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Baby Showers
snok83
member
When to have a baby shower...
snok83
member
in Baby Showers
Okay ladies,
When are you planning to have or plan to do your baby showers? How many weeks will you be at the shower?
I will most likely be thrown 2 parties b/c my inlaws and his side of the family live over 4 hours away from us. So it is just too hard for folks to come this way for a shower. The other shower will be held in the town we live in with my side of the family and friends from the area. For the local shower, I don't think the date would matter as much. However, I don't like the idea of traveling 4 hours away super close to my delievery date of April 19th.
Any recommendations for when to suggest the date for the out of town shower. Just curious. Also how far in advance did you start putting items on your registry? Thanks!
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Re: When to have a baby shower...
ditto PPs comments about waiting for your hostess to ask when you'd be comfortable having a shower. Once it has been asked, the door is wide open to suggest doing it before the point you're uncomfortable traveling. (My doc said to stay within an hour of home starting at 34 weeks but yours may have different suggestions so it never hurts to ask!)
As for the registering; We did ours early because my parents and siblings started asking what the baby wanted for Christmas (I'm due late March). I worked retail as a part time fun money job for far too many years to enjoy being anywhere near the mall during the holiday rush so we went and did it just before Thanksgiving. The downside of doing it early is that seasonal stuff may rotate out before your shower so you will want to keep a little bit of a close eye on things to be sure that nothing becomes unavailable. Baby products tend to be pretty stable as far as turn over from what I've seen but clothes seem to switch out at random times. You'll want to be pretty much close to done registering whenever your shower invites go out because people will probably hop online to see what you've got on there. Doesn't mean it has to be 100% done, but at least a decent start would be a good idea.
I had two showers. My husband's co-workers threw us a shower at about 29 weeks. My second shower was a surprise. It was scheduled for when I was just about 36 weeks, 6 days but my son arrived a bit early. So instead, I was 2 days postpartum.
My in-laws lived about 9 hours away at the time. They drove up for the shower (along with a bunch of other friends and church members whom I had never met). Your family may choose to do the same. Let them decide.
If your host asks your opinion regarding the date, I'd suggest requesting a date prior to 36 weeks.
I set up my registry at 20-something weeks, prior to the first shower.
1. When to have a shower-ditto to PP on timing. Mine is at 34 weeks which is a little later than I would have liked, but that is the date that worked out.
2. I did a few things with the registry. First, I started a private Amazon wish list based off of recommendations I found on the internet when I first found out I was pregnant. I used this mostly to remind me about products. I have kept this list mostly to do price checks as I am going to start getting some items for myself and it is easy to check Amazon to see if their prices are lower than in brick and mortar stores if it is on a wish list.
I started working on public registries early, about 16 weeks, but I have not, until recently, told anyone that either one exist. I added items by going through emails from friends-I sent out an email to my mom friends asking for their recommendations, checked out Baby Bargains, read Amazon reviews, used Lucie's List and the Stroller Traffic registry. My plan is to go in store to finish both this weekend. I registered at Giggle and BRU. I did not register for clothes. I figure I will get some at the shower and I will go shopping myself from there.
I also have 2 that I am keeping secret and using for the coupon code. One is at PB kids because people rave about their hooded towels and I think we will get the rug for LO's room from PBK; and Diapers.com for items that I am not registering for publicly (diaper cream, hand wash, stain remover). I thought it would be easier to create a registry instead of having to dig through emails to find the info later. These lists are not being disclosed to anyone, it is really a personal shopping list for me.
I am due Feb 12 and my shower has been planned for Jan 19. I will be 36.5 weeks along. One of the 3 things I asked for the shower was for it to happen on a weekend when we have the SDs which left Jan 5 and Jan 19. Sister felt Jan 5 was too soon from coming out of the holidays, so Jan 19 it is! (I also asked for co-ed if a budget would allow more than just ladies and I asked that my mom not be allowed to invite one of her drunky friends whom DH and I reeeeally don't like. Sister was more than happy to oblige with the latter).
My registry still isn't done. We've been busy and when I finally wrangle DH over to the computer, he just nods and "uh-huh, that's nice. that's fine. that's cool. whatever you want honey." I'll have it finished by the end of the year, I suppose. It takes forever to add stuff just from doing research between websites, consumer reviews ... and I don't know what half of this crap is or does. What do I need? I have no clue. We have our crib, mattress, cloth diaper stash, and some clothes. That's good for me for now!
I have a differing opinion on this than most ladies here...I'm due February 26 (with our first). And I have been very vocal and adament about keeping February open - no showers. DH and I feel very strongly about taking that time to be together and just enjoy the weeks before our son's arrival with no stress or worries on the calendar.
That being said, I was in conversations with my shower hostesses (they'd already mentioned throwing me showers) about dates before they offered dates to me. Mainly because we had Thanksgiving and Christmas to work around, which causes for really busy schedules. I got the dates set with them, early on. I'm having 3 showers - 1 back home (was December 1 and I was 27 weeks), 1 in my current town (scheduled for January 6 and I'll be 32 weeks), 1 at work (scheduled for January 10 and I'll be 33 weeks) and then DH's sister and parents are doing a really small family dinner/sprinkle for us on January 5.
That gets all the showers done in January and we were able to work around Christmas as best as possible, which is exactly what we wanted.
We registered a couple weeks before my first shower - before Thanksgiving - I wanted to miss the Christmas shopping crazies. It gave me time to fine tune the lists before the shower, also.
If you want to start conversations with your shower hostesses (if they've already offered to throw you a shower) about dates, then do it. If it'll help you feel less stressed, it's worth it. It relieved tons of my stress!
My first shower (MIL) was given at 26 weeks (it was a flight away and the whole family was together for a wedding that weekend anyway).
My local shower was at 35 weeks. Work threw one for me around 32 weeks.
I started a registry sometime after my anatomy scan...so around 23 weeks or so.
My in-laws threw me a family shower when I was 33 weeks, and my work threw me a surprise shower at 34 weeks. My big shower won't be until I'm a whopping 38 weeks.
I'd really have preferred to have showers around 28-30 weeks, but I'm so touched that people care at all, that I'm not about to complain. Freak out, maybe, complain, no.