Invite too Many People
Seriously, it is quite easy for the guest list to get out of hand. If you have to consider moving the baby shower from your home to a venue – you might have too many people coming. The ideal guest list will be comprised of friends and family who know the mom-to-be very well. This is not the time to invite your childhood neighbor that you haven’t seen since you were six. If the person doesn’t know a few embarrassing facts about the guest of honor, it’s probably a good indication that they don’t know her well enough to come to the baby shower.
Make Fun of Mom
This seems like a no-brainer. You would assume that a baby shower is about building mom up rather than tearing her down. There can be some sensitive topics or thoughts that are brought out at a baby shower, typically through baby shower games.
So choose wisely which games you use at the shower. One mom might think it’s a hoot to have everyone guess how big she is by the amount of toilet paper a guest chooses, while another just wants to cry. Know your honoree well enough to know what would be hurtful to her. When in doubt – ask!
Fuel Family Feuds
I am not going to pretend to tell you that you can avoid all conflict at baby showers.
Nor will I recommend that you completely avoid inviting certain parties, we all have people like this in our families. What I will tell you is to minimize the feuding - be selective in your baby shower guest list. This might mean that you have assigned seats or that you employ a dear friend to entertain one party away from another. You might even consider a proactive approach and talk to the potential dueling partners before the big day. Remind them that the event is not about them but about mom and baby. Simply state if they can’t respect that, perhaps they should consider sending in their regrets.