Cravings Baby Shower

A baby bump and cravings go together like a scoop of vanilla and hot fudge. So give mom-to-be the perfect excuse to indulge! Throw her a shower featuring all of the sweet, salty, crunchy foods she loves.

Personalize this custom invitation by clicking on the name of the mama-to-be and party details to edit. Then print on a color printer using 5x7 photo paper and mail in A7 size envelopes.

Ice Cream Sundae Floral Arrangements

Create flower arrangements that look like colorful ice cream sundaes by using old-fashioned sundae glasses. Use clear floral water beads to help hide the flower stems within the glass, and then add clusters of two or three big flowers like chrysanthemums, peonies, and dahlias as the ice cream "scoops."

Elsewhere in the party, set big flower blooms like hydrangeas in ice cream bowls -- or set single peony blooms on top of cake cones (put a little brown sugar or a few vase gems in the bottom of the cones to keep them standing securely on their own) then put the flower on top as your "scoop."

Pickles & Ice Cream

Look through food magazines for beautiful images of craveable foods like pickles, French fries, ice cream, cookies, and other treats. Cut the images out and display them in contemporary frames throughout the party.

Decorate with "sweet" paraphernalia that can double as a gift for the mom-to-be after the party. Cute, colorful ice cream bowls, dessert plates, ice cream scoopers, jars of salted nuts and sprinkles, and even ice cream books make for festive party decor.

Fill baby bottles with chocolate malt balls, white chocolate covered pretzels, and candies in your color scheme, then use them to dress up dessert and gift tables.

Cravings Buffet

Create a tasty buffet of crave-worthy finger foods and treats that will satisfy all of your guests, pregnant or not. Serve hoagie sandwiches cut into thick slices, dill pickle spears, salted soft pretzels (available in the freezer section at most supermarkets), gourmet kettle chips, and French fries (Alexia Foods makes tasty frozen ones). Serve fries already portioned out in small pink or green cups or in waxed paper cones resting in colorful bowls.

Don't forget to include something special that you know the mom-to-be has been craving during her pregnancy. If Skittles or dark chocolate M&M's are her thing, for example, make sure to have big bowls of them everywhere.

Make Your Own Ice Cream Sundae Bar

For dessert, offer guests a DIY ice cream sundae bar with all the fixings: whipped cream, cherries, chocolate, butterscotch and caramel sauces, bananas, salted nuts, sprinkles, and anything else that sounds tempting.

Make life easier by putting out pre-scooped balls of ice cream (no messy assortment of containers and utensils to deal with). Here's how: Make round scoops of your favorite flavors and place them on a cookie sheet. Freeze them until they're hard. (Store the scoops in resealable bags until the party.) When it's time for dessert, arrange them by flavor in glass containers. They'll stay pretty hard for a while.

Here, too, don't forget to incorporate what the mom-to-be loves most -- if she's been a slave to Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Chunk or Chubby Hubby, for example, make sure to have those as part of your assortment.

Send guests home with yummy favors that are a little bit salty and a little bit sweet. Take two small cellophane party favor bags and fill one with a couple of cookies (we like Paulette Macarons since they come in cute colors like pink and green) and the other with gourmet kettle potato chips. Seal the cookie bag with a sticker reading "sweet" and the potato chip bag with a sticker reading "salty." Tie the bags together with pretty pink and green ribbons, then display the "salty & sweet" treats in shallow baskets near the door for guests to grab on their way out.

Jennifer Sbranti is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of HostessWithTheMostess.com, and author of the HWTM Daily Blog.

Copyright © 2008 Meredith Corporation.

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