:29 am
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[quote author=jpcher link=topic=2638.msg82164#msg82164
date=1761420735]
Aunt did not know that she had the closest guess. I'm not sure
what she would have done if told or asked if the prize be
awarded to the next closest guess. She is rather competitive . .
. for the Memory Game, she was one item off. She asked to see
her list and compare it to the master list just to see what she
missed.
If she did receive a second prize? She would have gloated.
[/quote]
Given the above, I don't think you were wrong at all.
#Post#: 82167--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: lowspark Date: October 27, 2025, 1:06 pm
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To be honest, the purpose of those games is mostly to entertain
the guests DURING the event. Who wins is usually much less
important.
So yeah, ideally, the gifts get spread out a bit. It's just more
fun that way for everyone, not just the winners.
It might leave a bad taste in my mouth if I saw all the prizes
going to the same people, particularly relatives of the
guest-of-honor.
As long as you don't make your actions public, I vote OK.
#Post#: 82168--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: Rose Red Date: October 27, 2025, 1:44 pm
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My workplace plays bingo sometimes and games at the yearly
picnic. Once you win a prize, you can keep playing for bragging
rights but you can't claim a second prize. It's more fun this
way and nobody feels bad.
Maybe make that a rule for the next similar event.
#Post#: 82169--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: oogyda Date: October 28, 2025, 6:18 am
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[quote author=lowspark link=topic=2638.msg82167#msg82167
date=1761588373]
To be honest, the purpose of those games is mostly to entertain
the guests DURING the event. Who wins is usually much less
important.
So yeah, ideally, the gifts get spread out a bit. It's just more
fun that way for everyone, not just the winners.
It might leave a bad taste in my mouth if I saw all the prizes
going to the same people, particularly relatives of the
guest-of-honor.
As long as you don't make your actions public, I vote OK.
[/quote]
Perfect.
#Post#: 82172--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: Gellchom Date: October 31, 2025, 3:00 pm
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Did you do the "bring a book in lieu of a card" thing?
I would be surprised by that. My go-to baby gift IS a few
books. So to me, it would feel rather like asking for two gifts
instead of one.
Besides, a book costs quite a bit more than a card, and I very
rarely purchase printed cards at all; I just use a pretty
notecard. So to me that would feel pushy -- "Buy us another
gift 'in lieu of' something you weren't going to do in the first
place."
Now, a Book Shower, at which the guests were requested to bring
books AS their gifts to create a library for Baby -- that I
would LOVE.
#Post#: 82176--------------------------------------------------
Re: Baby Shower Planning
By: jpcher Date: November 1, 2025, 10:28 pm
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Yes, we did the bring a book thing, but they only received six
or seven books. That's okay. They were cute little baby books
that couldn't have cost more than $10.
The invitation was worded "Please consider bringing your
favorite children's book with a short message . . . "
So it wasn't a demand or even a request, just a thought.
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