Want a venue?
If you don’t have room at home for a raucous baby shower, why not let the professionals take the strain?
St. Regis: High Tea at The St Regis’ Drawing Rooms is always a treat. Sit in front of the gorgeous large windows and look out across the beach club at the sea. From Dhs150 per head, St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Saadiyat Island (02 498 8888).
Shakespeare & Co: Providing great tasting options for anything from afternoon tea, buffet lunch, brunch or lunches, you can book a private room or reserve space in a Shakespeare and Co venue. Services include pink or blue decorations, flowers and the cake. From Dhs60 per head.
www.shakespeareandco.ae (02 639 9626).
Baby Bling: For mums up to the task, why not consider an in-hospital-room baby shower? Baby Bling have an events coordinator who makes arrangements with the chosen hospital to decorate your private room.
Catering must be arranged separately. Packages cost Dhs3,000 max. www.babybling.com (04 344 1115).
Sweet talk
Every baby shower needs a sweet centrepiece. We recommend the following.
ChoCo’a: This family-run chocolate house, patisserie and bakery will provide you with almost any design of cake or chocolate sculpture you desire.
Prices vary. www.chocoa.ae (02 628 9939).
Tickls Cakes: Jump online to check out their great gallery of cakes but if these don’t suit they encourage you to contact them with any design that you require and they will be glad to personalise it.
www.ticklscakes.com or call (055 516 0825).
Dubai Diaper Cakes: Not for munching, but they look lovely, and you can choose the number and theme of little gifts attached.
Dhs250-500. www.simplesite.com/dubaidiapercakes.
Mister Baker: Well known in Abu Dhabi and is a great place to get cakes. They can provide a range of cakes including picture cakes and you can even stock up on candles, wrapping paper and decorations.
Hamdan Street (02 678 0055) or Airport Road (02 445 5591).
Alternative wish lists
If you don’t want your friends spending all their dosh, how about having a ‘second-wave’ wish-list? This is where your friends who have had babies can pass on all their favourite items for a second round of baby-use. The bonus of doing it this way means you can usually get your hands on big expensive stuff, such as cots, buggies, car seats, changing tables, bedding and the like. And from those friends who aren’t in the baby zone, you can still get lovely new things too: bargainous and eco-friendly as well!
Conventional wish-lists
Babyshop, locations across Abu Dhabi, www.babyshopstores.com (02 6347 012).
Mamas & Papas, Al Wahda Mall, www.mamasandpapas.com (02 443 7000).
JustKidding www.justkidding-me.com Pottery Barn Kids The Dubai Mall www.potterybarn.me (04 325 3706).
Mothercare Al Wahda Mall, www.mothercare.com/UAE (02 443 7000).
Baby Bling www.babybling.com (04 344 1115).
Game on
Check out our easy-to-organise ideas for plenty of baby shower laughs.
Don’t say baby!
Collect together a group of small, baby-related objects (dummies or nappy pins work well) and as each of your guests arrive, present them with a number of the items on string that that can worn around their necks. Whoever says the word ‘baby’ and is caught out by another participant – who then calls out ‘shower!’ – has to be given one of their items to add to their special necklace. At the end of the party, the person with the most adorned necklace wins a prize.
Shopping list
Give each contestant at the shower five minutes to write down as many essential items they think new mothers require. The person with the longest list at the end of the race wins a prize. This might seem very simple, but after the first minute or so, it gets tough to add to the list.
Name that thing
Fill a bag full of random baby items for each guest, and one at a time, blindfold them and get them to guess the identity of the item just through feeling it. You don’t have to use baby toys – in fact the more unusual the item, the better. Things like formula storage cups, breast-pump attachments and baby thermometers are all guaranteed to flummox. Prize goes to the guest with the most correct guesses.
Guess the grub
Buy a selection of baby food jars, and using disposable cups and spoons, offer each guest between five and 10 samples of the baby nosh – while they are blindfolded. They have to taste the contents of each cup and identify it. This is much harder than you’d think. The cheaper the jars, the less discernable the flavours too, so make sure you go budget! The one with the sharpest palate wins.
