Your best friend has called you to say you need to meet up and talk about something. Something about the sound of her voice has got you worried and nervous. Has something happened at work, or has her Nanna taken a turn for the worst? All day you are worrying about the big meet. Finally, you get to the cafe and see her at the table. She’s smiling. That’s a relief. Actually she’s positively glowing. OMG! She’s telling you she’s pregnant!
When your friend is having a baby it is all you are going to be talking about for nine months, but you don’t care. You are just so excited that all these miraculous changes are going to happen, and you get to be there every step of the way. Handing her tissues when she has an impromptu weep and holding her hair back as breakfast comes back are all jobs you can’t wait to take on. You’ll be by her side if she gets that cold feet feeling. But the best bit about your besty being pregnant is you get to organize a baby shower!
Firstly, you need to raid her cell phone for every contact she has ever known. The more girls you can get to this thing the more fabulous gifts she is going to receive. Finding a time when everyone can make it is a challenge, but everyone loves a baby shower so they’ll drop everything to come. The next thing to worry about is co-ordinating everybody’s gift efforts. The last thing you need is 30 books on parenting. Gifts for babies are great, but your friend deserves a good hoard of great things to see her through the pregnancy and first few months of being a mommy too.
Decide if your friends needs to register. This can be restricting if you are committed to just one store. You may want to trawl the Internet and see what else is out there. Better still, get your heads together for a brainstorming session and create your wish list manually. Great gift ideas include boxes of diapers in every size; multi-packs of snap onesies in every size, and; children’s stories for mommy to read out loud while she is feeding.
Great gifts for mommy are essential too. They can include spa products; a babysitting roster for early mornings so mommy can get a shower and get dressed, and; a month’s supply of high nutrition frozen meals to spare mommy cooking time. Your friend will be absolutely exhausted for the first month, so offering to pull one all-nighter each will give her a much-needed rest. This costs nothing to any of the shower guests but will be the most valuable gift you can give her. It also helps friends truly appreciate why they may be put to the back burner for a while when she has a baby!
Once you have prepared a list of gifts to help her friends choose wisely, it’s time for you to prepare the party itself. Your best friend is going to be an emotional wreck so get the tissues out. This is the first time since her wedding that all eyes will be on her, except this time she’s feeling fat and frumpy. Offer her a salon or spa pregnancy makeover. Lots of places do a special maternity package, and will provide products and services that will be perfectly safe for her and the baby. Once her hair and makeup are done, it’s time to hit the best maternity store in town to buy her a fabulous outfit.
Now she’s feeling really good and looking very glam, you need to think about entertaining everybody. Find a recipe book for some virgin cocktails. They look fun and taste fun but with none of the alcohol. This keeps the shower tame and doesn’t upset mommy that she can’t join in with the celebrations. Some foods may still be causing your friend nausea so ask her what they are. Finger foods are great for these events because everyone wants to sit around the mommy and the presents rather than have a formal sitting meal. Pick things that are nutritionally strong to support your friend’s pregnancy diet.
Make the baby shower as positive an experience as you can. Some guests will undoubtedly bring some weird and wacky gifts to do with maternity and breastfeeding that will make some people, including your friend, uncomfortable. This is a natural response to the unknown so don’t begrudge anybody. Just thank them and move on to the next gift. Your friend may be particularly vulnerable to comments about size and weight, and some girls do like to boast nonsense about how they only gained seven pounds. Just smile and change the subject to something unrelated, and check in with your besty privately.
Image sourced from Flickr.com
Usually, a baby shower is a joyous time, and everyone is lovely and supportive. However, pregnancy hormones are an unknown quantity. They may turn your passive besty into a seething monster. Everyone knows that pregnant women can become emotional easily. Don’t feel embarrassed for your friend or try to apologize on her behalf. Most importantly, remember she is not an invalid, and she can do pretty much everything unaided. If she is teary, pass her the tissue box and give her a hug. She knows she’s pregnant and what the effects of that are on her emotions, so don’t be forever reminding her and making excuses for it.
At the end of the party, make sure everything is picked up off the floor and the dishes are in the dishwasher. You threw the party, so it needs to be you cleaning up after, rather than leaving a pregnant woman with a messy house. Yes, it is a lot of work, but your friend will appreciate it enormously. No doubt one day she will be returning the favor! Baby showers can be catered by professionals, and you can choose to book a venue for the event. This saves you the extra work of organizing and cleaning up. Whatever you choose, it is all about making your friend feel fabulous while pregnant.
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