A common trend today is to have different era-inspired, retro baby showers. These themes work great regardless of whether the baby is a boy, girl, or if the parents choose to not know the gender of the baby until the date of birth. Great decades from which to base your shower on are the roaring twenties, the rock-n-roll fifties, the hippie sixties, and of course, the unforgettable eighties. Do some research on each decade, and pick the one that you love the most, and that you think you can be the most creative with.

The twenties were a blast, and a twenties-themed shower will definitely be a blast, too. The music alone will have people dancing and smiling. Specify in the invitations for the gals to wear their most twenties-like dresses, and for the gents to wear a tidy suit. The more the outfits match what people wore in the twenties, the better. Award the person with the best costume. Decorate the room with big band and swing decorations. You can have toy musical instruments as centerpieces, and provide hats for the gents and twenties headbands for the ladies. Put on some great music, and make everyone get up and dance the Charleston!

Let me take you back a few years. It is Christmas Eve. You are running about the house pausing every few moments to strain your ears for any sound resembling sleigh bells, flight or a boisterous ‘ho, ho, ho’. What you do hear is mom calling that it is time to open a gift.

The first gift

You race as fast as you can to the tree. You hardly dare believe your ears: open a gift, now, tonight? Older siblings greet the news with less enthusiasm, and rather knowing expressions. Missing these subtle clues you tear into your box expecting to find the toy of your dreams. What you get are PJ’s.

Your childish heart is only momentarily dampened, older siblings dive into new jammies with familiarity and gratitude. This scene repeats every year. You can mark holidays in photos by what jammies you are wearing, not the gift you open.

A New Night Dress

Flash forward; you are the parent creating and contemplating holiday traditions. As you and your spouse begin a family the need for holiday traditions becomes more personal and warm. Your baby may not remember opening a red pair of footie PJ’s, but the photos will tell the story.

How to successfully navigate the perilous waters of a gift exchange can be a tricky task. At the holiday season we are beset with many different kinds of gift exchanges. There is the office gift exchange, the neighbor gift exchange, the gifts we exchange with our friends and the great white elephant gift exchange. While each of these exchanges has their own fun and pitfalls perhaps the most perilous is the family gift exchange.

Gift giving between siblings might be a fun tradition that is not too difficult – sure last year you received a novelty holiday sweater that has not seen the light of day since, but it is all in good fun. When it gets truly tricky is when the gift exchange flows down to the next generation to nieces and nephews.

Get it right

You love your nieces and nephews. You carry a photo of their pink pudgy faces and show off your precious babies at every chance, but shopping for a baby or toddler when you have none yourself is sometimes difficult.

Appropriate gifts

Puzzles from Santa – Getting the perfect gift for your toddler shouldn’t be a riddle and can be the best investment you ever made for many reasons.

Toddlers are a busy, imaginative group of individuals. Their minds and needs have progressed past the impulsive desire to chew every thing their fingers grasp into slimy shreds. They love colors and will not forget about an object simply because mommy has hidden it out of sight.

Toddlers are also natural problem solvers. Don’t believe me? Then why the need for a million dollar baby proofing industry, constant parental supervision and a great deal of improvising when the fancy toddler proof containers fail to keep your toddler out?

Work with it

This Christmas as you select holiday gifts for your toddler use these natural impulses to select gifts that stimulate these natural tendencies and capture the imagination. To that end puzzles are the perfect gift.

What kind?

The latest trend in holiday gifts or newborn baby gifts is the childrens personalized step stool. Choosing a childrens personalized step stool can be one of the more unique ways to add the enjoyment of having a puzzle along with their own name engraved in the stool. The stepstool not only promotes independence, it encourages learning to read with dexterity.

Although the classic “Its a Girl” and “Its a Boy” themes are lovely classics, there is so much more you can do with a baby shower. There are various sweet baby shower themes that will make your shower shine and stand apart from the rest. Themes like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” “Noahs Ark,” and “Candy Land,” will make your shower unique and unforgettable. This article will provide some basic baby shower themes from which you can get ideas from, and adapt them to your needs.

“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” is a beautiful nursery rhyme inspired theme that will fill the room with sweet vibes and tenderness. This theme is also easy to assemble at any location, whether it be a house, a restaurant, a banquet hall, or a hotel. Finding basic star- shaped decorations will definitely not be a problem, and making them is not difficult at all. For example, for centerpieces, you can fill star-shaped baskets or containers with baby-themed items, flowers, candy and confetti. For a special touch, you can also throw shiny star-shaped confetti on the tables.

A mother is not the only one who has memories of baby and toddlerhood. Grandparents also play a very important part in the making and keeping of a child’s memories.

The advent of the holiday season marks the passing of another year. Each of us becomes a bit more nostalgic than usual at this time so rich in tradition and with the reminders of ending and beginnings so close on every hand. As minds wander over the previous year and holidays past we can see those little ones that are dear to our hearts and mark their growth with each holiday.

It is often difficult to believe that the little one that runs about the house with pattering feet and a barely decipherable chatter was little more than a roly-poly smiling bundle at this same time last year.

Good intentions

Each baby is born to mothers who have the best of intentions to record and photograph each moment of this child’s life. Many mothers rise to this challenge amid hectic schedules and life’s demands. Yet few remain as committed to the scrapbook of the last child as they were with the first. Some mothers just don’t have time to even begin and those cute baby memory books remain untouched as the years pass.

A mother is not the only one who has memories of baby and toddlerhood. Grandparents also play a very important part in the making and keeping of a child’s memories.

The advent of the holiday season marks the passing of another year. Each of us becomes a bit more nostalgic than usual at this time so rich in tradition and with the reminders of ending and beginnings so close on every hand. As minds wander over the previous year and holidays past we can see those little ones that are dear to our hearts and mark their growth with each holiday.

It is often difficult to believe that the little one that runs about the house with pattering feet and a barely decipherable chatter was little more than a roly-poly smiling bundle at this same time last year.

Good intentions

Each baby is born to mothers who have the best of intentions to record and photograph each moment of this child’s life. Many mothers rise to this challenge amid hectic schedules and life’s demands. Yet few remain as committed to the scrapbook of the last child as they were with the first. Some mothers just don’t have time to even begin and those cute baby memory books remain untouched as the years pass.

Although traditional baby shower games never fail and are always a success, new baby shower games are emerging and spreading across the United States. These cool, unconventional activities are different than the classics but with all the fun and more. If you are aiming for a hip, edgier baby shower with a twist from the classic, all-American baby shower, include a few of these new, trendy games that are sure to be a hit at your shower.

The “Dirty Diaper” game is one of the most clever and unusual, yet surprisingly sweet games out there. For this game, fold white cloth napkins or square pieces of white fabric into small diapers. Inside one of these mini diapers, place an unwrapped Hersheys kiss or any other chocolate bonbon. Fasten all the diapers with a baby diaper safety pin.

When guests arrive to the baby shower, hand one mini baby diaper to each person. Tell the guests to keep them closed and to not open them until instructed to do so. Then, when the time comes for all your games and activities, tell your guests that one of them has a dirty diaper. Tell them to open the diapers all at once, and whoever has the “dirty diaper,” or the chocolate bonbon inside of their diaper, wins a prize.

Today, baby shower etiquette has evolved from a set of rules and procedures to a few flexible guidelines from which to base the structure of your shower on. Although there are no specific rules on how to host your baby shower, there are some basic rules of thumb that will help you have an amazing shower that will be comfortable and enjoyable for you and your guests. This article will answer all of the questions that you may have in mind and will address the issues at hand that matter when planning a baby shower.

Who should host the baby shower?

Years ago, the tradition was for non-related friends or co-workers to host the shower. However, today, many expectant mothers like for their own mothers and sisters to plan and host the event. The decision of who should host of the shower is completely up to you. In todays society, anyone from the mommys sister, to her mom, to her best friend, to her co-worker, is acceptable. There is no right or wrong host. The important part here is that whoever decides to host the baby shower be close to the mother and know her very well, in order to plan and execute the event according to her taste and preferences.