Secondhand Baby Shower
I had a bit of a rough week last week and the baby shower my friend Heidi hosted for me this past weekend was a wonderful antidote, making me feel enormously grateful for the happy energy and wonderful people I have in my life. And I wanted to share the theme -- a secondhand baby shower (because I'm an eco-geek and because I have many friends who are done having babies and were eager to pass things along) -- plus some great leads from Heidi's planning. Here's how it all came down the pike:
1. Because I thought my ovaries were dead, I parted with many of my wee things at the Room to Grow drive I coordinated as a co-host of the Hebrew National summer picnic. We still had a few items kicking around that I had not yet purged, but were otherwise lacking many things. And ever since announcing my surprise pregnancy, I have had lots of friends ask to pass on their baby things to us. So that -- plus my desire for less is more in the world -- inspired my idea for the secondhand baby shower. My first task was to look at one of those (ridiculous) "must have" baby gear/items lists and narrow in on the essentials. Once I did this, I provided the list to Heidi, who had offered to host the shower.
2. Heidi is amazingly organized and she was so kind to offer to host the shower and also go along with my secondhand baby shower theme. The effort involved a spreadsheet (admittedly, I use a spreadsheet for pretty much everything in life!), plus her coordinating with attendees who wanted to bring hand me downs, in order to prevent duplicates. Otherwise, I think she suggested that guests bring gift cards or diapers, or do whatever they wanted, or simply stop by and hang out.
3. The party was so lovely. Heidi had the food catered by Ken Walsh of K Michael's Catering (617-308-0167) and it was fantastic -- the shower was over brunch so there were croissants, scones, and fruit, as well as savory items such as vegetarian and chicken sandwiches and a yummy mixed beet salad. The caterer also coordinated the cupcakes, which turned out to be outsourced from The Danish Pastry House (fun, since I've professed my love for DPH in the past!) and Heidi ordered cute cookie favors from Fancypants Bakery (also fun, since I've covered them here at Boston Mamas!). I'm not sure these photos do justice to the yumminess...
4. It was so wonderful to see so many friends from different walks of life in one place; literally, the shower involved friends I have made via middle/high school, college, post-college, Laurel's day care, Laurel's elementary school, and blogging. So fun. And I was overwhelmed by the generosity. Depending on where people were at with their childbearing plans (e.g., some had long purged their baby goods), there was a mix of recycled things (thought bubble for photo below is something like, "Yay, a secondhand stroller, car seat, and mattress!" + I was thrilled to receive a secondhand high chair, Bumbo seat, and much hoped-for jogging stroller among other things), new baby clothes and toys, and mama gifts (e.g., spa gift certificates). Goodness.
Now I'm faced with the task of actually organizing all of this stuff. And as I do, I will be reminded continually of how lucky I am to have such an amazing group of mom friends.