Nowadays, including dad in the baby shower fun is a cool thing to do. I personally think it is. I mean, without them, we technically wouldn’t be here expecting a little one on the way! That’s why I wanted to share these 10 ways to throw a fun co-ed baby shower!
First things first, make sure Dad actually wants to be included. Some dads truly feel like baby showers are a women-only event, so if it’s just not their thing, don’t force them into it!
10 Ways to Throw a Fun Co-ed Baby Shower
1. Figure out the baby shower guest list together
My husband and I are actually in the middle of planning our 2nd co-ed baby shower (although this one will be much smaller), but one of the most fun we have is sorting out our guest list. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s another way for us to spend some quality time together or what, but we enjoy it!
So, ask the dad-to-be who he’d like to make the cut. If you have a guest count, be sure to establish that first. Then you can narrow down your selection of guests, including mom’s friends and family and dad’s!
2. Design your baby shower invitation together
Yay, now’s your chance to show off your creative skills! You and dad-to-be can look through pre-made invitations, which will also help you select a theme (Etsy tends to have some super cute options) OR if you’re opting to save money, you can use an online invitation service such as Evite to send out your invites.
No matter which option you choose, it should be fun for the two of you to sift through together and envision your baby shower theme all coming together after selecting the perfect invitation!
Some co-ed baby shower theme/invitation ideas to consider:
- Woodland theme
- Animal themes (sea animals, farm animals, wild animals, zoo animals, etc.)
- Baby girl exclusive themes
- Baby boy exclusive themes
- Neutral themes
- Seasonal themes
3. Plan to have LOTS of food!
Depending on the size of your guest list, it’s probably a good idea to be over-prepared rather than underprepared when it comes to baby shower food selection, especially when you’ll have a bunch of grown men hanging out at a baby shower! For our baby shower, we opted to go with a very classic route: Pizza! I mean, everyone loves pizza, right? We also had some fresh veggie & fruit appetizers for guests as well.
Needless to say, the pizza ended up being a big hit with everyone. But there are plenty of options to consider. For example, depending on how much you have to spend, you could:
- Have a company cater to the event (taco truck, fast food catering, pizza truck, etc…)
- Grill up some hotdogs and burgers
- Offer brunch (if it’s earlier in the day)
4. Choose to have fun co-ed baby shower games
The part that will REALLY make your co-ed baby shower stand out to both the ladies and the men is choosing fun baby shower games that they both can partake in!
I listed some fun games below. You likely won’t need them all, so pick 2-3 and put your own spin on them:
- Baby Bottle Drinking Contest: Fill a 4 or 8-oz baby bottle with a beverage of choice & chug away! The fastest person wins a prize!
- Guess the Baby Food: Smear different flavors of baby foods onto a diaper, pass the diapers around, and let the guests write down their best guess! Whoever guesses the most correct wins.
- Baby Changing Race: Have 1 or 2 baby dolls with a diaper & clothing laid out. Whoever can FULLY dress the baby properly without dropping or holding the baby in a way you wouldn’t usually hold a real baby wins! This game was HILARIOUS and such a hit at our first baby shower.
- Bobbing for Pacifiers: This one takes some work, but get a shallow bin full of water, throw in about 20 pacifiers and allow guests 30 seconds to bob out as many as possible! Depending on how many guests participate, having about 5-10 bins of water/pacifiers is ideal, so you don’t have to worry about cross-contaminating the water and pacifiers between guests.
- “My Water Broke”: This is another fun one — freeze little plastic babies in an ice cube tray. When guests arrive, plop a frozen baby cube in their drink cup & whoever’s ice cube melts first, aka “water breaks,” has to shout “MY WATER BROKE,” and they win! Plus, it’s extra fun when the guys win this one!
5. Include dad in the gift-giving
More often than not, most people get baby shower gifts for mom or baby, reasonably so. But be sure to remind guests that they CAN totally include Dad in the gift-giving fun, too! In fact, you might want to add some gifts to your baby registry to make it easier for them to figure out.
6. Get game prizes that BOTH genders can use
Since this will be a co-ed baby shower, you want to make sure the prizes people can win are also co-ed! You could probably have 1-2 gender-specific gifts if you really wanted to, but we did all our gifts neutral for anyone to win. Some easy and fun game prizes could be:
- Coffee mug + Starbucks gift card
- Plastic Popcorn tins (Target Dollar Spot always has these), some candy & a pair of movie tickets
- Tumbler cup stuffed with a fast-food gift card or snacks
- Mini-potted succulent with a Home Depot or Lowe’s gift card
- Popular adult board game + 2 shot glasses
As you can tell, gift cards or snacks are always a hit, as they can be used by just about anyone! In addition, most of these can be pretty cheap and affordable, which doubles as making them even more appealing for the baby shower host!
7. Offer a variety of desserts
Similar to food, most men can eat. This means having a wide array of dessert selections is always a good choice! We opted for a classic baby shower cake along with some cookies and cake pops (which my mom offered to make).
If your budget is a bit tight, you can still get all those things from a grocery store or bake them yourself and simply dress up the dessert table with some affordable, cute baby decorations!
8. Decide whether or not you want to serve alcohol
We all have those friends who sometimes don’t know their limits. If you have many friends like that, it might be a good idea to limit or pass on the alcohol. However, if you know that alcohol won’t be a distraction to your guests, by all means, serve up the drinks!
We ended up passing on alcohol just because our first baby shower was a bit large, and we wanted everyone to be focused on celebrating the baby and playing the games. But with our 2nd baby shower being significantly smaller, we probably will have some light beers for guests to enjoy.
9. Don’t forget to have your guests sign in!
Having a guest book or a sign-in gesture is a great way to look back and remember this fun day shared with all your friends and family! Ask them to simply write their names, leave a piece of advice for the new parents to be, draw a picture for baby, etc. Together, use your imagination and creativity to figure out how you’d like to look back on this fun day together!
10. HANDWRITE your thank you cards together!
That’s right. There’s nothing more personal than receiving a thank you card that was actually handwritten! Plus, it’s even more personal when guests see that Dad participated in the gesture by handwriting his message on the card, too! If you’re worried about your handwriting, don’t be! It’s what keeps it authentic and unique. And I’m pretty sure mom-to-be will be extra appreciative of the help sending out thank you cards!
