Oh Baby! The Latest in Baby Showers

~By Vanessa Rodriguez, BabyDolls Boutique

You want your baby — and baby shower — to be as unique and hip as you are, so why settle for a prefab celebration? The folks at BabyDolls Boutique understand and have some fresh ideas to welcome your baby into the world with a cute and classy bang.

Today’s baby shower is typically lighter than an all-out shower. It’s more like a “sprinkle,” which is exactly what this modern take on your mother’s shower is called. Sprinkle parties are usually just for moms who already have a little one at home. They protect against double dipping in the gift department so moms can receive just what they need and not what they already have. Diaper covers, hand-made bibs, and pacifiers make for typical sprinkle gifts. Plus if a mom already has a girl and is expecting a little man, sprinkles can focus on the guy stuff and vice versa. Sprinkle menus also tend to be on the smaller side, so consider serving a la carte miniature versions of everything that tickles your taste buds.

Finger foods are the new filet mignon, and baby shower hosts everywhere are doing away with elaborate sit-down meals and embracing mini-foods, including tiny French toast squares and fruit kabobs. Finger foods are a creative way to add some zest to a meal minus the mess, so think cupcake bar rather than a traditional sheet cake.

Your grandmother’s shower games just won’t do for you or your 21^st-century baby, so go ahead and indulge your guilty pleasures. Hey, you’re a mom and so deserve it! Celebrity-based games, such as matching celebrity parents to their children on cards, are gaining modern-girl ground. Another favorite involves reading advice columns parodying the age-old Mad Libs.

Saving the planet is just good planning when you’re having a baby, so why not make your shower a green one? Serve organic foods and ask for gifts with eco-friendly packaging and organic clothing. Another popular idea is to have the shower double as a gender-revealing occasion. Talk about surprise parties! Have the cake tell the story for you. Just make the inner frosting pink or blue and — voila! — your friends have yet one more reason to toast you and your baby.

Visit BabyDolls Boutique at 3727 N. Southport Ave. for the hippest and trendiest in baby must-haves.