3/08/2008

I Hate Baby Showers

I hate baby showers.

I don't like bridal showers either, unless they are coed and involve cocktails.

I haven't been to that many showers (could it be my attitude?) , but I feel like I've been to thousands. It's not the gifts or the registries that bother me, it's the conversations as everyone discusses each onesie or toaster oven. How many different ways can each person say, "Cute!" or "So practical!" And then there are the games. I like party games that involve drinking, not creative uses for toilet paper.

I hated my own showers more than anything. Then I had to be the FIRST one to come up with an appropriate and original comment for each gift. And I couldn't even go do a shot in the kitchen (I only did that at one shower, I swear). Well,I did like one of the showers I had. Because it wasn't like a regular shower. My friend Mimi asked me what I wanted and I told her that I wanted her to invite people over to her house for a Chiefs game. The shower was coed, there was beer (not for me, but the guests had a good time) and conversation was mainly about football. There was some baby talk, but it wasn't bland gift discussion, it was real information.

That was the best shower ever.

What do you think? Do you enjoy baby showers? Did you have a traditional one? Do you think I'm a complete bitch?

17 comments:

Dory said...

Oh, I heartily agree!!! Showers totally suck ass!

feener said...

i think i hated them when i was single, wasting a weekend day on watching someone open F08(*&* appliances and crap. however, once i was married with kids, i was pumped to have someone serve me a meal and have no kids to worry about. i would go to one once a weekend right now.

Jen said...

I actually kind of like showers. I didn't even mind when we did the yarn around the belly game at my baby shower. I have been to some really bad ones though and a bad shower is a painful thing to endure.

WordVixen said...

My cousin is due in a few months, and I'm dreading it! I haven't been to a baby shower since highschool (another cousin's), and they're really not my thing.

Generally, I only know the recipient of the party, so I have no one to talk to. I have to come up with a $50 gift on a $5 budget, and, I swear, I'm the only person in the world who knows where to get a cake that isn't dry, flavorless, and has super-sugar icing- that's crunchy.

I ducked out of this cousin's bridal party before the wedding. Hopefully I can just talk her into meeting me somewhere so I can give her her gift.

If I get pregnant, I don't even want a shower for myself! Just mail me the gifts, or hand them off to my mother to pass on. :-D

Virginia said...

During my prime childbearing years we usually lived far away from family and always seemed to move shortly after discovering I was pregnant. So, I finally got a real baby shower when I was pregnant with my 5th kid. Although the games are lame, the refreshments usually mediocre, and finding things to say about each gift sucks, I totally loved the gift booty! I got way more stuff from the baby shower than I did for baby gifts when the other kids were born. Totally selfish I know but man! baby stuff is expensive!

Suburban Turmoil Blog Hopping Weekend...Virginia

matteroffactmommy said...

i hate baby showers. unless there is good food and wine involved. at my shower, there were both. and i drank some wine. so shoot me!

Becky said...

I like baby showers, but hate bridal showers. BUT, I completely hate having to watch people open presents (or opening them myself). I find it so incredibly rude.

LunaNik said...

Dude, we were soooo meant to be friends!

I HATE showers. HATE.

My baby shower was also co-ed. Lots of sangria and tequila. Everyone but me got HAMMERED!!! It was fabulous!

When I opened my gifts I did so at the speed of light so no one (including myself) would get bored. The only people who complained were the old ladies who actually like baby showers.

No silly games at my shower either. I wouldn't have it.

jerseygirl89 said...

LunaNik - It's fun watching all the drunk people , isn't it? Though I have to say my in-laws were a little freaked out.

Leslie said...

I think it all comes down to the coolness factor of the shower thrower. Showers can be awesome or they can be totally lame. I've been to more lame ones than cool ones. But I did enjoy each of mine, probably because of the getting presents part of it all.

Ileana said...

We have a bunch of baby shower haters, I don't know if it's because their young or they like to drink or what, a baby shower can be more like a get together, I've had only one and I've gone to many, and no I'm not old, I'm only 31 years old, I think that sometimes maybe it's that your pregnant and moody, but I love babyshowers, I think it's wonderful to share the joy that you feel of bringing another human into this world, and I think is a time to feel pampered by all the people that are their, I like the attention, I think it's wonderful, I love parties I enjoy when I see all the people I love there and that they look happy and they enjoy chatting with each other it's more like a get together and like a catch up in all the gossip!

actchy said...

JG,
I'm here for the first time and this post caught my eye, possibly because I spent today picking up a baby gift for the seventh time in the past two weeks? Anyway, I actually blogged about showers back in January after I spent all of a two hour ride on the NJ Turnpike home from one thinking about them. I decided I like showers, though I'm still not 100% sure why? Not to be too much of a "check out my blog" commenter, but if you're at all curious to get my take on showers, well... I'm sure you know the drill...

Annie said...

OMG I'm so glad I'm not the only one! What I hate the most are the showers I'm invited to by my husband's obscure relatives. "Hi, we met twice... both times I grunted in reply to your friendly hello and never made eye contact... now please buy me the $80 gold-plated clothes iron I put on my registry and play horrifyingly demeaning party games with us!" WOOOO yeah... and by "yeah" I mean "Hows about not".

Boo Sr. said...

Did you ever have an in-law describe and give you a handmade "circum-cision kit?" One SIL gave the other a fancy basket with all the Vaseline, gauze, etc. to take care of the new arrival's winky. Oh wow. I actually went to that one with my hubby- he was the only man. Mine, no one took pictures, and the girl giving it didn't ask me a thing about what I wanted. I mentioned something about the other SIL's theme who was having her baby about a month before mine, so I ended up with the same thing! Couldn't we have at least gone shopping at the party store together or made up a menu? It was not fun and pretty awkward, getting people from all parts of my life together at someone else's house. I felt like that meant our house wasn't good enough for the shower, but it probably was because it would have been too small anyway. Just thinking the other day how I haven't had to buy a wedding or baby gift in a long time. Wouldn't get a thank-you from friends or family if I did! Thank God. I wish I could have gone to the New Age one! Anyone do a belly mold at theirs or someone else's-- although I don't think I would have wanted to show off my belly to the older crowd! THis was fun to read. Happy Mother's Day.

Simone said...

I hate showers. I've thrown too many. They tend to be great, elaborate affairs with great food and decorations because I believe the person being showered upon should feel, well, showered upon.

But when I had my last shower for my last baby, I had to cut the cake myself. I had to do everything, including refill the punch. It was so painful, I swore I would never do another shower for another person. Of course, I have since helped throw a baby shower and bridal shower for my best friends, but that's over, so I'm done.

Fortunately, I think I am at an age where my friends are done having babies and if they remarry, well, they are on their own.

blurg said...

I hate baby showers, it is bad enough you have to listen to the high maintence pregnant chick in the office for months on end, then people at the office think it will be fun to go to her house and cuddle the baby? I got a life and much better things to do. I hate to break it to ya moms but just cuz you love you baby doesn't mean that everyone else does. You get a whole bunch of women together and they act like bitches! In fact most of my friends turn into little princesses when they get all prego, and become bitches. Oh- yeah and sending ultrasound pics via email- LAME! I am getting off topic a bit but unless it is coed and tones of booze- forget it. When your kid is two- call me, I love older kids...but babies? Yak!

LunaNik said...

Dude, we were soooo meant to be friends!

I HATE showers. HATE.

My baby shower was also co-ed. Lots of sangria and tequila. Everyone but me got HAMMERED!!! It was fabulous!

When I opened my gifts I did so at the speed of light so no one (including myself) would get bored. The only people who complained were the old ladies who actually like baby showers.

No silly games at my shower either. I wouldn't have it.