[Closed] WTF is a Baby Shower

It's an american idea where all the "mom's" friends get together and buy the mother-to-be lots of baby stuff.

It a way of getting loads of free stuff off of your friends, who arn't really interested in your new baby.

It's like Halloween for grown-ups. Just say no to cultural dilutions and yankification.

It is when people buy a load of baby stuff as presents and have a sort of girls party to give them. Seems a bit of a con to me (I am a miserable b@stard). We never got baby presents of wedding presents, so I am bitter and twisted.

it's a bit like a golden or brown shower, but involving minors.

so it's commercially made up to make money, like birthday cards, christmas cards and all those mothers/father/secretary/teachers day cards etc?

why are people so gullible?

I dont care- it saves US money!

Another nauseating Hallmark holiday / event

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Just say no to cultural dilutions and yankification.

Yeah! Like rock music, beefburgers, pizza, skyscrapers, jazz, human rights, modern art and, er, mountain biking. Bastards...

you sure about all those Mr Woppit?

Beefburgers or more accurately "[i]hamburgers[/i]" originated in Hamburg.

Pizza is traditionally peasant food from Italy.

Modern art? Clearer definition please but I'm pretty sure Picasso wasn't a yank.

Mountain biking? They may have coined the phrase but I was off-road biking some 30 odd years ago.

rock music, beefburgers, pizza, skyscrapers, jazz, human rights, modern art and, er, mountain biking

yes, but apart from the Music, beefburgers, skyscrapers, jazz, human rights, modern art and mountain biking...what have the Americans ever done for us?

[i]Yeah! Like rock music, beefburgers, pizza, skyscrapers, jazz, human rights, modern art and, er, mountain biking. [/i]

So only Jazz then which they can keep.

First I've heard of anyone having a baby shower here, utter crap.

Pulled you out of a giant Nazi shaped hole in 1944 ??

I wasn't alive in 1944

hels is right.. the americans stole an enigma machine, enabling the allies to crack a previously unbeaten code..

I've seen the film.. it must be true

😉

I've managed to put the wife off of having one...so far. I think they are pretty rubbish to be honest - as pointed out above, a 'made up celebration'.

Oh and the Americans didn't pull us out of a hole, [i]per se,[/i] in 1944; It got to the point that they couldn't keep ignoring the threat posed to [i]themselves[/i] any longer (the idea of the Japan on one side and a totally occupied Europe on the other wasn't appealing, obviously, so selfishly - yes, it was selfish first and foremost - they decided to enter the fray) and thus, assisted an [i]economic[/i] ally; remember most of their assistance was initially in provision of materials, way before they sent troops in. Also, the timing was futher influenced by the fact that economically they couldn't sustain a war in the early part of the war (Great Depression, New Deal, etc), and also the ever rising threat from Japan to their west, which would truly isolate them if left unchecked.

However, none of this is to say that their was not a sigh of relief when the Yanks joined in on our side, I'm sure.

A shame that they don't hold off a bit more these days...

I'm sure someone will find fault in the above, but whatever, already waaaayyyyy off topic.

I blame the yankification being brought upon us by baby showers... 😉

Turned up once they had seen which side was winning and took all the glory you mean??

I think the torpedo sinking of a passenger liner off the coast of Ireland also forced the hand of the americans in joining the war. I cant remember the name of the liner though.

Aren't all celebrations "made up" ? And what's wrong with celebrating things? The whole giving loads of gifts thing is a bit odd, but no reason not to have a party etc.

I think the torpedo sinking of a passenger liner off the coast of Ireland also forced the hand of the americans in joining the war. I cant remember the name of the liner though.

I think that was the Lusitania, which iirc was the other big war in the last century

The whole giving loads of gifts thing is a bit odd, but no reason not to have a party etc.

True, but the whole point of a baby shower IS to give gifts. It's just begging really, in the comfort of your own home. On a par with Tupperware parties imo.

But Coffeeking, it used to be that when you get the baby home people come and see mum and baby and maybe bring teddy or something, [i]if[/i] interested.

Now, it's organised and people are invited; it's like bullying your friends in to buying you baby gifts. I think that is pretty weak sauce, to be honest.

(don't mention the war..!)

The Yanks pulled the Russians out of a Nazi shaped hole not us. With the airwar won we were relatively safe by 1942. We would have effectively been in stalemate in all probability. It was the Russians who were messed up. I bet that gives all our American a warm feeling!

Suppose that depends on the people organising it, the baby showers my other half has been to have just been gatherings of friends with no requirement to bring presents, and only those who were actually interested in the pregnancy were invited anyway.

Baby Showers to Nazi Germany. Only on STW 🙄

jon1973 - but it's why you keeping coming back isn't it? be honest... 😉

coffeeking - fair enough; but a lot of the time it seems to be more of the 'buy my unborn baby stuff' variety; that is more what is pushed in the trashy womens mags my wife very occasionally buys and the girls at work read too often!!!

A sales person tried to get my wife and I to start a baby gift list in John Lewis. We only went there to have a look at pushchairs and car seats.. I can just imagine my friends and family's reaction when provided with a gift list.

more of the 'buy my unborn baby stuff' variety;

That would indeed annoy.

It's a rain storm slightly less intense than "cats and dogs" rain!
What do I win?

@ coffeking - that is indeed what I told my wife when she brought the subject up; it hasn't been raised again - think I'm now safe from that potential embarrasment!!

Hamburgers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburgers#Invention
Rock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_roll
Skyscrapers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyscrapers
Human rights: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine
Mountain biking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_County

OK, you can have modern art & pizza.

The yanks saved Europe's bacon twice, of course, when it became evident that we couldn't manage on our own, even when they supplied us with arms and industrial machinery for years before that...

De Gaulle to Eisenhower, having withdrawn France from NATO: "Take all your troops home".

Eisenhower: "Even the dead ones?" 💡

jon1973 - but it's why you keeping coming back isn't it? be honest...

Of course it is 😆

So Thomas Paine from Thetford down the road from me wrote and supplied some of the ideas for human rights, that'll be one for us then?
Far from saving our bacon in WW2 they ensured that our industry was starved of investment by the state by asking for payment for all those tanks etc. they supplied, which we finally finished paying for when El Gordo was chancellor. Something the beaten foe did not have to contend with under the Marshall Plan. They were paid for their efforts like mercenaries and wouldn't have joined in but for Japan in the last unpleasantness.

Far as I'm aware, Thomas Paine was a US citizen when he came up with "The Rights of Man"...

Fairly safe assumption at the time that an Empire would be able to pay the bill, nobody's a real fortune-teller.

Oh, and before I forget - cheaper quality goods produced by assembly line.

A haven for all those motivated to escape from crappy monarchist, repressive societies like the pile of crap this country was and then the balls to fight a war and tell it to **** off...

... and much else. 🙄

Got invited to a baby shower recently by a close friend, but hadn't a clue what she was on about as had never heard the term before - mightily confused as obviously thought it was a baby having a shower, but as she was still pregnant this was highly improbable. Anyway didn't go as didn't want to show my ignorance, which apparently was a mistake as there was loads of single tottie there 😥

Human rights - like segregation, the Contras, segregation etc etc etc ??

I was wondering how long it would take for this to come over from America.

Prefer our way, celebrating when the baby is safey delivered and presents are given accordingly, not 'cos you've been invited to give one.

Gosh I'm in a foul mood today.

i blame the TV show Friends myself

but as the dad said when i asked him to explain baby shower "it's some american influenced rubbish which is an excuse for a get- together for broody girls, but who cares i get to go riding with my mates!"

The concept of 'Rights' did originate with Paine but, not to take anything away from him, he did distil a lot of current ideas.

"It was the Russians who were messed up. I bet that gives all our American a warm feeling!"

Uuhh, I'm not sure where you got this idea from but without the Russians repelling and then defeating Germany on the Eastern front we'd all have been stuffed.

Oh, and 'Halloween' is a European celebration. The biggest debate is the extent to which it is rooted in pre-Christian/pagan practices. All America has done to it is to commodify it (as they do to most things they touch). I'm just sad we don't get to have proper bone-fires anymore - huge ritual fires at this time of year pre-date Mr Fawkes etc.

Baby showers? They can be a big help in offsetting a little of the expense of newborns whilst letting friends/rellies contribute without getting in the way for more than one night. What's the problem?

So only Jazz then which they can keep

Drac, how very dare you!!!

I give you

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Jazz. Basically Roy Castle on Record Breakers but with extra twiddly bits. Honestly, they can keep it.

[i]What's the problem?[/i]

the problem is some people feel blackmailed into going and buying stuff they can't really afford because it makes them look as if they are not as good friends as the people that do go, this blackmail is the basis of a lot of these rituals made up by companies to sell stuff

Wasn't the Magna Carta (an English charter of 1215) the first bill of human rights, ever..?

the problem is some people feel blackmailed into going and buying stuff they can't really afford

<shrugs> I guess that's up to the people having the baby shower - the basic rule to ours and any we've been involved in (well, that my missus has been to) is that everyone contributes what they can afford. Even a packet of baby wipes from the pound shop go a long way in an emergency. As long as it's made clear and the event isn't structured around the opening of gifts but swapping stories/experiences or whatever instead then no one needs to know what anyone's given except the recipients and the givers. And *everything* tends to be appreciated - except plastic pretend mobile phones that play the Crazy Frog theme. That's never going to be forgiven.

and everyone will remember who only gave the baby wipes too

nd everyone will remember who only gave the baby wipes too

Why? Who's going to know? Best way is to do it so no one know who gave what - open gifts after everyone has left. If people don't like everyone not knowing what they've given then tough shit, they've given for wrong reasons.

Or set a £5 cap on gifts. There's plenty of ways of doing it.
In my experience it seems as if baby showers are great for providing an emotional touchstone where the reality of the forthcoming birth can come to the fore, especially for first time mums and can overcome the sense of separation from friends/normality that can sometimes occur during pregnancy. Experiences shared, fears allayed, the whole birth thing given an arena for group discussion amongst friends etc - it can be really helpful. Like I said, only if the gift giving/opening is made the focus does it become a consumofest.

Like any 'occasion' it's all about what people make of it - if there's a bit of thought put into it can become whatever you want it to be not just what it 'should' be.

WTF is a 'Baby Shower'

I think its The Weather Girls comeback single............ follow up to 'It's Raining Men'........

IGMC........ 😉

Heathen woods are u Hallmarks UK sales manager or just live in a rose tinted world? These things are designed to pray on peoples insecurities, guilt tripping them into buying stuff, all that emotional clap trap is just playing into the marketing guys hands.

From what I remember, it was the Magna Carta that started off the whole concept of a person's "human rights". And last time I checked, that was an English idea.

Jazz. Basically Roy Castle on Record Breakers but with extra twiddly bits. Honestly, they can keep it.

Shocking - one of the greatest cultural developments of the 20th Century.

There is lots of bad jazz out there though I suppose.

Jazz.... mmm... nice!

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Oh Yeh! Bad, Nazi, Baby Jazz!

Heathen woods are u Hallmarks UK sales manager or just live in a rose tinted world? These things are designed to pray on peoples insecurities, guilt tripping them into buying stuff, all that emotional clap trap is just playing into the marketing guys hands.

Lol, no way man, I'm a dirty hippy who wouldn't want a *thing* that's been marketed. It's just sometimes nice to get together with friends, have a chat, and, if they have one of life's landmarks approaching, help them out with a few things. That's not so bad, huh? If you think you have to start buying cards and stuff, well, step out of that world and walk away from it....