Welcome to the world

Back in the dark ages when I was born, welcoming a baby into the world occurred when the baby actually arrived – with female friends and relatives all coming along to have a cuddle and the guys heading off down the pub to wet the baby’s head (so I’m told, anyway. I don’t actually remember this happening myself).

These days, however, things are a little bit different. Another American trend has crossed the channel and begun to make itself known here in the U.K., and it’s proving pretty popular – the Baby Shower.

Back when I was expecting the Wee Man and the topic of such a thing was raised, I was a little bit dubious about the whole concept. Not actually really knowing what one was, I had visions of standing, slightly dampened and hugely pregnant in the middle of a room, whilst people sprayed me with various liquid (champage, possibly?) and danced around me in a ritualistic way.

Turns out, that’s not actually what happens. (Thank goodness. I had enough of that kind of thing at my 21st birthday party, or so I’m told anyway. I can’t claim to remember much of it past about 8pm…).

Mine was a rather more sedate affair, organised by my lovely friend Kate and my splendid sister. Snacks were nibbled, drinks were sipped – and thankfully not sprayed – and gifts were bestowed on the as-yet-unborn Wee Man. It was a lovely afternoon, and despite my trepidation I was glad I had a baby shower.

Since then I’ve been to a few of them, with varying degrees of baby games, snacking, and gift giving. In general they have been arranged by friends or family of the mum to be,

However last weekend I was invited to a Baby Shower with a difference – rather than friends or family organising the day, the fun and frolics was provided courtesy of Before Baby, a company that offers themed baby shower packages at your home or workplace.

The company do just about everything for you – providing the decorations, food and drink, music and games so that all you have to do is invite your guests, provide the venue, and turn up. It sounded like a great idea, so I was interested to see how actually worked in practice – as well as going along to wish my friend well with her imminent arrival of course!

Despite a bit of a rocky start (the baby shower was meant to start at 2pm, but didn’t actually begin until 2.45) my friend – who was presented with a ‘Yummy Mummy’ sash to wear -, the other guests and I all had a lovely time. The time taken to set up was worth it as the central table and decorations were immaculately presented and well thought out, with miniature bottles of fresh lemonade sitting alongside tempting glass canisters filled with a whole selection of sweet treats, and tiny portions of oreo cookie ice cream just begging to be eaten. After being urged to sample some of the delights (most of us didn’t need telling twice!) we started with a game – designing a newborn baby vest in teams of 4. This was followed by a bit of a quiz and a relay game, including undressing and dressing a ‘baby’, building block towers, making nappies out of toilet roll and of course the essential part of any baby shower – eating baby food. The games were all well thought out and very entertaining, and although things felt a little bit disorganised at times, everyone had a lot of fun – especially my friend, which is the main thing!

Although it wasn’t my baby shower, I could certainly appreciate the way it ended too (no, I’m not talking about the gift bag we were given before we left, although that was lovely and I very much enjoyed scoffing the popcorn and miniature marshmallows that were in it!). In fact, I’m talking about the mess – or lack of it – because Before Baby did all the cleaning up afterwards, which meant pretty much zero hassle for anyone else. If I were to have another baby / baby shower (and I’m certainly not planning on either any time soon!) then I think that the service that Before Baby offers, from planning, to delivering (the event, not the baby…), to leaving only happy memories behind, is certainly the way to go.

Great food, great company, great entertainment, and no aftermath to deal with…what’s not to like?

Now bring on the baby!