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Baby Showers, Valentine's Day...and popular culture...


A Baby Shower Brunch in my Courtyard

Yesterday I hosted a Baby Shower for my daughter who is due to have her  son, and my first grandchild, soon.  It was a fabulous day, filled with love and laughter and joyful thoughts for the future. Her friends included girls with whom she had been in school, both primary and high school, at university and from her work environments;  they were drawn from her lives both here in Perth and Sydney.  My friends included those who have know me since before her birth, 31 years ago, and who have been in her life for all those years, in one way or another.  

Organising the Baby Bingo...

Baby Showers are relatively new here in Australia.  When I was pregnant with my daughter they hadn't entered the realm of the  "celebrations" of Valentine's Day and Halloween;  we had a  kitchen tea for the bride before the wedding to help her stock her kitchen utensils...but baby showers?  No.

The commercial popular culture of the United States is now very evident here.  When I was planning the Baby Shower I checked Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram etc and most of the sites were American. I gained lots of ideas, and links to Australian sites which were offering many of the same products to "make the day one to remember for the mother to be"...

Lots of fun with Paint a Bib...

And I had the most wonderful time organising it all.  I had thoroughly enjoyed planning and presenting her Kitchen Tea years ago...but now a Baby Shower!  My daughter and I decided on a discrete and elegant theme and bought the beautiful invitations some months ago.  Then, it was up to me!  It was so much fun to put together an occasion during which my daughter could "come home", across the other side of Australia, and  meet with so many of her  friends...you see, everyone wants to be involved in a Baby Shower.

We had a game, Baby Bingo, we had  Paint the Bib with fabric paint...but most importantly we had friends of various generations all talking excitedly together, so thrilled for the mother to be, so keen to share stories of motherhood, the good and the not so good, with each other.

Everyone concentrating durimg Baby Bingo!

So, are commercial popular cultural celebrations such a bad thing?  Once upon a time, I would have said, perhaps?...that our culture has its own nuances which should develop without the overt influences of another;but yesterday's Baby Shower has made me rethink.  A healthy society is about culture which evolves,  taking bits and pieces from the many nationalities which make up our modern Australia...I believe we should embrace the opportunities for change and growth.

Apparently cupcakes are obligatory at a Baby Shower...these were delicious!
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