Questions - of the etiquette variety

• You are invited to a new friend's baby shower.  You don't know the host at all, or most of the other guests.  When you offered to bring something, the host requested an appetizer - but not a fruit or veggie plate (ie - something hot would be nice).  You'll also be driving the pregnant friend to the shower, which is being held a half hour away, so can't arrive early.  Knowing this, is it an unreasonable imposition to ask to use the host's oven to heat your appetizer? Or, is better to heat it right before you leave and hope that it doesn't cool too much?

• Speaking of baby showers.  Say you're woefully unprepared.  Say that you've hit no less than 5 stores in the search for the right gift over the last week, but remain unsuccessful.  Say you finally find something that you think she'll like, but it's a generic brand at a discount department store.    Do you: a) cut off all the tags and pretend like it's haut couture, b) leave the tags, but hope nobody notices, c) confess loud and proud - there's no shame in stretching your dollar, or d) find something else.