Opa! It's a Greek Baby Shower!

Perhaps inspired by such hits as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “Mamma Mia,” the Greek baby shower would definitely be a party with a capital “P.” In Greece, the new mommies and their babies don't leave their houses for 40 days after the birth to let the baby's immune system strengthen. It would be good to keep that in mind when planning a Greek baby shower for a friend of Greek ancestry. She may prefer to have the shower after the birth, instead.

Let everyone know what the party will be with your invitations. Any card that features the sights of Greece will be perfect. Or, choose one that shows Ionic columns and grape leaves or people in togas will definitely suit the Greek baby shower theme. You could ask the guests to come in costume – there is no outfit more comfortable to a pregnant woman than a toga!

Now, how to bring the Greek islands to your party place. Decorate using blue and white – the colors of the Greek flag. You can use accents of blue or terracotta to complement that. Have a few busts around. Look for some armless mannequins and paint them flat white. And instead of streamers, use grapevines on the walls of your party place. Accent them with bunches of grapes instead of balloons. Have some fun Greek music playing in the background.

Accent your tables with lots of white candles. Set a glass plate in the middle of the table and have some sand packed to one side and blue-tinted gelatin covering the rest of the plate to simulate water. Decorate it with some white seashells like scallops and sand dollars and pieces of white coral and a “gold” coin or two. Set your tables with white plates and utensils. Bundle the tableware with the napkins using a gold ribbon.

Set your food on a well-weathered wooden table and use wooden or earthenware serving dishes for your food. Greek food has a lot of popular favorites and a popular starter is a meze platter with appetizers like feta cheese cubes, olives, hummus, pita wedges, and stuffed grape leaves. You can serve this with the classic souvlaki and dishes of flaming feta cheese. Dessert is the deliciously sweet baklava. Your beverage of choice at this meal is red grape juice, red wine, or beer.

Every baby shower needs a cake and the Greek baby shower is no exception. The cake can easily be made in the shape of an Ionic column and decorated with bunches of sugared fresh red and green grapes.

Aside from the typical baby shower games, you could play a Greek-themed trivia game at the Greek baby shower. Test how much your guests know about Greece and Greek mythology and feature some famous Greek Goddess-mothers like Hera, Aphrodite (Cupid's Mom), and Gaea (Zeus's Mom). The winner of the Greek trivia game gets a bottle of special olive oil or salt-cured Kalamata olives.

Wonderful favors for this Greek baby shower are picture frames that feature an Ionic theme and a little bottle of marinated feta cubes. A soothing yogurt (yogurt is a Greek food) salt body scrub paired with a honey body cream and lip balm can be packed with a sea sponge in a pretty cinch pouch.