Post-Pregnancy Thoughts on Skipping My Baby Shower
We decided not to have a baby shower while I was pregnant for various reasons that I shared a while back. Emilia finally arrived, and I've been able to get a better grasp on what we need and what I'd still love to get from our registry. Post-pregnancy I can confidently say there are some clear pros and cons to not having a baby shower.
Pros of not having a baby shower
People send the CUTEST clothes
We didn't know the gender of our baby so I really didn't buy clothes in advance. I bought a handful of white onesies and a few gender-neutral PJs. As soon as Emmie arrived, people started giving us adorable girl clothes. Plus, it's been great to have something to shop for (with a purpose) in the first few weeks of postpartum. I've had the BEST time picking out a few cute girl outfits for her.
Our condo isn't full of things we don't need
If you're married, you may have done this, too. We registered for way too many things that we rarely use. I knew we would have a similar experience with baby items because every baby is different. You can go crazy with so many chairs to sit in, baby blankets and gadgets. We've learned that our little one isn't crazy about motion so the two chairs we have our perfect. We wouldn't have known that before her arrival and most likely would have registered for things we don't truly need. Plus, we have such limited space right now, and I'm grateful we don't have to store items that are for later months.
We're mindful of what we spend on baby gear
Since we've bought most items ourselves, we're mindful not to just 'buy to buy.' In fact, I got several items (that we could wash) from Facebook Marketplace - including our stroller! We're also buying items as we need them vs. stocking up. It's helped because we'll either store or re-sell them once we're done. In particular, I don't have a crazy amount of clothes for Emmie. It's been nice because we don't have a ton of outfits we need to dress her in, which has kept the newborn stage super simple. In fact, many days Emmie is in her diaper & swaddle most of the day! Plus, the things I have bought are a higher quality and adorable.
People celebrate in a way their comfortable
Honestly, this has been my favorite part so far. People truly celebrate you in the way they want to. Some friends gave gifts of their favorite baby products, which I loved! Other friends didn't give traditional gifts at all, but they were insanely generous with food for us when we got home from the hospital. Plus, we have more visitors and that's been SO great. I'm honestly never lonely at home because we always have someone coming over in the next day or so.
I'm THRILLED to have a sip & see
I was excited before to have a sip & see, but now that Emilia is here, I am SO excited. I can't wait to dress her in something cute and share her with our closest friends & family this spring. It will be so fun to get together with people I haven't seen in a while. Plus, I shared it before, but I was not a huge fan of pregnancy, so celebrating during pregnancy did not sound fun to me. Our pregnancy announcements were so fun to plan, and I can't wait to plan a fun theme for a sip & see that my mom will host. I'll share the theme ideas with you soon!
Cons of not having a baby shower
People are confused on if or when to buy a gift
At first, people were confused that we weren't having a baby shower. Then, they were confused on if we wanted gifts at all. One of the main reasons we did not have a baby shower was for the obligation factor that goes with one. We wanted people to give gifts if they wanted to not because they had to. However, this was confusing for people. Looking back on it, Matt & I probably should have been more clear with people on what our thoughts were so they knew what to do.
Family & friends don't know you have a registry
If you're crazy about controlling what people buy, you may want to have a shower. We've been so fortunate that the gifts that have been sent are adorable baby clothes and things we'd love. However, unless you google our names, you don't necessarily know we have a baby registry (particularly older family & friends). There are a few items on our baby registry that we'd really love and ended up buying ourselves because we didn't want to wait. If you're impatient, you may want to have a shower so you can get fully organized in advance.
Overall, I'm still happy we didn't have a shower. While it would have been nice to get a few things from our registry in advance, I'm more excited to see so many smiling faces at our sip & see.
