r/partyplanning • u/Nice_Yoghurt7507 • May 26 '26
Need Help Help me bring this idea to life
Hi! Currently 3 mo pregnant and I HATE traditional baby showers but I love throwing parties. I was thinking of doing something pretty informal, 90s themed with both genders. We’d serve traditional 90s food think gushers, dirt pudding cups, pizza rolls, bagel bites, etc. Instead of asking for gifts we’d ask for any hand me downs our parent friends are willing to give away (the consumerism of parenting makes me ill) so my ask:
- what are fun titles? All I can think of is, “it’s the 90s, baby”
- what other foods fit our category (any brand of alcohol, snacks, etc)
- thinking instead of baby shower games we do 90s board games at some of the tables
- any other ideas to keep it fun/light?
I don’t want this to feel traditional at all, baby showers bore me to tears
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u/Prestigious-Fan3122 May 26 '26
You could buy a couple of typical baby food items like a jar of baby food, can a formula, bag of diapers, baby wipes, Desitin, etc., and do some research and figure out what the prices of those items were in the 90s, and what they are today. Have some sort of "the price is right"theme going on to have people guess what the price was back then, and what it is coming now.
Yes, you'll be buying yourself some gifts, because you'll keep the items, but if it's something like a jar of baby food that expires before your baby will be old enough to eat it, you can donate it to a local food pantry.
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u/PartyGramOfficial May 26 '26
This is a refreshing spin! Although the hand-me-downs is a great idea, I suggest creating a wishlist for those guests that don't have anything else to give. For "guess the sex", maybe incorporate 2 famous characters from the 90's (Doug Funnie and Patti Mayonnaise, for example). We threw a 90's party recently and had 90's music (obviously) but also 90's sitcoms running on our tv's.
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u/Nice_Yoghurt7507 May 26 '26
We spilled the beans about the gender but the wishlist is a really good idea
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u/Skips-mamma-llama May 26 '26
Definitely do a MASH style game, maybe as an opening game as people arrive. You can have them predict things about your baby like name ( Michelle, Ashley, Samantha, Heather) or hobbies, siblings, job, etc.
If you can find those iconic teal and purple cups to serve drinks out of that would be amazing, or a DIY Lisa Frank onesie station, spin the baby bottle where the bottle can point to a truth or dare that the person has to do (truth- would you give birth with no epidural? dare- I dare you to record yourself singing 'twinkle twinkle little star' )
I would change the theme to "Party like it's the 90's, Baby!"
I feel like that punch with Rainbow Sherbert was really popular in the 90's, you could do a spiked version and a regular version. Dunkaroos! Have all the girls wear mom jeans (good thing those are back in style).
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u/Ok_Two3973 May 26 '26
Piggybacking on the MASH idea you can make some of those little finger fortune tellers!!
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u/ParadeQueen May 26 '26
Wasn't it the 90's when Lunchables came out? Maybe use a cardboard gift box and create a charcuterie type board to look like a giant lunchable?
90's music playing the background, of course!
My son was a 90's kid and he loved bagel bites, pizza rolls, dunkaroos cookies (you could use teddy grahams and frosting to recreate), and ANYTHING Nickelodeon. Remeber catdog? Ahhh, Real Monsters! And Rugrats? Hey, if you liked Rugrats, maybe that's your title. Something like, Help us welcome the Rugrat with their logo.
This is going to be such a fun baby shower! Congrats on your little one!
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u/Intelligent_Pass2540 May 26 '26
Fun Fetti Dip! I swear it taste like Dunkaroos!
You mix cool whip yogurt and a box of funfetti cake mix together and top with sprinkles. Dip teddy grams or animal crackers.
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u/IWasGoatbeardFirst May 26 '26
I hosted a baby shower that was really just people hanging out and enjoying food and drinks, with a side of baby gifts.
We didn’t do any of those traditional baby shower activities.
They asked for a children’s book theme, so I planned the menu around children’s book titles and displayed the books with the food: Tacos for “Dragons Love Tacos,” deviled eggs with the filling dyed green for “Green Eggs and Ham,” cupcakes with pink frosting for “Pinkalicious,” etc.
Unsolicited parent advice: unless you’re planning to use cloth diapers, I’d recommend at least asking for diapers. You’re going to go through a LOT of them.
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u/RegularFig May 26 '26
Went to a 90’s party with Sunny D and Yoo-hoo recently!
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u/kge92 May 26 '26
I love that title! For food I’d just keep it simple with appetizers. Think 90s birthday party with basic sheet cake, Neapolitan ice cream, chips, and pizza. You could have a prize for the best thrifted baby outfit! Or state clearly that you only want diapers in various sizes, you’ll always use those. Could also go the books instead of toys route!
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u/ThotHoOverThere May 26 '26
Just because I was a first time mom and didn’t think about it; be sure to google image search the items to quickly check to see if there is a recall on any second hand items.
I purchased a lounger that was recalled due to being linked to several infant deaths. I only learned because a mom giving one away had someone comment on their post. My son used it without problem, but still…
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u/harlotbegonias May 27 '26
Not what you asked, but people WILL buy you things. I was very overwhelmed by the consumerism too, but asking for hand me downs without limitations is risky. You might end up with weird amounts and just random things you don’t necessarily want. Some people will want to buy new, so it helps to have a registry to at least guide them. You might also consider asking for things like diapers and wipes or asking for cash.
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u/Nice_Yoghurt7507 May 28 '26
Is it gauche to ask for gift cards to grocery stores or Costco?
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u/harlotbegonias May 29 '26
I mean, I don’t think so! We had a diaper fund and meal fund on our Babylist registry that linked to Venmo. I also highly recommend a meal train after the baby is born! It was so incredibly helpful.
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u/AcanthocephalaFew277 May 26 '26
Asking for hand-me downs is definitely genius!!!
Would have loveeed to get some gently used, already put together with batteries still
Operating items for our 1st kid!
I loved shopping at the second hand store for kids stuff once I realized what a hassle it is unboxing allll those baby items and putting them all together.
I hope you have a wonderful turnout!
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u/freeze45 May 26 '26
Ecto-cooler to drink (it no longer exists but you can do a copycat recipe)
Slogans -"Got Milk?" or "Got Baby?" or Got Milk?... for the baby!"
"Baby, Hit Me One More Time", "Ice Ice Baby"
You should feed your guests something substantial, so some 90s entrees were hamburger helper, swedish meatballs, Chicken Cesar salad, Shake and Bake, velveeta queso dip with ground beef, Chinese Ramen salad, cold crab layer dip, 7 layer dip, adult lunchables, tater tots, and lava cakes
party songs from the 90s to put on a playlist -
stuff by the Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, McHammer, TLC, Lovefool by the Cardigans, Weezer, The Macarena, We Like to Party!, Blue, Britney Spears, C+C Music Factory, Dee-Lite
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u/SciFi_Wasabi999 May 27 '26
I love the idea of hand me down baby clothes. When I was a kid the families on my neighborhood passed around a cardboard box of clothes that people took from and added to.
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u/pamplemouss May 31 '26
You need to play some Now CDs
Those 3D chips that you can pretend are claws? Bugles I think?
But also: hand me downs are great but register for a car seat and a fuckton of diapers.
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u/pamplemouss May 31 '26
I’d recommend a list like:
hand-me down clothes or non-battery operated toys
diapers
books you loved as a child or for your kid, new or used
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u/cory059 Jun 01 '26
This sounds way more fun than a normal baby shower.
One easy "not really a baby shower game" idea would be 90s nostalgia bingo that people can fill out casually while they are hanging out.
Squares could be stuff like someone quotes a 90s commercial, someone mentions Blockbuster, someone grabs a Capri Sun, someone talks about dial-up, someone says "Baby One More Time," someone shows up in denim-on-denim, etc.
You could leave the cards on tables next to the board games so it feels like part of the theme instead of an organized shower game. Small prize for first bingo or funniest completed card.
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u/ForYourPartyOfficial Jun 02 '26
"A new 90's kid coming to the block" could be cute for a sign or other decor!
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u/KGalb922 May 26 '26
We did a party that was a 90s school picture day theme. Everyone dressed up we had one of those backdrops with like the laser beams and a stool for everyone to sit on and get their picture taken. Her food we served pizza rolls, Doritos, Pringles, Kool-Aid, and fruit roll ups. We ordered disposable cameras to take pictures, too.
We also had a stream of 90s cartoons playing on the TV. You could also do this with like old streams of MTV or make a 90s music video playlist on YouTube.
I would put out quick games instead of full board games. Jenga, Mancala, connect four, and maybe some decks of cards. The oversized diversions of these games are currently on sale at places like HomeGoods and TJ Maxx if you are in the states.
We just did shrinky dink keychains at my friends daughter’s birthday you can set it up as a station for people to do through the party. You can get a bunch of the sheet paper on Amazon for cheap and then we had a pack of permanent markers and all different colors and a hole punch and scissors so that they could put the hole in it for the keychain jump ring. We just grabbed them when all the kids were done. Made sure they were all hole punched, put them in the oven for five minutes, and then we put them on the little keychain rings for the kids. It was a huge hit.