Why you HAVE to have a baby shower.

Lauren Derrett - 15 Jul 16

Let me ask you a question….

Do you celebrate your birthday?

I’m guessing you answered yes, I would hazard a guess that we all, at some point celebrate our birthdays, low key or a big f*ck off shindig. It may not be every birthday, it may only be the ‘big’ ones but at some point I’d put money on saying you’ve celebrated the day that you were birthed, your mothers Birthing Day.

We all naturally celebrate important milestone in our lives, passing our driving test, getting engaged, getting married, getting divorced *raises hand* yet we aren’t as comfortable celebrating the biggest milestone, the biggest birthday of them all…….the day you’re gonna actually birth?

Being pregnant and giving birth should be the BIGGEST celebration of your life. Ever! It’s what we’re all here for, it’s putting your body to use to achieve the most infinite human goal.  Procreation, and holy moly that shiz needs to be celebrated.

So bring on the bloomin’ baby shower my friend. Celebrate the total awesomeness that is your body, it’s silently and unquestioningly working day and night to bring your tiny human to you, that deserves  a party for sure.

Picture the scene, all your girls in pretty frocks, balloons, afternoon tea, party games, streamers and of course, lashings and lashing of processco, all in aid of your total awesomeness.

Of course you won’t have to plan the whole sch-bang yourself, delegate, delegate, delegate! No shame! Your friends would love the opportunity to throw you a well earned party (and the opportunity to buy themselves a new frock) they’ll get off on scouring the internet to hunt out the cutesy baby shower party games and of course they’ll love making the space all pretty. This baby shower is as much about your loved ones as it is about you.

As a doula, I’ve been invited to a fair few baby showers and I just love it, all the women there love it, the mama to be loves it and the girls who organised it are full of pride and totally loving it. It’s an honour to be asked to plan a baby shower, whoever you delegate to will feel special, and you gave them that.

So when you delegate the exciting task to your loving friends and family, you may as well share your gift wish list with them too right?

When we get married we have gift lists. People bloody love it when they are simply given a list of gifts that you’d love. It takes the pressure off, it means they’ll get you exactly what you want or need, they won’t have to spend hours (and a fortune) searching out and buying a gift that they love, but they don’t. A gift that ends up gathering dust in the back of a cupboard in the newlyweds home, never to see the light of day again, either that or on ebay *raises hand again* .

Of course some people hate the dreaded list and that’s all cool, they are more than welcome to hot foot it down to John Lewis and go all goo goo gah gah over all the idy bidy blue and pink pastel tiny clothes, and you’ll be grateful none the less.

But if all your guests go down the same route? If all your guests buy baby stuff? The same kind of baby stuff that you couldn’t help but buy through your sheer excitement. That’s a whole shit load of baby stuff, and I guarantee you, a lot of it won’t make it out the packet.

So when delegating this essential milestone celebration, do your girlfriends a massive favour, save them time and money and give them all your wishlist. And lovely friend, you can start your wishlist here and then share with all your friends. It really doesn’t get any easier than that.

Using this wish list means that all your gifts will be about celebrating you and your journey, it’ll be gifts that are both luxurious and essential, it will be all the gifts you need!

Alternatively, if you trust your loved ones enough, give them free reign, let them put together their selection of gifts (that’ll keep the friend who hates gift lists happy) and of course this idea works perfectly for collections from your work colleagues too, and if you’re looking for a even easier option then just send them a link to a pre-packed gift box. All the thinking has been done for you all.

The possibilities are endless and the gifts are all perfect for you.

But, back to my original point. You HAVE to have a baby shower. You HAVE to celebrate this once in a lifetime event (yea sure you may have more children, but, you’ll never birth this one again) plus, it’s nice to get dressed up and spend time with your loving girls, eating cake and celebrating the miracle of your Birthing Day.

Lauren Derrett

I'm Lauren, Founder of Wear 'em Out, reusable period pads for the empowered eco-curious. Mother of 4, Step-Mother of 2, I've been parenting for 24 years so have seen and learned a lot of stuff

View profile for posts, events and more info