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smcdonald2
06-08-2010, 06:50 PM
Well, the women who are throwing my baby showers are SUPER excited about it. Although I keep telling them, "I'm not supposed to be involved," they keep calling me and asking things like, "What kind of food do you want," "Did you have a theme in mind" and "When should we plan the shower(s)?"

LOL. I think it's incredibly sweet that they're offering to throw showers for me and that they're so excited. And I don't want to keep refusing my opinions if it distresses them not to have it...

So when is the best time to have a baby shower? Right before the birth? A month before? Two months? We're having a November baby so I'd like to wait until the warm fall/winter baby clothes are out. Thanks in advance!

swissair81
06-08-2010, 06:56 PM
I think the fall clothing lines come out in July. I never had a shower, but it seems logical to wait if you are hoping to get fall/winter clothing. My baby will have nothing to wear. I'm due at the end of August & all my kids were born in cold weather.

lizzywednesday
06-08-2010, 07:00 PM
My nephew was due in early November & I hosted my sister's shower in mid-September because October is super-busy for me with my annual commitment to a breast cancer 2-day.

My shower was planned for a month ahead. It was snowed out. Twice.

Soooo, I'd say about a month out is good.

GonnaBeNana
06-08-2010, 07:11 PM
For my first child, it was a month or so before he was born. We didn't want to know the sex ahead of time, but since it was our first, we needed everything anyway. We did not have a shower with our second child. We had showers for our third and fourth because it was a tradition in our church in the UK that ALL babies got a shower! They were thrown after the children were born so we could show off our new babies! The ladies there also were big on personalized gifts and knowing the name made personalization easy. My youngest is almost 11 and we still have many of those gifts!

Beth

SnuggleBuggles
06-08-2010, 07:14 PM
34-37 weeks would work for most. I think it is handy to have it just before full term but with enough time that if you don't get things you need you have time to shop.

Beth

GonnaBeNana
06-08-2010, 07:19 PM
I don't mean to hijack (sorry), but I have a question about showers. My daughter (as you all know) is pregnant with her first baby and normally I wouldn't hesitate to throw a shower at all...however, she is 17 (18 by the time the baby arrives) and unmarried. It was unplanned, but we're doing well and so is she.

Do you think it's "proper" to have a shower for her? One of her friends asked me if she could host it and I said OK. There are lots of wonderful women in our church who are supportive as well. Should they be invited (they are of course older than her)? I'm just wondering what I should do. Any advice would be appreciated.

Beth

SnuggleBuggles
06-08-2010, 07:22 PM
Sure, why not? Planned or not all pregnancies and babies deserve to be celebrated. Plus, a young mom doesn't necessarily have the same resources as an older mom when it comes to just heading out and buying things that are needed. It is helpful and a nice gesture. eta- I'd invite the women from church if they have been kind and supportive.

Beth

lizzywednesday
06-08-2010, 07:26 PM
I don't mean to hijack (sorry), but I have a question about showers. My daughter (as you all know) is pregnant with her first baby and normally I wouldn't hesitate to throw a shower at all...however, she is 17 (18 by the time the baby arrives) and unmarried. It was unplanned, but we're doing well and so is she.

Do you think it's "proper" to have a shower for her? One of her friends asked me if she could host it and I said OK. There are lots of wonderful women in our church who are supportive as well. Should they be invited (they are of course older than her)? I'm just wondering what I should do. Any advice would be appreciated.

Beth

My sister is also unmarried. I threw the shower anyway, knowing some of our relatives would decline because they didn't agree with the decision.

The way I see it is shower is to celebrate the baby-on-the-way.

That baby didn't choose his/her circumstances, so why should there be less joy surrounding his/her arrival?

Choose joy. Your daughter will have a tough enough time ahead being a mom!

Glizmo
06-08-2010, 07:30 PM
My shower was late March for my mid-May baby, so month-and-a-half. I'm currently helping plan a shower for my aunt who's due Oct 19 and we're looking at the end of August - so again, month-and-a-half before. In both cases we were working around known family vacations (spring break for mine, labor day/camping for my aunt's), so we went with the weekend that worked best for the most people.

And don't feel bad about being involved with the planning - I think the mama-to-be was involved in some way with every shower I've helped plan. It's not "supposed" to be that way, but we always wanted to make sure the guest of honor had the best day possible! :)

Glizmo
06-08-2010, 07:32 PM
The way I see it is shower is to celebrate the baby-on-the-way.

That baby didn't choose his/her circumstances, so why should there be less joy surrounding his/her arrival?

Choose joy. Your daughter will have a tough enough time ahead being a mom!

:yeahthat:

sunnyside
06-08-2010, 07:42 PM
I had several showers. The first was at 32 weeks, the second at 34 weeks and the last at 35 weeks. (Family/friends in other areas threw these, that's why I had three).

I'm not married either and my baby is being celebrated as much as possible! We're all incredibly excited to meet my baby girl. There should be no shame in welcoming a child no matter what the circumstances. If people are offended they dont' need to participate. No one is forcing them to. Yay for new baby! :cheerleader1:

smcdonald2
06-08-2010, 07:42 PM
My sister is also unmarried. I threw the shower anyway, knowing some of our relatives would decline because they didn't agree with the decision.

The way I see it is shower is to celebrate the baby-on-the-way.

That baby didn't choose his/her circumstances, so why should there be less joy surrounding his/her arrival?

Choose joy. Your daughter will have a tough enough time ahead being a mom!

What she said! Now is a wonderful time for you and the ladies in your church to show your daughter (and her baby) grace and love. In circumstances like hers, kindness means even more.

sunnyside
06-08-2010, 07:51 PM
I totally agree! ^^

newg
06-08-2010, 09:08 PM
I had one of my showers right around week 30.......my second shower was suppose to be around week 32 (in another state) and I was put on complete bed rest the weekend before and DD was born at week 34.....................soooooooo my advice would be to plan at least a month out, possibly two, to give you enough time to return stuff and get things washed a prepared for the new baby.
Had we not had to travel for the second shower I could have gone, but DD arriving at 34 weeks would have cut out any showers planned for after that!

My neighborhood is throwing me a shower for this next baby at exactly my 34th week, just to make sure they get it in on time ;)

PearlsMom
06-09-2010, 09:53 AM
I love early showers! I had one at 29 weeks (required me to travel by air, so I figured earlier was better) and one at 31 weeks (local). I really like to plan, so it was great for me to have the showers done with so that I could figure out what I still needed to shop for with plenty of time. I'm sure the big baby stores could tell you when they'll be getting their fall/winter lines in, and you could have your showers at least two weeks after that.

GonnaBeNana
06-09-2010, 02:46 PM
I talked with two of my best friends from church today (one is our pastor's wife, the other our children's ministry director) and both said a shower was very appropriate for my daughter! My CMD is going to host it in her home! She felt it best to wait until after the baby is born so everyone can see the baby and rejoice right along with her! This was a huge relief for me! Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement too. They mean so much!

Beth

scmama
06-09-2010, 03:07 PM
I had two showers for DS around 30 and 32 weeks. I was so happy I had them then because the day after my shower, I was put on bed rest. I was really glad that I was able to use the last two months of my pregnancy to get all my things together and to find out what I still needed for the baby. I'm a total planner, so having a shower around 32 weeks was great for me. BTW, with DS, I wasn't married at the time, and was perfectly happy with it. I had a wonderful girls shower that my mom and aunt threw for me and the second shower was a coed one with mostly all of DH's (then just my BF) friends and family.

This time around with DD, I had my shower a few weeks ago at around 30 weeks, just because I knew the further along I got, the more uncomfortable I'd be.

creativelightbulb
06-09-2010, 03:34 PM
Well, I planned my own showers...I'm 31 weeks and 4 days today...

I'm totally type A and my family knows it is best to just let me do it and help where they can...

both are co-ed

the first was this past weekend - ...approx. 100 family member guests...30 of which were over night...

it turned out GREAT with the assistance of everyone...

the next one is mostly friends and coworkers...much younger crowd - with DJ and dancing...

I think showers should reflect the mother and father so there really isn't a right and a wrong when it comes to the event...IMO