Conference turris::cooks

    I just helped out with my sister-inlaws baby shower, this too is
    her first.  They had a "theme" for the shower (rocking horse) so
    of course there was a rocking horse on the cake and the hall was
    decorated with a rocking horses.  As for food they had lasagna,
    meatballs, macaroni, salad, finger sandwiches, beans and all sorts
    of pastry.  
    
    Hope this helps!
    
    DS
    

    chuckle....
    I make the hot air balloons from sugar cookie dough and draw frosting
    lines from the 'balloon' to the 'basket', its cute.  But you just
    gave ma another idea - Make stork cookies!  With pink and blue
    frosting.  Cute!  
    
    The balloon are just a cute idea with the bunny and dog cookies.
    Child-like, y'know?  Baby shower, child-like food?  
    
    Geez, maybe I can come up with a theme?  For her bridal shower,
    (2 years ago, don't worry!) we (me and Mom) copied the invitation
    onto the cake.  It was two koala bears in an upside down umbrella,
    so we drew it (Mom is a good drawer with cakes) on the cake.  Cute.
     Maybe we'll do that this time too?
    
    Thanks!

    When I do showers both bridal and baby I think dainty and pretty.
    I orderd bread in pastel colors and had it sliced real thin, cut
    out the slices with animal shaped cookie cutters (bears, bunnies,
    ducks , etc) and made non oozing sandwiches with things like flavored
    cream cheeses, finely chopped chicken, tuna, or ham salad. Make
    alphabet cookies with either pastel dough or decorate with colored
    frostings. Carve a watermelon into a basket and fill with fresh
    fruits that have been marinated in orange liqueur and fruit juice,
    and you have an edible centerpiece. After filling the punch bowl
    with your favorite fruit punch, float baby toys in it, like a rubber
    duck or hollow plastic rattles. For favors, make diapers from a
    cute fabric and pin it with a real diaper pin and fill with pastel
    mints. There are so many cute things that you can do that are more
    fun than lasagna and dips. 
    
    Just an idea!!!!!!

    Wow, its been a few months, but I just wanted everyone to know that
    the shower went great.  Erik (the baby) was born 2 months early
    (May 24th) and the shower was on June 5th.  (Baby is just fine,
    cutest baby around!)  We did float bath-toys in the punch, what
    a hit and a few other cute things.  It was great, thanks for the
    suggestions.
    las

    I don't need ideas for food but I do need ideas for favors.....we are a
    group of about 7 woman who are planning the shower. I am in charge of
    the decorations and the theme I will proposing to the group is teddy
    bears....the babies room is decorated with a border that has light
    brown teddy bears in it....any clever favor ideas out there??? 
    
    Thanks in advance, 
    
    Rachelle 

    You could always go to a candy store and buy a few pounds of gummy
    bears and wrap them in squares of celofane or mesh and tie them
    with pretty ribbons.
    
    Lori B.

    
    You can go to a party supply store and find all kinds of teddy bear
    stuff. One suggestion would be to get teddy bear pencils, make a
    little sack of mints or jordan almonds out of net and secure it
    to the pencils.  Another thought is to use teddy bear cookie cutters
    instead of pencils. I believe in useful favors. Also you could make
    teddy bear cookies about 3 or 4 inches tall, tie alternating pink
    and blue ribbons around the neck, wrap them in a clear cling wrap
    and give them out.  In some novelty stores there are miniature books,
    they are about 2" by 3", you could get ones with bear stories and
    tie a ribbon and a net sack of candies. Some of the large candy
    stores have different bear candies, like gummy bears, licorice bears,
    or chocolate bears, that could be used instead of mints or jordan
    almonds.
    
    Hope this helps!!!
    
    +pat+
    

    Since I'm an avid bear fan, a few ideas that come to mind are bear
    soaps (they come in a package of 4), potpourri bears (made of lace
    and stuffed with potpourri), a potpourri pot with a bear on it (I've
    got one, so I know they are made), coffee mugs with bears on them,
    or I have seen the mugs with a little stuffed bear inside the mug
    that comes out, shoe strings with bears on them, small ceramic or
    brass bears, small suffed bears, the pencils and/cookie cutters
    are good ideas.  That's all I can think of right now.  Let us know
    what you decide.
    
    Virginia

    re..11
    
    I think the coffee mugs filled with gummy bears is great.
    

    I wanted to add to this note because I saw this idea on TV and thought
    it was great.  
    
    A Watermelon cut in the shape of a baby buggy!
    
    They cut out one side as you would if making a basket.  The rounded
    other side would then become the bonnet of the buggy.  They used a
    tool in the shape of ^ except more rounded to cut.  This left little ruffles
    kind of around the edges.   The Watermelon was scooped out for melon
    balls etc.  The side that was taken out was cut like a stroller handle
    and fastened to the edge of the Watermelon with tooth picks (or cut
    wooden skewers might be stronger).  They sliced an orange in 1/4 inch
    slices and put those on the sides (with toothpicks) for wheels.
    
    What a centerpiece!
                                                     
    

    You can do .13 with a paring knife by making cuts at right angles
    to each other (i.e., lots of V's).
    
    ed
    (who has a hobby of making such things as 'watermelon whales,'
    'melon swans,' and the like.)

    For my sister's baby shower (years ago), we had a salad bar.  We
    figured that women are always on diets.  We all prepared some of 
    the vegetables, potatoe salad, macaroni salad.  For my baby shower,
    my family made crepes and stuffed them with turkey mixture.
    
    I have a very creative bunch in my family.  For favors at some of
    the showers we have had:  could babies with birth certificates
    (stuffed nylon faces on felt clouds with magnet glued on and each
    cloud baby had a name (it was the "cabbage patch" craze); another
    favor was felt teddy bears (double sided and attached at the head) and
    pink and blue inserts -- a needle holder -- and we put needles on the
    pink and blue inserts.  Mine was whale-stuffed potpourri -- blue/pink
    on the back and lace on the front with potpourri stuffed inside.  For
    clothes draws.

    A great inexpensive idea for favors are little pacifiers.
    Take jelly beans, (can be pink and blue) glue them at one end to
    a NECCO wafer (with edible frosting glue - same as used in
    gingerbread houses), and glue a white lifesaver candy on it's	
    side to the other side of the NECCO wafer.  Then tie short pink
    and blue curly ribbon onto the lifesaver.  Put them in a decorated
    basket by the door for people to take as they leave.

    
    <-- Cute idea!