There are a wide range of reasons to consider throwing a gender-neutral baby shower. Maybe they don’t know the gender of the baby and want to be surprised at birth. Perhaps the parents want to eschew traditional gender roles. Maybe this is their third shower and their tired of tulle or trucks.
Whatever the reason, there are lots of fun ways to celebrate with a gender-neutral baby shower.
Carnival
This can be a super fun shower to have if you plan on inviting lots of families. Create an invitation that looks like a ticket with all the particulars of the shower. Be sure to include day, time, place and, if you are planning an outside shower, an alternate place for inclement weather. Consider making a smaller ticket for the thank you note. Be sure to address the envelopes for the thank you notes when you address the invitations. Not only does this save time for the mom, but it also saves her money if you have the invitations printed, addressed and stamped. Just write down the gift on a sticky note and stick it onto the envelope of the person who gave the gift. The Mom then only has to write out the note and stick the thank you in the mailbox.
Plan a menu that features carnival-type foods. Think hot dogs, burgers, funnel cakes, and kettle corn. If possible, check into renting a cotton candy machine, especially if you have invited children. Be sure to have plenty of garbage cans, since most of these foods come with trash.
Decorate your party space with strings of colored lights and fake “awnings” of striped cloth or paper. Line up your activities to look like a midway. There are many different activities that you can include. Try a duck pond, where players can win small prizes, or even stamps on their hands. A milk bottle toss is an easy game to set up and play. You can also set up cans and throw beanbags at them for another familiar carnival game. Whatever else you do, don’t forget to set up a photo booth. If you don’t want to invest in instant film, simply take a picture with the family and their name, then include the photos in the thank you note.
Mystery Shower
If you don’t know the gender of the baby, don’t hide it, flaunt it! Plan a baby shower around the mystery, asking your guests to be sleuths and make their best guesses. Start by creating a shower invitation that sets the stage. You can write a fun poem such as “Ten little fingers, ten little toes, boy or girl, nobody knows.” To make it more of a mystery, consider writing the poem in code. You can do this simply, by writing the poem on the computer, highlighting it, and changing the font to Wingdings. But make sure that the particulars of the party should be easy to read. Think about asking your guest to come in their favorite mystery attire, whether that is a trench coat or as their favorite femme fatal.
Serve plenty of finger foods and mocktails, shaken, not stirred. You can add lots of fun mystery games that guests can solve with paper and pencils. You can substitute the words in Nursery rhyme or classic children’s book titles with emojis and ask your guests to figure them out. Another fun mystery game is “Guess the baby food.” For this game, remove the labels from baby food jars and ask guests to taste and guess the contents. The person with the most correct answers wins. To make it tough, be sure to choose some unique flavor combinations to make it tough. You can also pass around a diaper bag full of baby needs, such as a pacifier, clean diaper, and wipes. Be sure to add some less familiar items such as diaper cream or a baby thermometer. Then ask each person to write down what they remember. The one who remembers the most wins.
Just Ducky
Who doesn’t love rubber duckies? This theme can make a fun shower that doesn’t depend on gender.
Start with a shower invitation that features ducks. You might write something on the front like “Waddle it be?” You can have them printed with bright yellow rubber ducks, or you can have them die cut to look like big rubber ducks, either one is a lot of fun. When you print up the invitations, be sure to print up the thank you notes for the mom. Not only will they match, but you can stamp and address the envelopes, making it easier for the mom during this busy time in her life.
For food, stick with basics: crudité, finger sandwiches, and lemonade. Keep the colors in the yellow spectrum. For dessert, you can have a cake made with a rubber duck, but if you want something simple to make, just make or purchase cupcakes. Then add candy eyes to bright yellow marshmallow Peeps and place one on top of each cupcake.
Games can be duck themed as well. Purchase tiny rubber ducks and freeze them inside ice cubes before the party. Hand them out as you pass out drinks and the first one who melts their duck out of the ice, so it floats on top of their drink wins. You can also play the typical duck pond game with a fun twist. As each guest picks a duck from the water, they read the number on the bottom. That number corresponds to a piece of advice each guest can leave for the new mom. Think of the things you wish you knew, such as: What is the best way to get your baby to sleep? How do you keep the baby happy on car rides? What do you do for diaper rash? Print the questions on cards that you can easily hand to guests as they play.