Showers

[Caraccioli]

This co-ed volunteer group I belong to has decided to have a baby shower for one of the really active members. I expect it will be unlike most traditional baby showers, but it will still be a shower. (I've not yet attended a "traditional" baby shower...thank God.)

I've had to attend two wedding showers in my life: my own (all that pain and suffering endured [er, I'm talking about the shower] only to wind up divorced) and a "couples" shower put on by a friend. It actually wasn't that bad, but it also wasn't that good. It had some of those fool games that seem to go with these affairs, although not quite nearly at the scale of the other one I went to.

They're just so...saccharine or something to me. Silly contests, enforced gift-giving, loads of nattering chatter... I've actually cornered some of my female friends and gotten candid responses from them about this whole thing and most of them seem to hate showers. (Sampling population = about 6. Std. deviation unknown.) Yet they feel compelled to attend them anyhow.

Am I missing something here? Is there a good reason for continuing to do these events that the attendees seem to dislike?

[Mary Diamond]

Agreed ~ I hate attending showers. Weddings are a close second. Too many unfamiliar people who I must make small talk with, knowing I will most likely never see them again. So it is very awkward.

[CrazyCholeBlack]

Ugh, baby showers. Cringe. Saccharine, that's a good way to describe them. I would have said mind numbing.

I had a luau in place of a baby shower for my little swab. Skip the "ohhing & ahhing" over baby junk and give me roast pig and pina coladas anyday!

[Hester]

give me roast pig and pina coladas anyday!

Um... yup, that's pretty much my philosphy of life in general!

Huzzah!

[Jacky Tar]

Aye, I was invited t' a shower once. Ye'd think me alone wit' over thirty women, I'd be fine... Nope, I walked in an was paraded through, gave a couple hugs, dropped the gift and ran! I believe showers are best left t' the ladies.

[Red-Handed Jill]

Depends on the lady. I put traditional wedding and baby showers up there with Tupperware parties.

Tales of the Seven Seas will be having a very non-traditional baby shower for one of our pirates (can you guess the theme?) at the Queen Bess and the Pyrate faire in May.

[jessie k.]

Showers are rather dull, wedding or baby. I think if they were just a group of close friends, and you weren't compelled against your will to play those stupid games, it'd be okay. But sitting in a room for hours with people I mostly don't know anyway, and watching somebody open up packages of onesies isn't much fun.

Weddings and babies, on the other hand, are great.

[Christine]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of ether one of those. I've gone to more baby showers than wedding ones tho. And of course, at some point, someone always has to say to me, "so, when will we have a baby shower for you Christine?" I flat out tell them that will never happen. Being a mom is not for me and some people need to realize that. Being married is also not my thing either. And these showers are quite corny. The one friend I thought was just going to be something small with a group of us for her baby shower. But then more of her family showed up and then their friends and all this nuttiness! I didn't stay too long, couldn't wait to get out of there.

[Rumba Rue]

Ugh! I hate them....

unfortunately I've got a baby shower to attend in the future as a niece of Boats is having a baby in June.

[Zephaniah W Nash]

Hopefully we'll be skipping the showers, but with any luck, I'll be an uncle two times over very soon. My older sister is in Russia (and the reasons she's doing it there rather than here could fill a short book) right now meeting the two little girls (ages three and four, by the time all the paperwork will be done) she's been in the process of adopting for some time now.

If all goes according to plan, she'll be coming home next week, then two or three of us will be flying back in another month or so to bring 'em back.

I'm scratching a stay and touching wood and keeping fingers crossed -- the whole process has been pretty rough on her, but maybe things are going her way finally.

And no kids for us, I'm just gonna be the crazy -- I mean, eccentric -- uncle that dresses strangely and spoils 'em.

[PyratePhil]

Never been to one, never plan to be.

They're good for friends who like to chatter aimlessly and fill spaces on their social calendars.

[Cheeky Actress]

I've only been to several showers in my life (both Baby and Wedding) I can tell you they were not what I expected.

Even my own wedding shower was 'luke warm', and I am not afraid to admit it. There was only one baby shower that I attended within the last five years that I really enjoyed. The Mom to be was really cool...and so was her family.

So my over response to showers in general....No thanks, I'll send a gift.

[Red Cat Jenny]

Hmm.. showers scare th &*^% outta me. Small talk with a bunch of women? Help!!!! 5 minutes and I'm outta things to say. Give me a room full of men and I'll socialize to no end..and it's not a boy/girl flirty thing at all. Dunno just easier. Grew up with 2 brothers. Anyway I would make an exception for the women here at the pub never met so many cool ladies. Huzzah!

I would have a non traditional shower..if I had one...something on the beach..nice but no fake smiles and 19 blenders you need to return. I'd want everyone tp remember what a good time they had. Or maybe a retro luau pajama party ohh that would be fun.

[Salty]

Never been sure who thought up the idea of a shower, but htey should be drawn and quartered. Tis better to have close friends togethr fro a picnic or Bull shite session, but to each thier own be.

[LongTom]

Showers used to make more sense. It was a way to get the new couple or the new parents started off with all the essentials ("Here, you're gonna need this...") for their previously non-existent household.

Nowadays, it is common for a couple to come to a relationship with two entire established households' worth of goods.

No idea where the goofy party games came in, though. The person responsible for that should be quarantined and made to play the damned things for eternity. "Okay, am I animal, vegetable, or mineral?"

[Ransom]

Wedding showers? Baby showers? BORing. Hell, I'd rather go to the guys batchelor party.

But, a nice roudy wedding reception is a whole nuther story! Let the dancing, eating and drinking begin!

[Jacky Tar]

Wedding showers? Baby showers?  BORing.  Hell, I'd rather go to the guys batchelor party.

That's would be every bride t' be's worst nightmare, Ransom attendin' their intended's bachelor party!

Would hav killed my chances fer marital bliss, but wot a party!

[Ransom]

Yes, what a party indeed.

[Crowsnest Kate]

I agree with you all. I have never been to a shower I enjoyed, baby or wedding. I have been to one kick ass wedding though! All the rest were boring as #@$%.

[Red Cat Jenny]

I took a shower today.....it was rather nice..

[Ransom]

[Red Cat Jenny]

How was YOUR last shower?

[Hester]

I prefer baths...

[Rumba Rue]

Yipeeee! I managed to get me an' Boats out of the baby shower for his niece.

As I told them, sorry we don't do baby showers.... we'll send a card with a gift card for some store.

[Rogue Mermaid]

I never jumped into this topic before because I read the title and thought it was about Showering...and I'm a big fan of taking showers.

But now I see it's about Wedding and Baby showers, perhaps the most cruel and unusual torcher in the world. The only thing worse than a shower is planning one. If you want to see a group of women fall into fighting in 5 seconds or less tell them to plan a traditional bridal shower together. Someone always is a control freak, several people are always complete slackers, and one or two people wind up busting there hump making sure all the control freak's demands are met.

That's not to say I 've never had fun planning a shower, I've just had enough bad experiences to make me wary of them. I've been a bridesmaid 5 times now! I'm practically a professional.

I also have dealt with what Christine mentioned. There is always someone at showers who feels the need to point out that by being unmarried and childless that I have some sort of problem. That is so obnoixous!!!! If there are going to be a bunch of people giving me grief then I insist that there be booze at the shower!