Baby shower prep.

[rivka]

I've got two quiches in the oven (plum tomato, chevre, and fresh thyme) and three in the fridge (two mushroom-garlic-swiss and one asparagus-parmesan). There are two loaves of zucchini bread wrapped in foil and sitting on top of the toaster oven. The frozen punch ingredients which are supposed to thaw are in the fridge; the room-temperature punch ingredients which are supposed to chill are waiting for the last two quiches to go into the fridge so they can fill up the spaces around them.

In the morning, Michael will go to the bakery and retrieve the cake. I forgot to call and double-check the cake order, but that doesn't matter because there will be no problems. I will make a tossed green salad and a fruit salad. If I can get those done by 9am (which is reasonable; the salad greens are prewashed and won't need to be torn up), I will have two whole hours for setup and final staging before the party.

Just before the guests arrive I will start reheating one of each kind of quiche and make the punch, and Michael will make coffee. We'll also have fresh apple cider, not the alcoholic kind but the unfiltered-apple-juice kind.

Four more people have RSVPed, bringing the total number of confirmed attendees to 25 if you count me and Michael.

I have a pretty little perfect-bound notebook for people to fill with encouragement and advice for the mothers-to-be.

I have one solitary game, because Googling for "baby shower games that don't suck" leads you to a bunch of websites written by dirty liars. The game is a "famous mothers" quiz, composed by me. Sample item: "This unwed teenager's unplanned pregnancy kicked off a new world religion." My plan is to read them out and reward correct answers with candy. I hope I have gotten the mix of easy and hard items right.

I have wrapped our present to the mothers-to-be.

I have one pre-party and two during-party jobs for Alex so that she will feel included and not wreak havoc. Before the party, she will go down to the basement and pick out some infant toys to entertain the two infant guests. As guests arrive, her job will be to put presents on the gift table, or, if the presents are too big for her to carry, she will show the guests where to put them. (That last refinement was her own idea.) During the game, she will hand out candy to the victors.

I'm so excited about our friends' pregnancy. They're both wonderful with children, and I know they've always wanted to have kids. Our sons will only be six weeks or so apart in age; they'll grow up together at church.

This shower is a lot of work. But I am incredibly thrilled to be able to do it for them.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

It's going to be wonderful. Your parties are beautiful occasions.

[eeyorerin]

That sounds like a lovely party. What kind of punch is it?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

The recipe calls it "Berry Punch." As I make it, it has cranberry juice concentrate, limeade concentrate, club soda, ginger ale, and pureed frozen mixed berries.

I think it's tasty.

[eeyorerin]

That sounds delicious.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

And you should see our punch bowl! It's this massive ornate milk glass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_glass) thing on a high pedestal. With matching cups. This punch bowl is the only reason I serve punch at parties.

Damn, I wish our replacement camera had arrived.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I could bring you my camera tomorrow morning if you'd like.

[echosupernova.livejournal.com]

Have a great party! :)

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

The party promises to be lovely and delicious.

Are you suggesting that the BVM's pregnancy was unplanned? I think Isaiah might want to have a few words with you.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Are you suggesting that the BVM's pregnancy was unplanned? I think Isaiah might want to have a few words with you.

Oh dear, I forgot about Isaiah. Fortunately, all the guests are Unitarian-Universalists, so I'm probably safe.

Still, you have to concede that it was unplanned by her.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Everything will be fine. I can't tell you how many baby showers I gave when I had friends who were having babies, and even if something bothered me, nobody else ever noticed it.

Quiches

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"I've got two quiches in the oven (plum tomato, chevre, and fresh thyme) and three in the fridge (two mushroom-garlic-swiss and one asparagus-parmesan)."

Sounds delicious.

B

[papersky.livejournal.com]

That all sounds absolutely amazing.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Ah! You're organising the party for someone else. Now I understand why you were so stressed about the amount of food.

(Baby showers are not a concept that exists in my culture, so I didn't realise that you organise them for other people rather than yourself.)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Baby showers are not a concept that exists in my culture, so I didn't realise that you organise them for other people rather than yourself.

Oh! Goodness. Yes. Pretty much the sole purpose of a baby shower is to give gifts and attention to someone who's about to have a baby, so it's considered the height of rudeness to have one for yourself.("Give me presents!! Focus on me me me!!") Ideally, showers are given by a close friend of the mother-to-be, or often coworkers will give one at work.

It also used to be the case that you only got a baby shower for the first baby, with the idea being that the second time around you probably already have everything. But that rule might be going by the wayside - people keep asking if I'm going to have one. At any rate, that would make it even more improper for me to have a baby shower for myself.

In your culture, is anything done to mark the passage to parenthood, or to supply prospective parents with things they will need?

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Pretty much the sole purpose of a baby shower is to give gifts and attention to someone who's about to have a baby, so it's considered the height of rudeness to have one for yourself.("Give me presents!! Focus on me me me!!")

Isn't that what engagement parties seem to be for these days, though? I always thought that if you were giving presents it would be at the wedding for the couple's future life together, but it seems these days that presents are expected at an engagement party as well. Maybe because in modern life most couples already live together well before marriage.

In your culture, is anything done to mark the passage to parenthood, or to supply prospective parents with things they will need?

I don't think we do anything. I think (as a non-parent and only child) that the idea is that new parents receive what they need from their relatives, handed down from other babies in the past. (Ideally, you receive from your parent/s the things that you yourself used.) It seems a very modern idea to go out and buy new things for a new baby - not least of all because of the assumption that the new baby will be healthy and survive infancy. Do you happen to know when the tradition started?

We tend to only buy things for a new baby at Christening, and even then it is acceptable to give a cherished heirloom rather than something bought new. "Traditional" Christening presents otherwise fall into three main categories: silver bracelets that expand to fit a growing child's wrist, silver spoons, and silver money boxes in the shape of teddy bears or ducks - and again, I'm not sure how recent this tradition is. It seems a bit daft because how many silver baby bracelets does a child need, anyway? Especially as they are entirely useless to you in adulthood, except to inflict pass on to the next generation. My mum always bucked the trend by giving silver picture frames, because they can be used both immediately and for the rest of their lives - but she got some dirty looks from certain family members for doing so.

Nowadays, I think people are tending to give monetary gifts invested in government bonds, because at least those will be useful to the young person in the future - can be used for university, etc. I haven't known any babies be Christened recently though. I suspect some of my friends may be having non-religious or alternative religious Naming Ceremonies of some sort, but those must be modern enough for us to be able to make up our own rules.