Hellobee Boards

I I don't really get the "all babies should be celebrated" thing. I mean, I agree that all babies should be celebrated by their family. But I don't really see how a baby shower (or a sprinkle, or whatever) is celebrating the baby - it seems like it's celebrating the mom. It's like throwing a birthday party for somebody who isn't there. I always bring a little gift when invited to go and meet a new baby, regardless of how many other babies there in the family, but I would definitely resent being invited to a second-baby shower. Lucky for me, it's not a thing in my group of friends.

One of my best friends threw a sprinkle for our same sex LO2. She asked ahead of time, and I was fine with it as long as there was a note on the invitations that made it clear that I did not want presents. She put something like "Your company is present enough. No gifts please."

Honestly, it was wonderful and I'm so glad that she did it. It was a smaller group than my first LO's showers and we were really able to just sit around and catch up (which is tough to do typically with a toddler).

I had a different gender 2nd and did not have a shower.

A friend of mine brought it up and offered to put something together for me, but I just said "ohh I don't really need anything" and left it at that. I'm sure if I was more interested, she would've been happy to host.

Personally I felt a shower wasn't needed since my two are relatively close in age and I already have all the gear. Plus, I figured people who were going to gift us diapers or clothes would do so regardless. So for those friends we had them come over to meet the baby and a quick dinner or dessert. It was nice!

@AggieDaze: hmm, I don't see how a shower or sprinkle is not a gift giving activity since a big component of a baby shower is showering the mom to be with gifts and 9/10 watching her open them. A sprinkle is a new/ more polite term for a second baby's shower- smaller scale in number of people and scope of gifts. But both events are focused on gifts/ prepping mom with stuff for the baby.

I would need "no gifts" spelled out very clearly on a shower or sprinkle invite for me to understand a gift was not necessary.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime and @Mauxie: I guess what I meant earlier is that I think its kinda shitty that some people assume that someone who is having a party of some kind for their second LO is only out for presents (but no one specifically said that on this board though I have heard it before). But, I do agree that showers and sprinkles unfortunately tend to have that connotation.

I'm probably a tad defensive about it as I didn't feel like I could say "no" to the person who asked to throw something, but also didn't want anyone to think it was in bad taste or because I wanted presents.

Ultimately, I tried to avoid that connotation by asking the person throwing the "sprinkle" to add very clear language on the invitation. I also personally mentioned that I didn't want any gifts (the number of people invited was less than 8). There was no opening of gifts at my "sprinkle," no gift table, no gifts mentioned period.

I have been at my company since just before LO1 turned 1. Now that LO2 is due in the spring, several people have asked if they can do a work shower. I mentioned it was really unnecessary, but even my boss is really excited, so I will be having a work shower.
I am excited for a chance to have some social time worth my coworkers after the busy winter we are going to have, but will also mention that gifts are unnecessary. My coworkers want a chance to celebrate since many are either well done with having kids or have no plans soon.

My close friends threw me a surprise sprinkle. I was really touched!