I love parties. I love having people over. I love decorating and organizing events. I love being in charge of functions. Yeah, I know. I'm crazy, right? So letting someone else be in charge of my baby shower was actually much harder for me than I'm sure it is for many of you. A ton of mommies are all "Yes! Go ahead! I'm just going to show up, get presents and eat cake!" While in my mind, I'm thinking... do the invitations match the theme? Did you mail them out on time? What about the cake...does it match the theme? I don't like punch. What other drinks will be there? Will there be games? Will there be prizes? Will there be prizes for the runners up?!? See what I mean? It's a problem, yet it's one of the reasons why I'm the one my friends come to when it's time to plan a party for THEM. I also think party planning is embedded into my teacher DNA.
My friend Becky - aka ABOBB (All Because of Beck Beck) as she prefers to be called since she introduced me to my husband and really IS the reason Tristan is here - was given a task. Throw me an amazing baby shower, but not over the top, not too expensive, yet theme oriented, classy and full of my friends and family. Easy, right? Let me point out that my baby shower really WAS AMAZING in every way possible and there is absolutely nothing I would have changed about it. Becky did a fantastic job.
But I wanted to take a few minutes and share with you some of the things I learned during the process. Maybe this will make your lives a little easier, maybe not. Either way, I feel like my suggestions could be helpful to at least someone out there. So here goes:
1. If at all possible, have the baby shower at your house. Why? It gave me a timeline of when I needed to be "baby ready". We spruced up the landscaping, got the carpets cleaned, finished the nursery so that everyone could see it, organized items in the kitchen and had help giving the house a thorough deep cleaning. These are all things that NEEDED to be done before the baby arrived anyway, so having the shower at my house gave me the kick start I needed to just do it. Plus, after the party, we didn't have to worry about packing up our presents and loading them into different vehicles or making multiple trips. All we had to do was take everything upstairs. Easy peasy...especially when you're the size of a house.
2. If you're a little OCD like me, help your friend or family member plan the party. I picked out about 5 different invitations I liked and let Becky choose from those. I did the same thing with the menu, the theme, and the games. That way, I knew there would be things there that I wanted, but I would still be surprised at which things were taken from my list. Plus, there are just a few shower games that I'm not fond of, and I wanted to make sure those weren't played.
3. Take lots of pictures of your pregnant self with your friends and family. It's fun to go back through and look at them now and think, "Oh my gosh. I was so pregnant!" Plus, one day when your little one is bigger, you can tell him all about how he was at the party, too. :)
4. Relax. This is your day and whether it's a party for couples or just for the ladies, it's still all about that baby and helping mommy and daddy be prepared. It was great that I was able to have the house the way I wanted it, have the nursery ready for all to see, and allow my friend the authority to "be in charge", so I could be the one greeting people at the door.
Being pregnant is hard enough as it is. Don't make it any harder on yourselves if you don't have to. Baby showers can be whatever you want them to be. Just don't be afraid to have a voice and let others know what will or won't make you happy. Cause if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
My friend Becky - aka ABOBB (All Because of Beck Beck) as she prefers to be called since she introduced me to my husband and really IS the reason Tristan is here - was given a task. Throw me an amazing baby shower, but not over the top, not too expensive, yet theme oriented, classy and full of my friends and family. Easy, right? Let me point out that my baby shower really WAS AMAZING in every way possible and there is absolutely nothing I would have changed about it. Becky did a fantastic job.
But I wanted to take a few minutes and share with you some of the things I learned during the process. Maybe this will make your lives a little easier, maybe not. Either way, I feel like my suggestions could be helpful to at least someone out there. So here goes:
1. If at all possible, have the baby shower at your house. Why? It gave me a timeline of when I needed to be "baby ready". We spruced up the landscaping, got the carpets cleaned, finished the nursery so that everyone could see it, organized items in the kitchen and had help giving the house a thorough deep cleaning. These are all things that NEEDED to be done before the baby arrived anyway, so having the shower at my house gave me the kick start I needed to just do it. Plus, after the party, we didn't have to worry about packing up our presents and loading them into different vehicles or making multiple trips. All we had to do was take everything upstairs. Easy peasy...especially when you're the size of a house.
2. If you're a little OCD like me, help your friend or family member plan the party. I picked out about 5 different invitations I liked and let Becky choose from those. I did the same thing with the menu, the theme, and the games. That way, I knew there would be things there that I wanted, but I would still be surprised at which things were taken from my list. Plus, there are just a few shower games that I'm not fond of, and I wanted to make sure those weren't played.
3. Take lots of pictures of your pregnant self with your friends and family. It's fun to go back through and look at them now and think, "Oh my gosh. I was so pregnant!" Plus, one day when your little one is bigger, you can tell him all about how he was at the party, too. :)
4. Relax. This is your day and whether it's a party for couples or just for the ladies, it's still all about that baby and helping mommy and daddy be prepared. It was great that I was able to have the house the way I wanted it, have the nursery ready for all to see, and allow my friend the authority to "be in charge", so I could be the one greeting people at the door.
Being pregnant is hard enough as it is. Don't make it any harder on yourselves if you don't have to. Baby showers can be whatever you want them to be. Just don't be afraid to have a voice and let others know what will or won't make you happy. Cause if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.