Coed baby shower? Seriously?

[lauren9317]

Be honest. Would your husband be totally happy to attend a baby shower where both wives and husbands are invited and expected to go? Or if he didn't want to go, would you make him?

IMO, baby showers are for women. I would never expect my friends' husbands to come to "my" baby shower and I would never be insulted if I invited them but they didn't want to come.

[sara76]

Mine was co ed. My friend who threw it is Dominican and in her culture it is just a big ole party where everybody attends and celebrates and eats and drinks. My sister was the co host and it was important to her that I have a traditional shower also with gifts and games, so they did it all. It was nice that our BFF who is all guy was able to go and celebrate with us, even though I'm certain it wasn't his ideal way to spend a saturday.

Our friends just had a coed also when A was about 2-3 months and I was utterly exhausted so H took her to the shower without me. But it was his friend. I don't see him wanting to go to a friend of mines baby shower unless he knew both mom and dad. I wouldn't make him and I wouldn't be offended at all if a guy didn't want to attend mine.

[lauren9317]

Sept 15, 2012 13:21:24 GMT -5 sara76 said:

H took her to the shower without me. But it was his friend. I don't see him wanting to go to a friend of mines baby shower unless he knew both mom and dad. I wouldn't make him and I wouldn't be offended at all if a guy didn't want to attend mine.

Exactly, if the shower was for the wife of your H's friend, I could see that he'd be fine with going.

I forgot to mention that in my situation, it's a friend of mine and MH isn't friends with her H or any of his friends. They're always doing these gtgs which I've dragged MH to a few times so that my friend wouldn't think MH was totally rude. But really, he never, ever wants to go. So when I heard that her baby shower will be coed I was like "oh that's just great..." lol! I know she'll think he's rude for not coming but I really don't want to force him to go.

[sara76]

Ew I would hope she wouldn't think he's rude for not wanting to attend. He works, right? Has a limited amount of time to himself? If it were my shower I would never be personally offended if he didn't want to spend his time attending. There are very few things I would force my H to do. Actually, I can't think of any really. Except to hang out with meeeee!
But I'm awesome so that's easy

[dvroxy]

Mine was co-ed, but it was more of a barbeque for friends and family. We had kids of all ages there as well as husbands. It was nice. FWIW, I really hate traditional showers. I would rather sit around and have fun talking and joking than play shower games any day.

[moonstone523]

My H wants nothing to do with a traditional baby shower. He has been to co-ed showers with me though, but they were more party like than shower like. While the expecting parents did open gifts, there were no games. Instead, lots of food, booze, and friends. It was also at night. This seems to be the norm in Texas, because Our friends like to get drunk.

[lauren9317]

It's possible I jumped to conclusions because I figured it would be just a regular, very girly baby shower but with men there too. And that to me seemed really dumb. If it's more of a regular party, I can see that being ok. Although I still can't imagine the guys will put up with an hour of gift opening. *I* barely can!

No matter what, I know H won't want to go. Oh well :/

[aegis2005]

My husband still talks about how much he hated his sister's baby shower from 6+ years ago. It was a few months before he met me, but from the sounds of it, it was a seven hour event with about 85 people. He said he will NEVER go to another baby shower, end of story.

[alzi]

I vote no men.

[tashaandsage]

My first shower was a big traditional brunch shower with all ladies, some games and a ridiculously long time opening gifts. I've kind of always dreaded being invited to those kind of showers unless it is someone I'm close with. After I had B, the trend definitely seemed to shift to coed, casual showers, with barbeques and heavier drinking than say, just mimosas, wine or punch. Definitely more fun in my opinion, but I've never been invited to one that wasn't for a close friend where my H didn't have friends there. He's very social and outgoing, but I can't imagine he'd be overly excited to be dragged to one if it was just a friend of mine. I did have a smaller shower for my second pregnancy of close friends & family only, and we did it coed and casual. It still contained traditional elements because that what the hosts wanted, but there was also backyard bocci ball playing and beer drinking.

[Deleted]

Why are shower games so popular still? Most of my friends are starting families much later in life than our parents and don't have the temperament to handle cutesy "Don't say baby!" games. Not that they're gift grabby, but I think age has a lot to do with the trend toward coed parties with drinking, socializing and less focus on the womb.

[alzi]

i hate games so much. i had a no shower game rule at my bridal shower too. not a fan of the cheese.

[lauren9317]

I honestly don't mind the games! Especially when there's a decent prize. Maybe I've never had to do any too-horrible games. Like that diaper game that I've heard about sounds bad, where they put melted chocolate in the diaper. But nothing else I've played has ever bothered me. I think I like there being an organized activity, especially when I don't know too many people. That way I don't have to try and make a lot of conversation with strangers, we can play games instead

[sara76]

I've always kind of liked baby shower games too Lauren. I was never even really a baby person either (go figure, the AW that I am now!) but have always liked baby showers. Wedding showers, not my thing, I had a very strict no bridal shower rule, we were asking enough of our guests to come to our wedding. But there is just something about pastel I guess. Having a baby is fucking scary. It's nice to make light of it with a little cheese I think. It's like chicken soup.

[Deleted]

I would throw bills and make it rain like a rapper at a strip club if a friend-mom-to-be told me she wasn't having a shower but that she registered and just wanted gifts or cash.

Ditto for bridal, engagement and other showers.

Unless Hey Girl Ryan Gosling, Chris Pine, or Brad Pitt invites me to shower with him - THAT is a shower for which I will make an appearance.

[surfbetty530]

Sept 16, 2012 22:35:56 GMT -5 @bigtowlittletoe said:

Unless Hey Girl Ryan Gosling, Chris Pine, or Brad Pitt invites me to shower with him - THAT is a shower for which I will make an appearance.

Ryan!! ::swoon::