For anyone who is considering having a baby shower I would 100% recommend that you do! If you are like me and are very sceptical about the whole prospect of throwing yourself and your unborn baby a party I can assure you that you shouldn't be as it was one of the best days I've had during my pregnancy! I feel it’s cheeky to ask friends and family to come along and celebrate the fact that you are pregnant and to have everyone feeling obliged to 'shower' you with gifts – it was all a bit too much and too Americanised for me. Actually, in reality, it’s not like that at all and I wouldn’t think that about other people inviting me to their own baby showers so I’m not sure why I felt it was self-centred. Pregnancy hormones have a tendency to have you over thinking and feeling paranoid about every little thing! Sure I was completely and utterly embarrassed that I was made to sit in the middle of the room and open up every present in front of all of my guests but it was actually so lovely to share the unwrapping of the gifts with a bunch of great women who can all appreciate cute as hell baby outfits! I never got tired of hearing the endless amount of "Awe’s" at every present.
Before I had my baby shower I'd only ever been to one before so I wasn't sure if receiving gifts was the norm or not but I can tell you that if you are as lucky to have such generous friends and family as I am then be prepared to be absolutely spoiled beyond imagination! I had only bought my baby outfits for the hospital, nappies, wipes and toiletry items - really nothing at all - but I am so glad I hung off as I got everything I could of possibly needed for our baby and so much more! My baby still has approximately 3 weeks until we welcome him/her into the world and it is already the luckiest little person I know!
I'm currently in the process of writing Thank You cards to our guests but they really don't do our gratitude any justice as it really was so overwhelming.
As I have been house bound 90% of my pregnancy I have not seen a lot of my friends and family, so having the baby shower was a great opportunity for me to catch up with everyone and give me the social fix I needed. Not to mention the fact that it's not every day you are pregnant and get to show off your baby bump; again this being something I've hardly done my pregnancy! It probably sounds extremely vain but I really wanted to wear a nice dress and show off my little baby's home.
My mum found a red maternity dress for me to wear from Mother Care as it looks super comfortable and was down from £18 to just £5!! She actually thought it was a nightdress but when I tried it on I absolutely loved it and so decided to wear that to the shower. Maybe it is a nightdress, who knows, but it’s comfy as hell and at 36 weeks pregnant it’s comfort over style for this mama-to-be! I’ll let you be the judge of the £5 dress.
I would totally recommend having some party games as well as they are such a laugh! We had a few different ones; Guess the Bump Size, "Sh*t Happens" - Nappy Game, Celebrity Baby, Guess the Birth Date, "My Waters Have Broke".
It's a good thing I don't get offended easily as everyone thought I was fatter than I actually am! My bump size is actually 109cm and the nearest guess was 117cm - thanks ladies! I decided to pass on the "Sh*t Happens" game which was essentially a number of nappies filled with various different chocolates all mashed up which you then had to guess what each chocolate was. I know poo will be all my life will become in a while but for now I couldn't deal with the grossness of the nappies! "My Waters Have Broke" was brilliant as everyone had to suck on an ice cube which homed a little plastic baby *caution needed* and whoever suck all of the ice first had to shout "My Waters Have Broke" in a BINGO style.
We also decided to have a High Tea themed party which is rather classy for us but it was fab to act like a lady who lunches for the day. I am so lucky that I have a mum and gran who love to bake and so made so many yummy cakes and sandwiches. My talented auntie made a beautiful cake as well complete with cupcakes and delicious scones for the day too! Not to mention everyone was loving having an endless supply of tea and coffee.
So ladies, if you have similar thoughts to me regarding a baby shower in that you really didn’t want to be centre of attention for the day then I say get rid of those ideas and embrace it! And if you haven’t enjoyed pregnancy then this is one of the few days you’ll get to actually forget about all the pain and sickness and really love having a beautiful baby bump.
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