Hellobee Boards

I wanted to do that, but it never happened. I was too tired to put something together. I think it's great you would have the help, and say go for it.

My mom is thinking about doing this for us. We live out of town and really don't want any visitors (it would require them to stay overnight and I just am not willing to play host to anyone, my immediate family is fine but not aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.)

It would save us the hassle of trying to go visit all of my family and our family friends individually. And we'd be at my parents' house so if baby needed a diaper change or to be fed, I'd be able to just whisk him off to the guest room and take cake of business (which would be much more complicated if we were at my aunts house or something).

I think it's an awesome idea. You could phrase it as an open house and maybe spread the word through Facebook and word of mouth rather than sending formal invites if you wanted to make it clear that it wasn't a shower.

ETA: When my friend's daughter was baptized, they hosted everyone at their house and just served sandwiches and chips. A lot of people brought side dishes and desserts, which made it super easy on them. Their LO was only a few weeks old when she was baptized so they were really still trying to get into the swing of things. It was a lovely get-together and no one minded that it was a simple lunch. So you could definitely go that route too!

Yup it's fine to host as long as there is no expectation of gifts (aka no registry)

My in-laws had one of these for us at their house when our son was 3 mos old. Was so much fun. Was more of an open house or meet-and-greet. Go for it, esp if someone else can cook/clean. In the invite, they specifically asked people not to bring gifts, but some did anyway. Also, I think we asked them to put hand sanitizer out everywhere, and we hoped that sick guests would decide to stay home. They felt awkward asking that in the invite.

I ended up throwing one of these for my SIL/niece as my niece was premature and born right before her scheduled baby shower. The party ended up being a baby shower + a meet the baby party. It was great!

@Arden: yes! In my area it's called a sip and see, not as extravagant as what's seen on real housewives (@PrincessBaby: don't think you're the only one obsessed with RHW;). Generally around here it's what women do for a 2nd baby since you don't need a lot of stuff and a shower can be seen as tacky for a 2nd baby(at least around here, I'm not here to judge!).

I hosted one for my best friend but at her home, I took care of the cleaning before/after, food, etc. It was set up as an open house from 1-3, people were promptly kicked out at 3 so mama and baby could rest.

If you have help I think it's a wonderful way to avoid random and often awkward visits from people who just want to snuggle a tiny baby