The whole purpose of this baby shower is to start a library for the little one and maybe round out mom's library on child-rearing, too. When you send out the invitations, ask the guests to each bring a book that had a special memory for them as a child or something that their own children love to read. Sometimes there are stuffed toys that go with the books, this could be a great additional gift, too.
The invitations could be done in several ways: you could make an old-fashioned fold out card with a little poem in it, or a mini-book that can be stapled together. Another idea is a bookmark or a library card announcing the baby shower and its theme.
Stuffed toy lions with glasses make the perfect centerpieces since lions normally guard the steps to the library. Decorate with ivy (also found around libraries), glasses, and hardbound books. Unusual touches could include using bricks as risers for the food platters or ivy plants. Little “bookworms” can be made out of pompoms and googly eyes or origami.
Brain food is the best choice for this baby shower! Salmon or tuna salad, wholewheat bread toasts, mixed nuts, mixed green salad with orange segments and pumpkin seeds, and banana pudding make up the smart eats.
A cake shaped like a book would be a great addition to dessert. if your party's more on the casual side, a dirt cake with gummy bookworms will do just fine. Fresh fruit juices round out the brain food theme nicely.
The creation of baby's memory book could be the starting point of the baby shower. Using a blank scrap book, decorate the cover, remembering to leave a blank space for the baby's name and date of birth. Each guest then takes over making the background of one page. You could have them put titles already and leave space for pictures and little notes that the mommy-to-be might jot down. Some examples of topics are: “And baby makes three (or four),” “Baby's first day home,” “My favorite stories.” and so on.
A great game for this baby book shower is “Once Upon a Time.” Someone starts telling a story beginning with “once upon a time...” The story is picked up by the person beside her, and is continued in about 3-5 sentences. Each guest contributes a little more to the story until it's finished. You may want to record the story!
Favors for this baby book shower could be a diary and a pen, a
set of book plates, or gift cards to a bookstore would be in keeping
with the theme. If you and your friends like off the wall gifts,
a coffee cup (for those future sleepless nights) imprinted with
“It's cool to be geeky” would be a novel idea.