MetaChat - Have you ever heard of this baby shower game?

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15 July 2010

Have you ever heard of this baby shower game? →[More:]The couple I'm throwing the shower for mentioned this game, and I had to google it to understand it: have a piece of string or yarn! like a whole spool or ball or what ever! alot of it, and have everyone in a circle, the mama to be ties the string around everyones wrist ( everyones right, or left) so everyone is conjoined, the mama goes with the scissors and cuts them ( but everyone is left with a bracelet) and as she cuts them they make a wish or a hope

exp: i hope your baby is healthy

i hope you baby sleeps all threw the night

i hope its a worryfree labor

then everyone must keep their bracelets on till the baby is born!

Do people playing this sort of thing? I personally would not, but who knows, maybe I'm just a grump.

post by: ThePinkSuperhero at: 15:10 | 32 comments

Fellow grump. Nope, never heard of it, wouldn't want to play it.

posted by bearwife 15 July | 15:11

I found this game on a forum listing baby shower games, all of which sound horrific.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 15 July | 15:12

I find all those kinds of games embarrassing and dull. Bridal shower games too. I think you could safely skip 'em.

Nice wishes for the baby is a good idea, but it would be much more relaxed just to buy a pretty blank book and let people write them in, or something like that.

posted by Miko 15 July | 15:15

I have to go to a "unisex" baby shower this weekend. I'm all for equal rights and all, but some things should just be kept seperate... There have been assurances of no shower games, but I and the other fellas are skeptical. Oh well, if they breach that verbal contract that leaves me free to get in my car and go.

posted by King of Prontopia 15 July | 15:15

That sounds more like a sleepover game for preteens.

posted by Ardiril 15 July | 15:16

I know, right? I wanted to tell the baby's father, take a look at my outfit. Take a look at my accessories, take a look at how I'm put together. See any string?? I'm a grown woman, I'm not gonna go around wearing string for 3 weeks waiting for your baby to be born.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 15 July | 15:18

K of P, it amuses me greatly to imagine you throwing down cake and yelling "YOU BREACHED THE VERBAL CONTRACT," getting in your car, and peeling out of there. Priceless.

posted by rainbaby 15 July | 15:20

Oh man. I loathe this kind of thing. Not everyone wants to play games. I feel very uncomfortable being the center of attention, and also hate being made to feel I have to be chirpy and happy happy on the spot, and hate these forced "ok let's all go around in a circle and say something nice" kind of crap games that women always seem to want to play at these things. It's embarrassing. Ugh.

I'm squirming and flipping out a little bit here just thinking about this! HATE IT!!! HATE.

posted by iconomy 15 July | 15:22

Hahaha, iconomy, you and I are of one mind.

You'll all be happy to know I flat-out told the baby's father last night to remind his wife that this is MY shower, not hers, and I will decide on the activities as I see fit, and that she doesn't need to worry her head about it and we will have a lovely time. Yeah, I was a little bitchy last night. The antibiotics are making me very tired.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 15 July | 15:24

This sounds like one of those bogus "traditions" that were concocted by the big yarn companies in order to keep people buying yarn. Just like needlepoint art and vacation bible school.

posted by Atom Eyes 15 July | 15:38

Fellow grump. My daughter had a shower before gran-bunny was born and her friend and I were determined to find things to do besides eat cake that were entertaining but not embarrassing, for God's sake. She had a co-ed shower at her workplace, with folks coming and going over the course of an hour or two. One of the things we set up was a basketball toss where the ball was a tied up receiving blanket and the basket a diaper pail across the room. That was a hit. Lots of whooping which is fun.

posted by toastedbeagle 15 July | 15:47

What -- no "check the melted chocolate poo in the diaper" or "how big around is the mom BECAUSE SHE TOTALLY DOESN'T KNOW THAT SHE'S A FATTIE"?

We went to a co-ed shower, and one thing that sort of bridged the gap between silly and serious was having a box with notepaper/notecards, etc. next to it. People wrote down their addresses to make sure the parents had them for thank you notes, but on the other side they wrote a parenting tip. Because the cards went in the box and weren't (necessarily) read out loud in a circle, people could take whatever tone they wanted (stuff I loved when I was a kid, cautionary tales, special memories, etc.). They could even write more than one. It was cool but didn't put people on the spot.

posted by Madamina 15 July | 15:57

The baby shower we were at together, TPS -- those games didn't completely suck.

But for the most part, I loathe baby/bridal shower games too. Why do they persist? I know nobody who enjoys them.

posted by gaspode 15 July | 16:07

Seriously, I'm helping my mom and sister plan a co-ed shower for my brother and sister-in-law, and we're like, no one wants to play those stupid games, we're gonna have lots of yummy food and drinks, everyone hanging out, and opening presents! Not that the idea of everyone wishing nice things for the baby isn't sweet, but you don't have to be tied up to do that.

posted by leesh 15 July | 16:19

I'm planning a mixed baby shower at the moment and I know the mother and father-to-be would not like silly games, and nor would I for that matter. So as well as having lots of good eats and drinks, I was thinking of getting a piñata. That way, everyone who wants to play gets to hit something (smashy, smashy!) and then gets candy to boot!

What do you guys think? Good idea, or not?

posted by MelanieL 15 July | 16:45

Excellent idea, MelanieL! Chocolate and caramel candy is bestest, of course.

posted by bearwife 15 July | 16:53

A PINATA! Now that's a good idea. We might do that ourselves :D

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 15 July | 17:19

Do people playing this sort of thing? I personally would not, but who knows, maybe I'm just a grump.

There are touchey-feely-cutesy people, and then there are everyone else. I think you are in the company of the latter. (Gradations be damned, it's us vs them.)

My wife and I have been married for 3 years. It seems that because I'm The Guy, I'm generally safe from the questions about babies and such, but my wife has been barraged with that question for a while. After being asked a few times yesterday and venting about it, we spent some time last night thinking up answers to why she's not with child yet. Personal favorites include that we're actually gay but got married for the benefits (the lovey-dovey stuff is all for show), and our costumed bedroom romps make actual intercourse impractical (details added depending on the audience). We had a pretty good list going, which made me think about starting a tumblr account for our ideas, and then I laughed to myself about a possible publishing deal for such a creation. Oh, internet age, you amuse me so.

And "guess which candy melted in the diaper" is an amazing way to pair the annoyance of "cutesy baby shower crap" with revulsion of "that's just gross," which I didn't think was possible.

posted by filthy light thief 15 July | 17:28

This is why we're adopting.

(not really)

posted by desjardins 15 July | 17:32

A PINATA BABY! um, perhaps not.
Pin the diaper on the baby?

posted by Ardiril 15 July | 17:38

HIT THE BABY WITH A STICK UNTIL IT EXPLODES AND CANDY COMES OUT

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 15 July | 17:39

I suggest a baby human centipede centerpiece, with a chocolate fountain at either end. Pop culture referential, AND classy!

posted by iconomy 15 July | 18:46

Oh man, I LOVE the idea of a pinata baby. SO awful and yet, so DEEEElightful.

posted by richat 15 July | 19:28

My sister-in-law threw us a baby shower for our second. She set up a game of pin the umbilical cord on the fetus.

Loved it.

posted by plinth 15 July | 19:48

Baby food sundaes?

posted by Ardiril 15 July | 20:02

If there's ever a party involving a piñata baby and I don't get invited, I'll be super pissed.

When you bust open a piñata baby, all the candies have to be caramels and chocolates. Obviously.

Who's going to eat 'em, I have no idea.

posted by BoringPostcards 15 July | 21:14

Yep, I'm with TPS and richat and BP on the piñata baby.

posted by Specklet 16 July | 02:30

At my niece's shower, we guessed at her stomach circumference, decorated basic white onesies with fabric paint in pen-like dispensers, and played a game which involved coming up with the terms for the young of various species, i.e., kitten, kit, chick, cygnet, etc.

Decorating the onesies was kind of fun, so of the three, I'd recommend that. Though I got fabric paint on the back of my skirt, didn't see it, and then couldn't get it out afterwards despite trying Tide Bleach for Unbleachables and Shout and all kinds of other things, so the skirt was ruined.

posted by Orange Swan 16 July | 10:07

Decorating onesies was a big hit at the last shower I went to. The baby now has a range of artistic/snarky/sweet onesies. If you go that route, it would probably be a good idea to pre-wash the onesies - I don't know if the ones we made will survive their first trip through the laundry, but they were definitely cute.

Depending on the size of the shower and your budget, if you'd like to have a place for people to write wishes for the baby and family, you could buy an children's book and tell people to write their wishes on the flyleaves.

posted by EvaDestruction 16 July | 13:17

Yeah I don't think that game would work well. As my cousin's maid of honor I threw her a bridal shower. There were about 30 people there and the introductions alone (everyone introducing herself & saying how she knew the bride) took so long that everyone was just chatting amongst themselves by the time we got to the end anyways.

posted by IndigoRain 17 July | 00:59

Put me on the "grump" side of the line. Well, except for whacking pinata babies, that I could get behind.

posted by deborah 17 July | 21:28

I'm now frightened about what my sister could be planning for my shower.

Very, very frightened.

posted by gracebatmonkey 18 July | 02:25

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