Today I ran across a survey on whether or not moms should be given a shower on subsequent babies after their first. I was surprised to see what a controversial topic this can be!
I recently attended a shower for my sweet friend Cristina to celebrate the impending arrival of her 5th baby. It was an intimate gathering with these lovely ladies.
To recognize Cristina, each woman brought a bead and spoke a prayer or scripture over the future of her newest son, Isaiah James. The beads would then be made into a bracelet and worn during the upcoming birth. Each prayer had also been hand written and bound together as a keepsake.
To celebrate Isaiah, each woman also brought baby items to be donated to the local food bank!
I have also been honored to have others celebrate with me in this way as we've anticipated the arrival of a new blessing. During my last two births I was honored to wear both a Bead Necklace and Bead Bracelet that were a reminder to me of the prayers and support that my sweet friends had spoken over me. These birth experiences were more peaceful as I concentrated on the verses and prayers that brought Christ to the center of my mind instead of the pain of labor!
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" ~Philippians 4:13
My thoughts are that each child is a blessing and should be celebrated! There are so many options for what this could look like:
Spa Party
Blessing Shower
Freezer Stocking
Monogram Themed Gift Giving
Food Bank Pantry Pounding
The list goes on...
I'd love to hear your opinions and ideas! Are subsequent showers an etiquette "no-no"?
Be Refreshed!
PS - Those flowers in each ladies hair were a little take home gift, hand made by me! I'll be giving some away in the upcoming weeks, so come back for your chance to win!
I WANT to celebrate the arrival of ALL the kids that my friends and family have: first or third or whatever. (It's such a chore, after all, to peruse all those adorable baby clothes for the perfect outfit). I love your alternate shower ideas for the moms who already have the items they need - the bracelet is genius and, in my opinion, should permanently replace all shower games. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the bracelet idea! Perhaps the choice of having a traditional gift-giving shower or doing something more practical would vary depending on the mama's current needs. Having children far apart could mean needing all those baby essentials all over again, so a traditional shower could be helpful. However, if the mommy is also raising other young children, perhaps a nice visit and a freezer full of dinners would be a big blessing. :) Etiquette doesn't concern me nearly so much as rejoicing over a new precious little one....however you choose to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteThank you for giving my sister such a wonderful shower! She is truly blessed to have all you ladies in her life. Thank you for posting what I missed out on!!! :)
ReplyDeleteSo I have thought about the appropriateness of having a second shower being that I have a second little girl on the way. This is my conclusion:
ReplyDeleteIf I were having a boy, I would want an actual big ordeal shower. The reason being that I have no boy things. Annnnnd it would be my first boy so it would be celebrating a new stage.
Whereas, I am having a girl again, so I do appreciate a little get-together, like an intimate tea party with just the people who I don't have a chance to meet up with regularly. Really it's just an excuse to be special for a day, and give the little one some recognition.
I think where society stands is that showers are typically based around a gluttony of gifts, or selfishness, so it's not necessary after one child. It's not a brand new experience anymore, they have no sympathy to give gifts because you should have everything you need. Now, I think that doesn't have to be the case, it is just what has happened to the tradition. If you look through a baby book, you see that there is a huge section on the shower, so what do you do? Do you not make a baby book for the subsequent children either?
I have felt that it's not a big deal not to have a shower, and I definitely would not want to impose on anyone, making them feel like they had to get us anything. I just want to take a moment to honor my little girl, since she gets forgotten next to her sister who's not yet 1.
So in short, I think the gifts are where the controversy comes in, but if we turn the focus around, I think others have had parties for much sillier occasions!
Brienne...you were missed!
ReplyDeleteAs a non-mom, I would have to say that I think one or two big showers (two if the first two children are diff sexes) are acceptable, but after that, I think small get-togethers where gifts arn't expected are ok. I agree that we are becoming too focused on our things, but for the first one or two, it's reasonable to want some basic things to get started, but after that, just throw a tea party or something.
ReplyDelete