I'm rather go to the dentist!

I hate baby showers, don't get me wrong, I love the idea of people getting together and celebrating the birth of a child and helping out the mom to be with fun and necessary gifts, rather I hate the shallowness, the insipidity, and the fakeness of it all, not to mention those horrid games.  They aren't fun, at least the ones I've had to go to, rather it feels more like a visit to the dentist: something you have to do, a societal burden as it were.  Mostly, they just seem awkward, you get all these people together who don't know each other and everything has to be baby themed and all the attention is always focused on the poor mom to be, which if she is of a shier disposition, is no fun at all.  I'd rather just get together with a bunch of people and have fun: eat snacks, play some fun games, have some social time for people to get to know each other.  Rather we all sit in a silent horde and watch someone open yet another blue gift bag containing the third green monkey onesie of the day and then play some vapid game, eat an appropriately tinted cupcake, and then go home.  Yawn!  Why not actually have fun?  Less structure, less stress, more socialization?  Why not do something to encourage the mom to be (besides giving her stuff of course)?  And no, this is not where you tell her how she MUST do something; no doubt she's overwhelmed enough as it is, everyone she meets has already told her how things ought to be done and no two people have given the same advice.

Rather than the game, why not have everyone share something humorous and something useful?  Say, the best and worst parenting advice they've ever been given or some incident in their own lives, a humorous or heartwarming incident along with something practical, even the non-parents in the group should have something they've read on the internet, experienced as children themselves, or have undoubtedly had babysitting adventures or friends or relatives with relevant experiences. It would liven things up a bit, lighten the mood, get everyone involved, and may even help the mom to be relax a bit about the looming monster that is parenthood.  You could even jot it all down in a little book and make a memory out of it, something to look back on for encouragement, or at least a good laugh.  It certainly beats taste testing baby food, microwaving candy bars to mimic infant excrement, and that tedious 'make a story containing these 47 baby-related words' game!