Baby Shower ?- Sticky Situation
elissaann26
member
One of my neighbors is pregnant and is due in August. I've known her for over a year and we are becoming closer and closer friends so I'd really like to throw a baby shower for her. The problem is that our neighborhood is very fertile (we have over 5%- over 10 households- expecting). I am friends, but not as good friends, with most of the other expecting moms, as is my friend. I don't want it to become an obligation for the neighborhood to have a baby shower for every mom, but I doubt she's going to have a local shower since her family is all over 5 hours away. I don't know any of her non-neighborhood friends, but I was hoping her DH could help pull a list together. However, I'd still run into the problem of figuring out which neighbors to invite without the other pregnant neighbors feeling left out or like they should have/had a shower.
Should I just forget the idea about hosting a shower?
Should I try to throw a mini-shower? This girl and another pregnant girl are in my supper club (through the neighborhood). I was thinking we could surprise them with diaper cakes and maybe a few gifts just from me/DH and the other lady in our supper club.
Should I throw a shower and just not worry about all of the other pregnant neighbors? And if I go with this option, how do I handle inviting other neighbors (who could be pregnant)?
Or should I try to throw a joint shower for the pregnant ladies that our group of friends is closest to? Again, I worry that other pregnant ladies might feel excluded.
Is there another solution?
Re: Baby Shower ?- Sticky Situation
Why not do a group baby shower and just do a gift exchange? (like Christmas)
Ok- what I suggest might be extremely tacky, but HEY- it just might work... do a cookout and have all the future mommies or current mommies get together and then of course- do the gift exchange or just getting together and talking about future endeavors into mommyhood might be a fun way to meet and greet new moms that could later help by passing down their LO's clothes and toys or even babysit for an hour or two!
We have get togethers in our neighborhood where all the moms coming over bring clothes and baby items that they no longer use- and so others can use them or if no one wants them- they go on craigslist. Babies get to play, mommies get to talk and stuff gets used! win-win!
Whatever you decide- good luck- it's not easy to host a shower!
If you would like to throw your friend a shower, I say go for it. Don't worry about throwing individual or joint showers for everyone else. It's definitely not your responsibility.
I would ask your friend for a guest list. (As far as I know, it's standard for moms-to-be to specify who they want at the shower.) That way you won't leave out anyone here that she would like to invite. If you think there are certain people in the neighborhood, you could always suggest them.
Good luck!