Getting presents is fun, having a celebration in honor of the baby is sweet and seeing my family /friends all together in a room one month before I give birth to play little games is...not that great! So go ahead, call me cheap, control freak or simply irrational...I don't care (fine, I do care so don't be too mean please).
I went to one baby shower and honestly, after 30 minutes of crust-less sandwiches, games with baby food and an orgy of presents I was a little uncomfortable. My friend, however, was having a blast being the center of the attention! And this is cool...it is just not for me!
So after much considerations and knowing that this will annoy some people (aka my mom who I think wanted to do something called the "diaper cake game"!), we decided that we do not want a baby shower!
1) Dan and I are...I don't know, maybe...modern hippies (!) and we decided to go easy on the purchase of baby items and see what we really need as we go with mini A.
2) We are having a good time buying a few things each week for the baby. I see it as a little couple therapy. The smile on my face when I saw Dan, this weekend, testing a stroller at the store.
3) Our family and friends will visit us anyway to see the baby so why not use those smaller, more intimate, gatherings to celebrate the arrival of our little bundle of joy?
So this concludes my little expose on baby showers! And again, it is not because we don't want one that nobody should have one :)
And, on a completely different subject, have you look at the Christmast Toast catalogue??? Pure pleasure!
10 comments:
You're not crazy in the least. I had two baby showers, but they're what I like to call "non baby, baby showers". They were both coed and actually kind of fun.
A friend threw one for me at my parents house back in my home town and we turned it into a BBQ with a little bit of presents thrown in for good measure. I hate being the center of attention, so it was nice to just walk around, eat, and chat with long time friends and family for the most part.
For the second shower, I actually "planned" it myself and it was really small and mellow. Just a couple close friends hanging out at my cousin's apartment eating, drinking and watching bad b-movies on netflix. No games or anything, which was perfect for our friends.
I begged everyone to avoid buying anything cutesy and 90% obliged. I think if your friends and family know you well enough, then there is a way to get together and celebrate w/o it being lame.
Good luck!
I'm with you - no shower for me! I got your email - I should be sending you some answers before the end of the week!
Lina x
I agree with you completely. I just had a very small shower (I think we had eight people) where any kind of game was utterly prohibited. Actually, it was really just an excuse to have cupcakes and hot apple cider. (Did I mention I was wild about cupcakes when I was pregnant?)
i totally agree! i think you have the right idea claudia.
i was recently given a list of items from a mother-to-be, that could be purchased as gifts if i felt the need to so. i couldn't help but think more than half of them were useless, invented by some company to cash in on inexperienced new parents and their excited families and friends.
i'm with you as well. we didn't want the game-y diaper cake type of shower. a few friends threw us a wine & cheese & appetizer sort of party where people brought gifts but left them in another room and it felt like a very cool adult party. we went home and opened the gifts later. i should say i can't stand the public opening of gifts...
one thing i have to say about them though is i never understood the purpose of them until we had one - we were totally broke, in school and unemployed, and left with tons of baby loot. it truly felt like the "it takes a village" thing. so now i am especially happy to give gifts at showers. :)
In England people just bring small gifts after the baby is born, when they visit the newborn. I was brought up still thinking that gifts before the birth were unlucky. The American-style baby showers came as quite a shock...
Good for you - I wouldn't have a baby shower if you paid me!
I was sort of against the whole baby shower idea too, for many of the same reasons as you.. As it turns out, two of my good friends threw me a surprise baby shower, and after overcoming the initial shock and embarrassment of it all (I'm super shy) it was kind of fun as it was co-ed with minimal games etc...though the whole gift thing did make me a bit uncomfortable.. but as someone above mentioned, when we were expecting we were the destitute just-out-of-school types and many of the gifts were a godsend!
Gosh, I so agree with all your reasons for not wanting a baby shower. In England it's not something that has ever taken off and I'm hugely relieved about that - it feels like organising such a gathering is almost asking for presents, as well as commercialising pregnancy...mmm, I don't think I realised I was harbouring such strong feelings about it until reading your post! x
I didn't have a shower either... ugh! Babies just do not need all that stuff. And I wanted Sean and I to pick out the items we did actually need. I was (am) a bit of a control freak about it too!
Post a Comment