Opening Gifts...

DavidStamps

Hi,

I've read in older posts that the mom should definitely open all of her gifts at the shower since everyone went through so much trouble to attend and shower her with gifts. However, my wife and I were talking and we are worried about the gift opening taking up too much time out of the shower. It's our first kid and my MIL's first grandchild, so the guest list is really, really long and we want to make sure everyone has time to mingle, eat and even play a game. It's an all girls shower but we were thinking that maybe half way through the shower I would come and help her open gifts to help speed up the process, but still honor everyone who brought a gift. Thoughts?

I don't want to intrude on the shower, hence me coming later AND I definitely don't want to have a co-ed shower. We've attended a few of those and I'm not the biggest fan. Plus the guest list if already lenghty.

Thanks!

eav2c

MandJS:

I think that's perfectly acceptable. It's common, though not absolute, that dads to be show up for the gift portion. 

Mhm, this. 

Sherbet Lemon

I don't see a problem with that at all.  Work together, spend <1minute on each gift and it should be done in under an hour.  Tell the hostess that this is your plan so that she knows to expect you... she might choose to serve dessert during this time so that guests have something to do in addition to simply watching the gifts being opened.

ccam

I don't see anything wrong with that.  I would also ask for help from a few siblings or close friends - they can start unwrapping, open cards so they're ready for her to read, cut annoying ribbons, etc. to help move the opening process along quicker. 

ChristyML

I would really love it if my husband came for the opening gifts part of my shower. I think he should be there to also personally thank everyone for their gifts (which are not for me but for our baby).

I think it's a great idea that you would go OP. 

misspunky

I think that's perfectly acceptable. People will still get to socialize while you're opening gifts too.

rhubarb123

I've been to a few showers were the DTB showed up and sat with the MTB to open gifts but at only one shower did the DTB open the gifts.  MTB would open one the same time DTB did.  There were only about 25 people there (it was not coed...just women) so it wouldn't have taken that long.  The only problem is the DTB (who I didn't know well at all) happened to open MY gift.  I had specifically a couple of onesies onesies that would have special meaning the the MOM-TO-BE.  Well, he looked at them for a mili-second along with the larger item I got them and moved right on to the next gift.  No reaction whatsoever and of course the MTB didn't even see it.  Needless to say, I was very disappointed and wondered to myself why I bothered to expend so much effort. 

Even though many people are invited to your shower that does not mean everyone will show up.  I think the average is about 1/2 to 2/3 of the guest list can make it.  If you spend 1 minute on each gift (that is actually quite a long time) you could actually open 60 of them in an hour!  Obviously that is a rough estimate...but I was at a shower with 50 guests and gift opening took no more than an hour.

IsaiahGirl

rhubarb123:

I've been to a few showers were the DTB showed up and sat with the MTB to open gifts but at only one shower did the DTB open the gifts.  MTB would open one the same time DTB did.  There were only about 25 people there (it was not coed...just women) so it wouldn't have taken that long.  The only problem is the DTB (who I didn't know well at all) happened to open MY gift.  I had specifically a couple of onesies onesies that would have special meaning the the MOM-TO-BE.  Well, he looked at them for a mili-second along with the larger item I got them and moved right on to the next gift.  No reaction whatsoever and of course the MTB didn't even see it.  Needless to say, I was very disappointed and wondered to myself why I bothered to expend so much effort. 

Even though many people are invited to your shower that does not mean everyone will show up.  I think the average is about 1/2 to 2/3 of the guest list can make it.  If you spend 1 minute on each gift (that is actually quite a long time) you could actually open 60 of them in an hour!  Obviously that is a rough estimate...but I was at a shower with 50 guests and gift opening took no more than an hour.

For this reason, I would say only open one gift at a time.  You could easily have several people helping expedite the process by handing you gifts, taking the trash, and putting the gift in another pile.

My mother knows EVERYONE, so basically, I had time to start the food line and then started opening gifts.  I was blown away by the graciousness of everyone, but I also didn't get to talk to everyone as it was a drop-in shower.  If you were to help open and give your wife a chance to thank each person and talk with them while you were opening the gift, that would help as well. That way, she would know if it was a special gift and could ooh and aah as needed.  Not saying you wouldn't do that - I only have my DH to go on

By the way, you're a great husband for volunteering - mine wouldn't go near our baby showers until the end!