Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation will commemorate the beginning of its busiest time of the year.

The nonprofit organization will hold its inaugural Wildlife Baby Shower on Saturday, March 28, from 2 to 6 p.m. at its facility, 2100 Stone Mill Road, Lancaster.

"It's a time to celebrate all of the incoming babies that we are about to receive," said executive director Betsy Shank. "We are officially in baby season. Our top three animals that we treat - squirrels, bunnies, and opossums - are all having babies or have had babies. We're about to be inundated."

Although registration is not required, Shank is encouraging visitors to sign up by Friday, March 27. Go to http://www.acornacreswr.com and click on the "Programs/Events" tab.

The baby shower will include a tour of the facility. "People can see all the ambassador animals and our resident animals," said Shank. "We will have baby feeding going on. They can't actually witness it live because I'm not allowed to exhibit those animals, but we can bring it up on our TV."

There will also be free sips and snacks. "We'll have small sandwiches, finger foods, and your standard arrangement of non-alcoholic beverages," said Shank. "And then we have two squirrel-themed wineries that have sent us special vintage bottles."

There is no fee to attend, but Acorn Acres will happily accept donations of supplies, including Tide laundry detergent, bleach, Cascade dishwashing pods, Lysol, and laundry sanitizer. "Formula is going to be the one item that you can't just buy at a store and bring in," Shank said. "You'd have to order it on our Amazon wish list. We're going to go through upwards of about 100 pounds of baby squirrel formula. If people don't have the supplies, monetary donations are always excellent too."

Baby shower-themed games will be a highlight of the activities. "We're going to have a pacifier hunt, kind of like a scavenger hunt, but they have to find the pacifiers," Shank said.

Guests can purchase a chance to win baskets and buy items from the gift shop. The Pennsylvania Game Commission will bring its Operation Game Thief trailer. Two wardens will talk about the work that the game commission does. A face painter will be on-site.

Twig and Tinker Creative Company created special shirts for the occasion, and it will also sell some of its other items such as note cards and bluebird boxes.

"It's our busiest time of year," Shank said. "It's spring, so everything is coming to life, and all the animals are running around, so we're getting all of the injured adults in. We're getting pregnant mamas in. We're getting newborn babies in, so everything is coming in right now, and it's a huge push on all of our supplies. And who doesn't like a baby shower? Then you have a bunch of really cute animals. Let's mix all of them together and bring our friends in so they can see what we're doing and shower us with supplies."

Shank noted that Acorn Acres rehabilitates orphaned, ill, abandoned, and injured prey animals and Virginia opossums. Acorn Acres is typically open by appointment only. Call 717-327-4811 if you encounter an animal that requires care.

"We try to hold three to four community events every year," she said. "This will be the first big one of this year. We try to have people come into the clinic. People don't necessarily understand what wildlife rehabilitation is, so if we can bring them in and show them where we work and where their dollars are going when they donate to us, we want to do that. We're the only facility in the area that allows visitations, and it's an opportunity for all of our followers and supporters to bring us some of the supplies that we're going to use in mass quantities in the coming months."