• Celebrate a mom-to-be with a baby shower featuring a mixed guest list.pregnant #15 image by Adam Borkowski from <a href='http://www.fotolia.com'>Fotolia.com</a>
  
  A baby shower is an opportunity for doting guests to shower a mom-to-be with practical and thoughtful gifts for her impending arrival. Though traditional baby showers feature a female guest list, more and more baby showers include attendees from both sexes. Any baby shower filled with supportive guests ensures a successful party; however, if you are planning a shower, consider a few potential problems with sticking strictly to a single-sex guest list.
  
  

Size

• Though some may argue that the quality of the baby shower guests is more important than the quantity, the number of guests can impact the social atmosphere of a baby shower. Women with small families may only have a handful of female relatives, which makes for a small shower. Women who have moved away from their hometown may struggle to find invitees at all; limiting the guest list to include only women reduces the size of the shower significantly. Not only do small guest lists lend themselves to a subdued party, but they also restrict the number of gifts the new mother receives.
  
  

Exclusion

• Many fathers take an active role in their children's lives before they are even born. Though some single-gender showers include the father of the child, exclusive women-only baby showers restrict participation of the baby's father even if he is an active part of the baby's life. Other important men in the mother's life, like her father, brothers or close male friends, are also excluded from the festivities of a women-only shower.
  
  

Hosting

• The traditional host of a baby shower is the mother of the guest of honor. In some instances, the mother of the guest of honor is deceased or unavailable to host the shower; if a suitable female replacement host is not available, a male host would not be an acceptable alternative if the shower were to remain strictly women-only.
  
  

Shower Traditions

• Traditional women-only baby showers often include a range of games that some guests may find overdone or boring. Rounds of baby bingo or guess the baby weight are common staples of women-only baby showers; coed baby showers tend to feel more like family events and offer less pressure to play structured, organized games, states banquet manager Melanie Mandracchia-Blakemore.