Top 10 Baby Shower Gift Ideas

Top 10 Baby Shower Gift Ideas

Looking for the perfect baby shower gift idea, here are 10 different suggestions that are sure to put a smile on that mum-to-be’s face.

1. Nappies, wipes and disposable change mats – you can never have enough of these things and they do become expensive to purchase every week.
2. Baby Language DVD – this DVD teaches a mother/father how to read and interpret the sounds her baby is making.
3. A play mat
4. A Jolly Jumper – great gift idea which aids in strengthening the babies leg muscles.
5. A good quality baby carrier such as the Baby Bjorn.
6. A Mirror to put in the car so you can see the baby from the driver’s seat.
7. A parenting magazine subscription
8. Pay for a nanny service or house cleaner for a few weeks.
9. Wraps of all sorts and sizes, cotton, muslin, flannelette.
10. A baby food cookbook- they may not need it straight away, but before long these recipes will come in awfully handy.

Invitations Guide

Invitations Guide – What to use?
For many get togethers the traditional printed invitation is no longer an effective way to get your crowd together.

For formal events like weddings, printed invitations are still widely used. Online invitations on www.myinvites.com.au have become really popular for ’save the date’ invites for weddings, that are followed up by a printed invite closer to the actual date (6-8 weeks is the current recommendation!). There is though, a strong trend among modern brides towards online planning. Many a bride-to-be has decided to go online for wedding planning simply because of the convenience and timeliness. When it comes to the flurry of events associated with a wedding, online invites prove the smartest, quickest, most cost effectvie option for organising hen’s and bucks nights, bridal showers and get-togethers with the girls. In response to demand, www.myinvites.com.au has hundreds of stylish and fun designs for each of these occasions. Best of all, you can choose a design you love and send it to up to 100 of your friends for free.

…and funnily enough, the most highly requested invite designs from our members to date has been for wedding invites, proof that even the most formal occasions are now going online.

10 Fab Hair Accessories for Autumn Parties

10 Fab Hair Accessories for Autumn Parties
Tame your locks this Autumn party season with gorgeous hair accessories. It’s cheaper than buying a new outfit for your next party! To have great party hair, check out handbag.com for 10 fabulously feminine hair accessories and get inspired for your next event. Have a party to plan this Autumn? Visit myinvites.com.au for fab free online invitations.

Ideas For a Wet Easter Long Weekend Friday, 21 March 2008

Ideas For a Wet Easter Long Weekend Friday, 21 March 2008
An Easter Egg hunt just isn’t as fun in the rain… so here are our top 5 ideas to have fun indoors this Easter Long Weekend…

1. Board game bonanza – Crack open the twister (great clothed and as a de-robed alternative), monopoly, pictionary and invite your mates round for an Easter Long Weekend board game marathon. If you tend to get a little competitive, grab your silver coins and invite the neighbours round for a poker party. Check out our poker party ideas here: http://myinvites.com.au/site/theme.aspx and some awesome free poker party invites here: http://myinvites.com.au/site/event/browse.aspx

2. Movie Mayhem – Visit your local cinema, jump online or grab that DVD you’ve been wanting to watch this Easter. Heat up some popcorn, grab your doona and you’re set. Stuck for ideas? Check out TIME’s 100 all time greatest movies and make the choice easy:
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/the_complete_list.html

3. A Hit of History – Visit your local museum this Easter long weekend! There’s no doubt you’ll learn something. It’s the perfect time to visit a museum or local gallery.

4. Prioritise your pics – Get the family together this Easter and trawl through old photos that need to be put into albums. Sort them into piles and pop them into books. If you’ve gone digital, sort through your CD’s or folders and choose some great photos to print and frame.

5. Rumble under the covers – And with no real reason to venture outdoors it’s the perfect excuse to cuddle up with your favourite other person. No further explanation required.

…and a bonus idea for the organisers amongst us… get organised now for the next long weekend in April! Jump onto www.myinvites.com.au and check out our newest free invites, tips and ideas for planning, party theme ideas and What’s on around town.

Labels: 100 best movies of all time, Easter ideas, long weekend ideas, wet weather ideas, what to do easter long weekend

Party Frocks

Fabulous Racing and Autumn Party Frocks from Rose and Ruby

The wait is over! Rose and Ruby have just launched their Winter collection. It is bursting at the seams with fabulous, feminine frivolity, sexiness and style. Best of all it’s arrived just in time for the Autumn Racing Carnival. If you’re stuck for ideas and want to look fabulous and decidedly feminine this Easter, you must indulge yourself and check out Rose and Ruby’s latest creation. It’s beyond stunning. Visit: www.roseandruby.com 

Easter Treats: Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Easter Treats:
Invite the girls round this Easter. Best Hot Cross Buns Recipe Ever!

Or so they tell me… If you’re feeling creative this Easter, why not try your hand at rustling up some home made hot cross buns?

You will need:

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons mixed spice
750g plain flour
2 sachets of dried yeast (x 2 if fresh)
1 cup currants
100g brown sugar
130g butter
300ml milk
3 eggs, beaten
200g marzipan
1 egg, beaten, for glazing
Icing sugar

Put the yeast, flour, salt, mixed spice and currants into a bowl and make a well in the centre.

Melt the butter and add the milk and sugar together. Only melt the butter till warm, don’t let it bubble up!

Beat the eggs. Pour the butter/sugar/milk mixture into the well and add the eggs. Mix until soft. Knead on a floured board or bench for about 15 minutes, until the dough is very stretchy.

Lightly grease a bowl and place dough inside. Cover with a tea towel or glad wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for about 90 minutes. The dough should just about double in size. While you are waiting, roll and form the marzipan into strips for the crosses and beat an egg with a little milk for the glaze. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Stretch out the dough onto a lightly floured board and beat it down. Knead again for a few minutes. Split the dough into 12 pieces and form each one into the shape of a bun. Place onto a greased tray and leave until they have doubled in size – about 15 minutes. Brush each bun with egg and place the crosses on. Place in oven and cook for about 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, let them cool… and enjoy!

Top 5 Easter Eggs

Top 5 Easter Eggs – As voted by us

Every Easter get together needs eggsellent chocolates… so here is our recommendation for the best 5 cocoa treats around. Easter is a wonderful time to get together with friends and share some time… I mean, chocolate… white, dark, hot, melted, sprinkled… you can’t lose if you choose any of the treats below…

1.    Just Williams wraps chocolates eggsquisitely http://www.justwilliam.com.au/
2.    Max Brenner’s stunning chocolate boxes http://www.maxbrenner.com
3.    Lindt signature gold bunny with gorgeous red bow http://www.lindt.com/2865/2866.asp
4.    Haighs quirky polka dot eggs with stripey egg cups  http://haighschocolates.com.au/

…and if you haven’t already, invite your family and friends round for an Easter Egg Hunt. We’ve created some new, eggstraordinary Easter invites which are much more fun than just sending an email… and you can save your invite into Outlook! check them out: www.myinvites.com.au

St Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’s Day March 17

Shamrocks will appear across drinking holes around the globe on March 17 as we proudly celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Whether your favourite tipple is a hot whiskey (ouch!) or an Irish coffee, there’s no reason not to get together on this fun iconic day! To celebrate St Paddy’s Day we’ve designed some fab new invites. Check them out here www.myinvites.com.au and invite your mates round for some good old fashioned Irish fun.

Wedding Directory i-do.com.au

Wedding Directory,  www.i-do.com.au
If you need help planning a wedding, look no further!

http://www.i-do.com.au is a beautifully presented, one stop wedding shop.
It has a comprehensive, national wedding directory from Wedding cakes, to accomodation, and everything in between.

If you need Tips on wedding planning, wedding fashion, cakes, diarys, make up, wedding tradions, or anythign else, the Article & Tips sections

The forum is also a very lovely and helpful community of people where you can chat to Brides, and brides to be.
It really is Australia’s no. 1 Wedding website.

Baby Shower Games

Baby Shower Games
If you’re looking for something to keep your guests entertained, then here are some fun and free baby shower games for you and your friends.

The Guess the Baby Game
In your invitation ask each guest to bring with them to the shower a picture of themselves as a baby. It may be a good idea to give the guests a reminder before the shower to bring the photo with them as without the photo they can’t be involved in the game.
Take the picture from each guest as they arrive and lightly pencil on the back a number, being careful not to damage the photo and make a list so you can tell later which photograph corresponds with each guest.

To play the game itself give each guest a piece of paper and pencil, show all the guests a photograph and tell them the number then tell them to write down whose photograph they think it is.

Then do the same with the next photograph.
If there are a lot of baby shower guests it may be necessary to pass the photographs around as they may not be able to see the photograph clearly.
The guest who identifies the most photographs is the winner.

Guessing The Baby Food Game
Get approximately ten jars of baby food and remove the labels, as you remove each label number the jar and make a list of the contents of that jar number. To play the game each guest has to guess what is in each jar by looking at the jar.
By keeping the jar closed the baby food can be kept and used by the mother at a later date.
A variation on this can be by allowing the guests to open the jar and smell the contents or you can put the contents on paper plates and give them a spoon so they can actually taste the baby food.
This can be great fun as baby food is not usually to the liking of adults and it can be very amusing to see the expressions on the guests faces.

The Price is Right shower game
Get 10 to 20 items relating to babies and list exactly how much each item cost.
Show all of the guests one of these items, and ask them one at a time what they think each item cost and to also write down the cost so that this can be remembered.
Repeat this process with each item. The guest who guesses the most and closest price to the right price wins the game.
Examples of items:
Baby food,
Baby Toy,
Rattle,
Diapers,
Baby’s bottle,
Diaper pins,
Bib,
Teether,
and so on.
It would help the guests to figure out the price if you could tell the guests which store each item was bought from.

The Tray Memory Game
Before the game starts Put 15 to 20 small items associated with babies on a tray. These should be items such as a bottle, pacifier, baby sock, safety pin, baby’s brush, baby oil etc.
Give each of your guests a piece of paper and a pencil to write down their answers.

To start the game bring the tray into the room and place it where all the guests can see it but tell them not to touch, leave the tray in that position for one minute and tell the guests to memorize the items that are on the tray, then remove the tray from the room and give the guests five minutes to write down on pieces of paper what all the items were. The guest who gets the most items correct is the winner.

The Cotton Ball Game

With this game you will need two large bowls, one of which should be filled with cotton balls plus a large kitchen spoon and a cloth to use as a blindfold.
Each guest in turn competes in this game. Blindfold the guest and give one minute to transfer as many cotton balls from one bowl to the other just using the kitchen spoon.
Make a note of how many of the cotton balls each guest can transfer in exactly one minute. The guest who transfers the most cotton balls is the winner.
Due to the fact that the spoon is quite heavy and the cotton balls are quite light it is very difficult for the guests to tell whilst blindfolded whether they have anything in the spoon, consequently they will spend most of their time transferring an empty spoon. This is very amusing for the other guests to watch.
Find more baby shower games at http://www.babbee.com
Find baby shower invitations at Http://www.myinvites.com.au