I’m very shy to host any sort of parties. I keep pushing back house warmings until I’m moving again and it’s too late, I don’t think I’ve hosted a birthday party since I turned seven, and three months after his proposal we still haven’t hosted an engagement party…
While I tend to feel like a net loser mingling amongst strangers (spend more energy than gain), I do love social events with my own friends and family. Yet I still get very shy about throwing a party for me, directing the limelight to myself and assuming people would care enough to want to come and celebrate with me. Which is a bit silly because I have such great people in my life and I should give them more credit!
A baby shower is a relatively new concept for me and I’d never been to one. I believe the tradition comes from the US and while it’s getting increasingly popular in Europe I never thought I would host one. And I definitely did not think someone would want to throw one for me! But again, I totally underestimated my friends.
I spent the most lovely afternoon yesterday with a whole bunch of my girlfriends, at my very own baby shower! On my way to my friend’s house I pictured a situation where my friend would say “I’m so sorry Sini, we tried but no one came…”. Seriously – am I five years old or what?!! Thinking again, at five I was the most confident social butterfly so clearly I’m not five anymore haha!
Once I got over the slight embarrassment of being at the center of the attention, I really enjoyed myself! My girlfriends had not all met each other but I felt like everyone got along well (which bodes well for our wedding too!). We played games, chatted, ate treats and before I knew it the afternoon had passed!
The games we played included baby food tasting (either I was really bad at this or babies are being seriously misled by the labels, ha!), baby prediction cards (name, birthday, weight, hair colour etc), baby bingo etc. For me the most interesting game was to try to guess what my fiancé had answered to a set of baby-related questions – I’m pretty pleased to say I did well on this one! Also, very interestingly, 3/9 guessed our daughter’s name very close!! And we haven’t given out any hints (primarily as we are not 100% decided on it) – How amazing!
Later my fiancé came to pick up a very happy girl to escort home. 😊 I’ve had a lot of BH contractions and period like pains (back and lower tummy) since Saturday and he didn’t want me to make the one hour journey from West London to North London on my own. And lucky he came as I had my bags full of generous presents from my dear guests (I even got the traditional “nappy cake” filled with baby essentials!) which he helped me carry home.
I’d say that use any excuse to get your friends together like this before the baby arrives! Baby shower, birthday party, Christmas party, you decide the theme, but do it – it’s worth it!
Today is officially my first day of maternity leave and I’m spending it relaxing and doing little chores around the house. On Saturday we will have our friend’s engagement party and on Sunday I will attend another friend’s baby shower. Two very good reasons not to give birth before next week! Our baby will be “early full term” on Thursday (37 weeks) and would no longer be considered premature if she decided to come. Major landmark!
Happy Monday all!
xoxoxo,
Sini