My friend Anna is pregnant with her second little baby boy and is due in the next couple of weeks!! So a a while back I asked her about having a little shower or party or something to celebrate the arrival of the new baby. After going back and forth and throwing some ideas around we decided to have an evening out and dinner with some of her girlfriends.
I hope I look and feel as good as Anna my second time around. The baby is due in less then two weeks and she is feeling fantastic!
Here we are waiting outside for everyone to arrive. Doesn't she look amazing?
She's the one in the middle if you can't tell.
I had emailed all of the other girls secretly and we wanted to put together something special. Anna had requested no gifts for the baby, as she already had everything she needed. She never said we couldn't do anything for her though!
Most of the girls signed up for a service of some kind, babysitting or cooking a meal, one of our resident artists signed up for a custom designed piece of artwork, and I made coupons for each one. I put them all together in an envelope, along with a gift certificate for an in-home massage that a few of us all pitched in for. I put them all in a basket with a couple of little tiny goodies for the baby that I just couldn't resist, and we presented it to her at dinner. One girl even brought a home cooked meal for Anna to freeze and cook later. I had brought a cooler with ice for Anna to take it home in. I think it was a fun way to show her how much we all loved her and were there for her for those first few months when things can be VERY challenging!
Brooke, our "resident artist", is AMAZING btw, check out her work HERE! She is just starting to make onesies and bibs that are o-so-adorable. Pics coming for those very soon!
Anna's mother, who lives very far away, shipped me a blanket that she had made for the baby so that I could give it to her at dinner. It was a great surprise, she didn't even think the blanket would be finished until after the baby was born. And it was absolutely gorgeous! That woman can sew! I really really really wish I would have taken a picture of it. She made the munchkin's baby blanket too, along with an adorable little outfit. She also makes beautiful hand smocked dresses, bonnets, rompers and christening outfits made to order. She also makes other custom items and is the sweetest lady you'll ever meet. You should check out her Etsy shop, Bunny Luv Creations!
Here's our great group of ladies. From Anna, moving to the right, there's me and then the next two girls are Toni and Brooke. All four of us have know each other since we were 15, and if you take myself out of the equation, the other three have known each other since grade school!
I sure wish our waiter had a more steady hand. He took two pictures and the other was even worse.
Here's me and Anna... I am so lucky to have such an amazing friend!! I just love her.
There seems to be a growing trend for people having baby showers for their second or even third babies. I am on the fence about it myself, and can't really make up my mind. I do think that every baby deserves a celebration, but maybe not necessarily a traditional shower where everyone comes and brings lots of gifts for the baby.
I think if your first child and your second are 10 years apart, then yes, by all means, have a baby shower. Or if your house burnt down and all of your possessions were lost between having babies.... girl, have yourself a shower!
If your first baby is a girl and two years later you are pregnant with another girl... I'm just not so sure that's appropriate or not. Personally, for myself though, I don't know if I would feel comfortable doing that. I would just feel weird inviting everyone to another shower in that situation. Of course, if a friend was having one, I would still be there, happy to support her, present in tow.
I did however put my foot down, when an invitation arrived in the mail to attend a shower for a friend's 4th child. I admit, I didn't even rsvp.
I have heard of people having diaper parties for consecutive kids. Where someone throws them a little party and everyone brings a package of diapers to get the new mamma-to-be stocked up for a while. I think ideas like that are cute and fun and just make more sense to me. I guess it's all about your personal opinion and perspective though.
Any thoughts??
4 comments:
Holy Blogging Lately! Oh my gosh! All of a sudden there was a billion posts by you on my dashboard! Some of them got lost in between all the different cake blog posts I receive DAILY, but I think I tracked them all down and am almost totally caught up. Any-who....just wanted to comment on this one....I think that this was a FABULOUS idea for you to do for Anna. How special she must have felt. And, since you asked about consecutive children shower opinions, here's mine.....I've gone to a couple of cute ones labeled "sprinkles" instead of "showers". Basically, they were usually situations where they may have been on their second or third kid and maybe was only 1 to a few years apart, but the next was the opposite gender and they only had all previous gender stuff. So, they had a "sprinkle" and we just brought smaller items like clothes and stuff, so the baby wouldn't be stuck with all girl stuff as a boy or all boy stuff as a girl and there were more momma type gifts (similar to the types you gave Anna) They worked out well and was pretty cute. I am like you, pretty weird about the idea of having a bunch of showers for consecutive children. Especially, since I believe that if you willing to PLAN on having more children, then you should also be prepared and PLAN on them financially as well. So doing little "sprinkles" or little celebrations like you did for Anna seem absolutely perfectly perfect ideas to me! It's nice to give the Momma some type of celebration, so the consecutive pregnancy can feel just as special as the first. That's my opinion, anyway.
I think I pretty much agree with you Sarah. I think every baby deserves a little celebration in honor of it's arrival. Everyone's situations are different though and I guess people can do whatever they want really. Some ideas might be a little more appropriate then others, depending on the circumstances. If I happen to have another girl, I might change my mind though and say every baby deserves a baby shower no matter what! Hahahaha ;)
When I found out that I was having another boy, I was ADAMANT that no one throw me a shower. Or even a sprinkle. :) I said if people wanted to come to the hospital or to our house when G was born and really wanted to bring him something fun (or make me a really yummy microwave cake), I wouldn't say no. I've also been invited to 2nd/3rd baby showers and I don't RSVP either. ;)
What great friends she has to throw her a little shin dig. :)
I like the idea of a 'sprinkle' or dinner for another child but probably not a full blown shower...it just seems to be asking for too much.
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