Poems, Games, and Baby Showers

Baby showers and games have always gone together. And there's no older baby shower game than word scrambles and poems. These are always interesting and a great ice-breaker since they don't involve teamwork at first. Each guest can have their own piece of paper and come up with their own ideas and answers for the games in play.

A fun game is the Name Poem. If the mother has a few choices of names for the baby, then the guests can make a poem using the letters of the baby's name with some sound or hilarious advice. For example:

A = Always brush your teeth
L = Look to your Mom and Dad for help
I = It's better to eat all your vegetables

Another game with poems you can play is Words from a Hat. Words can be printed on bits of paper, rolled up, dropped into a hat, and passed around. The guests each pick out a word (or two!) and have to use them in a poem or haiku. Choose the words with positive connotations to parenthood in mind. The following list of words can be used as a starting point:

smile	giggles	beauty	sing
laughter	love	dimples	bubbles
rainbow	toes	teddy	hand
curls	doll	blankie	memory
stars	moonbeam	sunlight	colors
moment	snuggle	kisses	garden

The poems can be read by the poets themselves or a designated reader can do it if the poets are too shy! They can be collected afterward and put into a memory box for the new mother to look through. This in itself is a terrific and memorable collection of gifts for the mom-to-be.

Poems don't just have to be relegated to games, however. Poems are perfect to attach to any greetings or can actually be the gift itself, if printed out on a nice piece of paper with a great font. You don't have to be a poet to write a poem, though. There are many easy ways to start out.

First of all, write a poem in the way you talk. Don't use obscure words and keep away from formal language. The simpler the poem is, the more of your heart will be in it.

You can always use another poem as a starting point for your own. The internet has a plethora of poetry that you can use. Just don't attach your name to another person's work – that's plagiarism. But if you find a poem in a style you like, then format your own poem on that one. Add your own greetings or wishes and always make sure that it's your own voice coming out over the poem.

With poem-writing, experimentation is the key. You'll know your poem works when you read it out loud and it sounds right to you.

You can also take some questions and use the answers to them as inspiration to make a poem of your own. You could use questions like:

What would be your wish for the new baby's life?
How do you think a baby feels when he feels the love of his parents?
What would the trials of parenthood be? (Try to keep this one humorous)
Is the baby a boy or a girl?
Is there a special childhood memory you'd also want the baby to have?

There are so many ways to write a special baby shower poem, that literally nothing is wrong. As long as the writing is sincere and from the heart, it will always be treasured as a singularly unique gift.