Why baby showers are overrated
No idea if it's due to corona or age, but I find myself in a real baby boom. Now there are plenty of people who predicted this at the start of the whole lockdown: there will be divorces and babies. Well, I absolutely notice that now. So. Many. BABIES. And don't get me wrong, I really enjoy that my friends are getting pregnant one by one (the count is now at five. FIVE.), and of course I've already suggested that I'll babysit when they, as brand new mommies, can go out for an evening. I'm genuinely looking forward to it.
But what is starting to annoy me a bit are the baby showers. I just don't really understand it. Celebrating the mom-to-be, I get that. But why — why?! — does it have to be accompanied by those terrible games? Guessing baby photos from the past. Blindfolded tasting diapers with food. Acting out nipple cracks. Painting onesies. Guessing the circumference of the belly. Tasting baby food. Who is this fun for? I genuinely wonder. I can say with certainty that non-pregnant people are not spending three hours painting a onesie that will ultimately never be worn for fun. It's also not fun to watch someone work through jars of Olvarit for three hours.
And often the mom-to-be finds it awkward too. Those baby showers usually take place at the end of the pregnancy, usually not the fittest period, and then you have to — without knowing it because SURPRISE — spontaneously sacrifice the whole afternoon while you might prefer to take a power nap. But no, now you're acting out how you're going to be pumping.
What I also find dubious: all those games are really unnecessary costs? You have to buy a gift for the expectant mother (well, ‘have to’... It's part of it, of course), then also take care of the catering, and then you're going to ruin onesies and diapers that secretly cost quite a bit of money. Just give those diapers unused, then at least you still have something to use.
Call me superstitious, but I often find it so tricky that a complete party is organized for a baby that hasn't yet come into the world healthy. Sounds grim, it might be, but why can't such a party happen once he or she has been born healthy?
That's why I advocate for a different kind of baby showers. Just a nice lunch. A dinner. NO GAMES. Celebrating the mom-to-be. And then giving a big gift when that child actually arrives. Of course, it really varies per expectant mother whether she is looking forward to such a baby shower: if someone is looking forward to eating a cake with ‘Happy Pushing’ on it with a group: all the power to you. But the centers of the baby showers I've had all said afterward: very sweet gesture, but could it have been done without those games?
