Bottle Themed Baby Shower

You can really get creative with the invitations for a bottle theme baby shower by making them yourself. One of the most clever ideas is creating an invitation out of an actual small baby bottle. Buy enough small baby bottles for all the guests that you intend to invite. Then you have a couple options: either fill the bottles with pink, blue or a combination of pink/blue jelly beans OR place your actual computer generated printed invitations rolled up inside the bottles (like a message in a bottle). For the bottles filled with jelly beans, create labels for the exterior of the bottle that lists all the shower details like date, location, time, etc. You can buy white Avery labels to run through any ink jet or laser printer at places like Office Max or Office Depot. In either case, tie some baby themed ribbon around the bottle neck. Then mail them inside a box to each guest or hand-deliver them. Guests just love getting this little surprise!

On the other hand, not everyone has time to make their own baby shower invitations, but that is OK because so many online and local retailers sell fun bottle-themed invites. The fully customized bottle invitation shown in the photo is available at Tiny Prints. Just click on the banner below to save 5% on any order that you place through them. If you'd rather buy fill-in invitations which are a bit more affordable, check out the fun bottle-shaped invites shown from Amazon below. They have tons of great options!

Finally in this economy, I'm all about FREE and I'm sure lots of other people are too so I found this really cute FREE printable bottle invitation at Hoover Designs. Check it out if you are looking to save a few bucks!

For fully customized invitations, Tiny Prints has a wide selection for just about any theme or color scheme.

To incorporate your theme into the shower tableware, I highly recommend that you buy at least a few pieces of bottle-themed items such as plates and napkins. To save money, you can get the table covers, cups, and plastic silverware in a solid color that coordinates with the themed items. Add some bottle-shaped baby shower balloons like those shown below from Amazon along with some latex balloons on the back of the expectant Mom's chair and throughout the shower area.

Giant plastic baby bottles can be used to hold flowers for centerpieces on the buffet table or use small plastic bottles for single stems of flowers such as Gerbera daisies. Another centerpiece option is to purchase a bottle or got milk? themed diaper cake.

This fun snack dispenser idea was submitted to Fun Attic. Purchase inexpensive baby bottles suitable for holding food (cheap bottles are not suitable for feeding baby). Remove the nipples and fill the bottles with nuts, mints or your favorite trail mix. Replace collar on bottle and then people can shake contents into hands. It looks cute on the tables and it keeps hands from dipping into a bowl. And since I'm a bit of a germaphobe - it sounds great to me!

Another fun idea is to have guests give Mom tips by having a large plastic baby bottle along with sheets of paper and pens. When guests arrive at the shower, ask them to fill out one of the tip sheets and place it in the bottle. Mom (or you) can take the messages and create a cute memory book that will be cherished for years to come.

Photo Credit: Shower My Baby

It can be difficult to tie in a bottle theme perfectly with the snacks and food at the baby shower. However, this is where you need to get creative by using bottle-shaped containers and trays for the presentation. Take for example, the idea I shared above for the snacks you can place in nipple-free bottles so that guests can just pour the snack mix directly in their own hands. You can place small snack bottles throughout the shower area on side tables.

For the main course, go with some classic baby shower food and some of my favorites such as tortilla roll-ups with chicken or ham, classic bruschetta, shrimp stuffed mushroom caps, egg or chicken salad sandwiches, fruit and veggie trays with dip, and artichoke/spinach/nacho dips. You can find a whole range of appetizer type recipes at Plan The Perfect Baby Shower.

For punch, I recommend either selecting a blue or pink beverage based on the baby's gender. Use some frozen blueberries or raspberries to act as the ice cubes in the punch bowl.

Another great way to incorporate the bottle theme is by using a baby bottle-shaped cookie cutter to make cut-out gourmet cookies, finger sandwiches, and cheese slices that you can serve with cracker. And a bottle-shaped cake is a must so check out the great ideas from Wilton below.

Photo Credit: Who's Got Milk Game. Here are some other clever and fun ideas for baby shower games that have a bottle theme:

Baby Bottle Bowling - A twist on regular bowling. In a large area or at the end of a hallway, set up 10 baby bottles in a standard bowling pin triangle shape. Then play a bowling frame by having guests roll a tennis or soft ball to knock over the pins 2 times. If they get a strike (knock down all 10), they get another roll with the pins set up once again. If they don't get a strike, they get to roll for a spare on their 2nd throw. Strikes are worth 10 points, spares worth 10 points, and neither is scored as the number of pins that were knocked down. The guest with the most points after 2 rolls wins.

Bottles Up! Baby Shower Game - An excellent choice if you want to laugh so hard that you cry (and great for couples showers too!). You can either buy a pre-packaged bottles up baby shower game or buy individual small bottles at a local retailer. Just have one bottle per shower guest. You fill each bottle with the beverage of your choice (e.g. root beer, beer, soda, etc). Give each guest a bottle and yell go! The first player to drink the contents of their bottle is the winner. Be sure to have the video camera ready for this one!

Bottle Ring Toss - Remember the bottle toss game you played as a kid at carnivals? This one will take you back to that time. Place a bunch of baby bottles inside a square container like a big box or baby bathtub. You can buy rings at a local party supply store. Have guests take a turn trying to toss 3 to 5 rings around the baby bottles. The person that gets the most rings around a bottle wins. This game can be tough so practice before guests arrive so that you can decide how far away to put the container full of bottles. You want people to be able to get a few rings around bottles after all.

Pass The Bottle Game - Have guests sit in a circle. Instruct guests that they will need to pass a baby bottle between their knees or chin from one person to the next without using their hands. If the bottle gets dropped, the person is out. The last player left in the game wins.

Bottle Candy Guessing Game - Fill a baby bottle with jelly beans or other small candies like M&M's or mints. Be sure to count the number of candies as you are adding them to the bottle. When guests arrive at the shower, have them guess how many candy pieces are in the bottle. The player that is closest to the actual number without going over wins the prize - I suggest giving the bottle-filled candy gift.

You can find tons of printable baby shower games by clicking on the link below.

The most obvious choice for bottle themed shower favors are baby bottles filled with any number of things such as bath salts, pacifier or bottle-shaped candies, chocolates or whatever you can get to fit in the bottle. Just add some ribbon and a personalized favor hang tag for a great party favor!

Alternatively, consider buying baby shower favors online. Many companies including Baby Gifts & Gift Baskets sell bottle themed favors such as those shown in the above photograph. There are so many options ranging from place card frames, photograph holders, key chains and even bookmark favors that incorporate a bottle motif. If you are looking for shaped favors, consider bottle candles or bottle shaped cookie favors.

No matter what you choose, guests will thoroughly appreciate the thought and the adorable little thank you gift that they can take home with them!

The baby bottle blanket gift and the deluxe bottle diaper pinatas shown in the above photograph are just two adorable shower gift options. The fact that all of these items stand nearly 2 feet tall makes them an excellent choice for the baby shower centerpiece as well.

The gifts are constructed from fully practical and usable items such as diapers, diapers, booties/socks, rattles, wash clothes, bibs and baby blankets all cleverly rolled and assembled to look like one big baby bottle. Super fun!!

Another popular gift choice given the recent concerns about toxic BPA in bottles are the Born Free bottles that are completely free of BPA's. They may be a bit on the expensive side, but who can put a price on baby's safety?

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