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June 2012 Moms
mkflower3000
member
Shower gift opening ideas?
mkflower3000
member
Hi ladies,
My shower is in early May, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this... We're just having a big mingling potluck party, so none of the standard shower stuff, and I'm trying to figure out how to do the gift opening. Honestly, I hate being the center of attention, so the thought of sitting in the middle of the room and being looked at the whole time makes me uncomfortable. I could ask DH to do the opening (we're having a jack and jill potluck), but I also know that many people get bored watching item after item being pulled out for however long it takes; a lot of our friends aren't really into babies, and I honestly believe that they would get bored really quickly if they felt like they had to sit through that. Not to mention the fact that we wanted the potluck to be loosely structured, so I wouldn't want to interrupt the mingling and get everyone together for gift opening. Between the fact that I wouldn't really enjoy it and neither would many of my guests, I wanted to avoid the standard procedure. I considered not opening gifts at the shower (I know that sometimes that's done as well), but I also have a handful of friends who might be sad/offended if I didn't open the gift when they were there. I thought of opening the gifts just with the people who brought them and then laying them out someplace (in case others wanted to see), but that might get too complicated. One of my friends suggested having the guests open each gift and share why they brought it - she said she went to a shower where that happened and it was fun to hear the reasons - but again, I know some people who would feel shy about that + most of my friends would probably just say 'well, it was on the registry', so it wouldn't be particularly entertaining. We also thought of spreading out the gift opening - doing some in the beginning, middle, and end, but people will be coming and going whenever so that could get messy (and again, I don't want to interrupt the mingling so often).
Any suggestions/creative ideas that would allow us to open gift without doing the organized thing?
TIA 
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Re: Shower gift opening ideas?
I agree with this, it's really rude to not open gifts and at least acknowledge what you are given. Maybe you could open the gifts as guests arrive, that way they can watch you open while others are mingling and you can thank them right away.
Are you hosting the pot luck? If not you should ask the host/hostess what they want, since they are giving the shower and probably have and idea of what they would like to do.
We are in a similar situation next week with my husband's family throwing us a co-ed shower...it is not really a shower except for the fact that people will giving us gifts.
We are expecting mostly gift cards (just from experience with his side and their lack of effort for anything that isn't for them...) which may cut down on it being "messy".
If you are hosting, I do like the bingo idea. Also, if you do decide to do a "big opeing...have people pick a number and that is the order you open them in, just to add a new element to it...I don't really know as all my hostesses are having me/us open in front of everyone.
I'm in a similar situation. I don't want to bore people to death. We are going to serve the cake during the gift opening and make sure they have plenty of cocktails. What I wouldn't do would be to make them tell you why they got you something. That's really putting them on the spot and I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable. Bored is better than uncomfortable.
Thanks ladies!
My friends are hosting, but they're kind of keeping me involved so in terms of decisions such as how to do the gift opening they're letting me pick.
I think we might go with either opening gifts during a meal or the bingo idea! That way people can be all gathered and have something to do if they're bored (i.e., eating or playing a game). I've thought of doing the 'speed opening' (when everyone opens the gift they brought at once, and then the mom- or dad-to-be go around and show everyone what was opened), but in a way it would probably be too similar to a standard gift opening - just not as much unwrapping for us to do personally. I appreciate all of your ideas!
I would never not open the gifts there - I thought about it, but I do realize that that would probably be upsetting to some of the guests and I understand why. Hopefully we can do it quickly and move on to the mingling!
I find the typical ones where the MTB sits and opens gifts for an hour boring - so I was quite thankful that my SIL had a tonn of fun little games ready. I opend a few gifts (2-5) then we played a little game, a few more gifts, the result of the game etc. It broke things up and kept the energy level high and stopped people from getting bored. Plus it gave lots of opportunities for people to get food, drinks, use the washroom, sit beside someone new...