Baby Showers
Help Needed!!!
Hello ladies, my best friend and MOH in my wedding just announced that she is expecting her 1st baby in June 2010. She was married in August 2008 and moved from MD to CA shortly after the wedding. There is a chance her husband will be entering flight school and they will be moving to AL before the baby is born. She will be visiting MD where all of her family and friends are in December for Christmas. My question is we would like to have her baby shower in December since its the last time she will probably be home before the baby is born, but how do we request people purchase gift cards instead of gifts since the new parents will need to get the gifts from MD to CA and potentially AL? I understand its rude to expect gifts, but people normally bring them to a baby shower. I guess I am looking for invitation wording or suggestions for how to handle this unique situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! TIA.
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Re: Help Needed!!!
Wow, that seems really early to try and have a shower- if she is due in June then she just found out and in Dec. she will be only 3ish months along?
As a guest, the wording of the invite wouldn't be as much a concern for me as attending a babyshower where the guest of honor wasn't even showing yet and was barely (if at all) out of the first trimester.
My advice would be to wait until spring, see where she is and how things are progressing and go from there. GL.
A baby shower is a gift party...It isn't rude to expect gifts in general, just to expect specific gifts and not be grateful for the thought behind them.
I understand the situation poses a unique issue, transporting or shipping items can be difficult and costly. I still would not put it on the invites. I assume that those invited to the shower will be close friends and family of the mother to be...? Word of mouth would be the best way to approach this. Gift cards, or sometimes even better, direct shipment of gifts...Say she registers at Target. They can purchase from Target.com and direct ship to her house easily enough and the gift can be recognized at the party via a card that they would bring then instead. If the shower is people that are a smaller circle, they will understand her needs and not wish their gifts to be burdensome or cost her any more in transportation to her home.
GL, I wish there were a simpler way to handle this...
As it's a "shower", it's directly asking people to buy gifts.
Beyond that- as said, if these people know her, they'll know her situation and perhaps will keep the gifts on the smaller side. But I personally think it's rude to say "ship the gifts/ give a gift card". These people are doing HER a favor. If she wants the gifts, she needs to be prepared to get them home.
If she does get big gifts, what I've heard people do is return them, get credit for it, then buy it again when they get home.
Plus, realize, as it IS a shower, the POINT of a shower is gifts. People want to come w/ a gift and they want to watch her open it and see her reaction. Take that away - it really makes it seem SO much more gift grabby.
I also have to ditto that I think Dec is WAY too early, though.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
Dec is way too early. As an alternative, perhaps you could do a bon voyage party w/ a baby theme?