Non-traditional shower?

We've been insanely busy since.. well.. since as long as I can remember. After moving into a new house and lots of family stuff going on, we decided that we didn't want to have to squeeze a baby shower into the mix before the kids were born; we'd rather relax and spend any available free time to ourselves. Plus, the idea of being the center of attention and opening gifts kind of horrifies me a little. So we opted to do a post-baby Jack and Jill party when my husband's parents arrive, and treat it as an open house/come and meet the babies type of event for our close friends and family.

My family seems pretty happy with this arrangement as they have weird ideas about buying anything before the babies are born, plus a lot of them are out of town and won't have to make two trips to meet the kids and attend a shower. I feel like I have slightly offended my girlfriends who were pretty gung-ho about organizing a shower.. but they've also been really busy, so it has worked out for everyone.

But I wonder... am I crazy for thinking that I'll be up for a party of any kind after the twins are born? We have already discussed it with Kris's parents and my friends, and they're willing to basically do all the work for us, just as they would a shower... but are we going to be too exhausted to even enjoy anything like that? Anyone else not go the traditional route for a baby shower?

 

Well since my twins were early, we ended up having my shower the day after the twins came home from the NICU. It was supposed to be before they came home, but they came home earlier than expected.


I think it's a great idea, as long as you are on board with it.

 

that seems like a wonderful idea! I know that I'vebout had it with my aunt on the baby shower thing, right now I just want to rest...so Imight run this idea past her...thanks!! :hug:

 

I think it sounds great! As long as your friends and family really do take care of things for you. And take anyone up on offers to help with the babies while they're there.

I had a very non-traditional shower because I was on hospital bed rest. We also did an open house style so there weren't too many people at once in the room. I loved it because then I wasn't the center of attention for a huge group. (I hate that too.) It was a lot less overwhelming for me.

 

I think this is a great idea. As long as others are willing to get the food prepared, clean the house, etc. I think you will really enjoy it. You won't be center of attention, people will be holding the babies, it will give you time to just relax and enjoy some company. Honestly, I don't know why more people don't do showers like this........

 

I think it's a great idea! We're actually doing the same thing, since I had a shower with my son I didn't feel comfortable having another one. But everyone kept asking...I guess people want to help when there's twins. So my mom and I decided we would do an open house after the babies arrive. As long as you have what you need to get started.

 

Sounds like a great idea! :good:
As everyone else mentioned ~ so long as you don't have to do any of the work

 

I have a slightly different take on that than everyone else. I know I just wanted my mom and husband there, but having a bunch of people around talking and passing babies constantly made me crazy. I didn't have a post delivery shower, but just having too many people visiting at once made my mind so jumbled. I had so much going on already just trying to figure out how to be a mom of three! I still feel better when our house is calm. That's just my take on it. Hope it goes well and make sure you get your rest.

 

We're traditional jews, so we kind of do what you're doing for religious reasons...well...1/2 superstitious and 1/2 religious. We don't have showers beforehand because of the superstitition. But after the babies come we'll have a bris (circumcision) for the boy and a simchat bat for the girl. Both usually involve food, guests, and gifts!! I was actually kind of sad not to have the party beforehand, but reading your post makes me feel like it might actually be a blessing!

Good luck! I hope whatever you end up doing is fun and right for you

 

I did not like to have guests over for long periods of time...but as long as you feel you can get the privacy you need (if you are going to bf for example) and everyone else will do the work, I think it sounds like a great idea. We had a non traditional shower before the babies arrived. We just bbq'd at a park, with our family and friends (not a girls only event). It was pretty laid back, and no games or anything like that, but we did do gifts. At least I wasn't the only one there - DH had to sit next to me and I made him open some too! Anyway, I think it will be good, but for me, I would want to limit the time that people will be over, so that people are not coming and going from 11am-6pm for example. That would have been too much for me. But maybe a shorter window of time - 2-4 hours? Gl!

 

for some reason I thought this thread was going to be about different ways to shower (get clean) :laughing:

I don't think it's weird or unrealistic. Personally the first few weeks are not hard at all. I was on adreneline and excitement. As newborns they slept all the time. I didn't find it difficult until I had no sleep for about 4 weeks and they were having more wake time during the day.

I also never understood why it drives people crazy to have others hold their babies. babies love to be held and don't care who's doing the holding.

 

QUOTE(summerfun @ Apr 22 2009, 06:59 AM) [snapback]1283601[/snapback]
Well since my twins were early, we ended up having my shower the day after the twins came home from the NICU. It was supposed to be before they came home, but they came home earlier than expected.
I think it's a great idea, as long as you are on board with it.


this is exactly what happened to us as well! we made an only-immediate-family-could-hold-the-babies rule because i wasn't sure how well they'd do with all the commotion, but it seemed to work out pretty well. the only downside is that i had to leave my own shower half way through because i had a really high fever & had to go to the doc (turns out i had mastitis ). the shower was actually held at a friend's house, which had its pros (i didn't have to worry about the state of my house or about "hosting") but it also had its cons (packing up what felt like the whole house just to go out for an afternoon).

 

I would just make sure you have a room where you can rest, and you can nurse/feed the babies and they can nap as well. If you need to excuse yourself for 30 -60 minutes, you should be able to!