Baby showers are a great way to get many of the things necessary to properly care for a coming baby, while also allowing the mother-to-be to have fun with her close friends. Showers generally involve food, and many modern showers include more activities, guests and presents than baby showers of the past. One activity growing in popularity is holding a raffle during a baby shower, rewarding good friends and family for helping you to prepare for the arrival of your baby.

There are a few different ways to set up a raffle at a baby shower. Tickets for the event can be "sold" based on the basic baby-care items that guests bring, or can be given to everyone who arrives in a manner similar to door prize drawings. One commonly used option is the holding of a "diaper raffle," where an extra ticket is given for every five, 10 or 20 diapers given. The same could be done with single bottles, onesies, pacifiers or even common goods such as soaps, shampoos and lotions. A winning ticket will be drawn toward the end of the baby shower, though some planners may decide to have multiple drawings and give away smaller prizes leading up to the "grand prize."

Making homemade tickets can be fun, as the person planning can put whatever they want to on them. If there is a theme for the shower, then the tickets could be designed to fit that theme, or the tickets themselves may just have a general baby theme. Another option along those lines is to use ticket designs found on the Internet to save yourself the time and hassle of designing tickets from scratch. Actual raffle tickets can also be used, and are available at most office supply and department stores; these tickets generally have two matching rolls (one for the guests and one for the drawing), and the drawing tickets can easily be placed in an oversized bottle or other baby-themed decoration for the drawing itself.

Don't skimp on the prizes for a baby shower raffle, though you obviously shouldn't spend an excessive amount on them either. The mother-to-be will likely be receiving several hundred dollars worth of gifts (depending on the number of guests), so the prize of a raffle should cost between $25 and $75 (scaled appropriately for the size of the shower.) Gift baskets are popular, as they can be made at home and customized to the interests of the guests or matched to the theme of the shower. Baby-themed items or low-cost fun items related to the theme can also be purchased as prizes. If there will be multiple drawings during the shower, a gift basket can be used as the grand prize while smaller items can be given at earlier drawings.