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North Dakota Babies
A baby shower - the Nigerian way! (link to pics)
Last night DH's family hosted our baby shower and wow, was it a party! The Facebook album is here. The first baby shower was in Ohio a couple weeks ago (I went alone), and it was pretty low key (pics are here). DH's mom passed away 5 years ago and his aunt has stepped in to fill mother-role since we've been married and she organized all the details for us. DH's family is always clear about the Nigerian way and the American way of doing things and they made it clear that the baby shower would be done in the Nigerian way as an evening party. At first they wanted it on our 1st anniversary this Saturday, but we battled to leave that date alone. Once we established that I fully gave in to the Nigerian way!
The shower lasted from 4-10p.m. but they asked us to arrive at 7. We had thought maybe 15 people would show up but in the end about 50
people came and many of them we didn't know. They were friends of his
aunt and his mom, who had passed away 5 years ago suddenly. Everyone had a wonderful time and wore traditional dress. There was a full blown DJ, buffet and dancing. In the Nigerian way his aunt had explained that motherhood is celebrated before the birth of the baby and gifts typically aren't given until the baby is born, but she said we'd combine both. Everyone was SO generous!
One tradition is "spraying" when you are showered with $ typically $1 bills but people put $50 bills and $100 checks on us too! We also received lots of gifts like a regular and booster seat high chairs, baby spa, stroller, pack&play, bouncer, clothes and tons of baby care items like diapers, wipes, blankets, baby wash etc. We can't even walk into the nursery anymore!
I was so concerned about writing thank you notes since there were so many people we didn't know, but his aunt told me it wasn't in the Nigerian way to write thank you notes, but I was raised to write them and would feel so bad if I didn't. Many of the gifts didn't have cards or labels to know who they were from, but we did have a sign-in list so I'm going to try to work with his aunt to still send them out.
One special moment I had was with DH's grandmother was when I wanted to show her the ultrasound. She's in her 80s/90s and doesn't speak English, and he told me she wouldn't understand if I showed her the ultrasound. I was still determined to show it to her and found a moment to do so. I pointed to the baby's head in the ultrasound and then my belly. She started beaming! It was so sweet!
Anyway, we got in at 2a.m. and had to wake up early for church. We were supposed to go to Central Park for a Father's Day picnic today but ended up just coming home and crashing so we're going to spend tonight organizing. Our next shower is with our NYC/Boston friends and is going to be a low key BBQ in a couple weeks. I'm sure it won't go on til the wee hours!
Oh! FIL warned us when he dropped us off this a.m. that once the baby's here we're going to do an even bigger party! I better start saving my energy now . . .
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Re: A baby shower - the Nigerian way! (link to pics)
Katy and Brett ~ Runaway Bay, Jamaica ~ October 4, 2008
That sounds incredible!!
Maybe you can just send thank yous to everyone who came and thank them for attending since you don't know who bought what.
Started TTC Nov. 2011
1st clomid cycle June 2012- No response :: HSG August 2012- Left tube blocked, right tube clear :: 2nd clomid cycle Aug. 2012 BFN :: 3rd clomid cycle Sept. 2012 :: BFP Sept 30th :: DS born 6/15/13 :: BFP #2 7/29/14 M/C 8/5/14 :: BFP#3 10/20/14 DD born 7/1/2015 :: Applied to be surrogate April '17 :: Transferred 1 Embryo for IFs Dec. '17 :: Surro Babe born 9/11/18 :: Started 2nd Journey May '19 :: Transferred 1 Embryo for new IFs 9/24/19 :: HB 138 at 6w6d
Thank you for the suggestions! I've already knocked out a few "thank yous" for the checks since they had addresses but general thank yous to everyone will be good.
A tip on buying thank you notes: I got tired of buying "thank you" specific notes and found a box of 200 blank rainbow colored notecards and envelopes at Target for only $10 or $11. I write on them with metallic pens and it makes writing thank yous so much more festive now, and I can use them for other things as well. I LOVE Target!