Has Anyone Seen the "Future Impact" of This Baby Shower Activity?

Updated on February 25, 2019
C.C. asks from Brooklyn, NY
7 answers

This question is a bit "JFF-ish", but I am sincerely curious.....

I was at a baby shower today and we did that activity where each person fills out a sheet with a list of "prompts" to create "messages to the baby". I'm guessing at least some posters here know the activity I'm describing.

For example, the paper says: "Dear Baby X, I hope that you never [fill in the blank], I hope that you cherish [fill in the blank], I hope that you ask your parents about [fill in the blank]...(about 15 prompts down the page)...Love, ChaCha".

I've done this activity at a few baby showers and it seems like a cute thoughtful activity. I'm just wondering, if anyone on here had a similar activity at their baby shower - did those papers really get saved? Is there anyone on here who had that activity at their shower and has since actually shared those papers with the child? (Like if your child is old enough to appreciate it and you saved those papers from when people filled them out at your baby shower.) Or was it more just something for the parents to enjoy reading and then maybe not even save them?

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T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

It's a sweet idea but very few people save that kind of thing. I had a similar activity at my first shower in 1993 and yes, I still have the little book we made but it's stored in a box with other baby mementos (and I happen to be one of the few people I knew that actually made and kept baby and childhood albums and scrapbooks, most of my peers didn't do that and I doubt this new generation of parents is inclined to do so either.) Everything is digital now and hardly anyone I know even prints photos anymore, including grandparents, the memories just live online and on hard drives and in the cloud or whatever. The GOOD news is that this generation is less focused on stuff and more focused on experiences/connections which I think is great :-)

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M.G.

answers from Portland on

I just biffed my baby shower mementos, so funny you should ask chacha.

Although still pals the gals at my showers, (a couple have moved away), it was mostly just fun stuff we did and my kids had no interest in looking at it and thought it looked lame was the response I got lol.

I only kept the toilet paper we wrapped around my middle - they had to guess how big I was. The one that actually came close I kept.

And the photos. It was a good time, but ultimately, it goes in my album (if I ever get around to putting them in one) .

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B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Sounds like an interesting idea.
But it's more than likely the child will not know most of these people unless they are close family.
If you are a kid old enough to read and you read a bunch of well wishes from strangers I'm not really sure it's going to be a meaningful read for the kid.

It's not quite the same thing you are asking about but my mom filled out a baby book with all my milestones up to a certain age.
This book has a section in it for cards from people from my moms baby shower.
My mom knew these people - it means something to her - but it doesn't mean anything to me.

A baby shower is to celebrate a woman becoming a mother for the first time.
It's a rite of passage and although the gifts are for the baby - they are really for the mom to use for the baby (and all her following babies) - the shower is not really about the baby.
Talking with the mom about her hopes and dreams for her family is a big part of it.
Passing on a message to the baby (even years later) doesn't seem to align with the rite of passage for the mom.

3 moms found this helpful

S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

well, it wasn't a thing at my baby showers back in the distant past. and i avoid baby showers like the plague today, so i have no personal experience with it.

but i'm a terrible saver-of-treasures. if i had these for my babies, they would SO be in their special treasures boxes.

khairete
S.

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C.M.

answers from Danville on

Never done this but currently pregnant with #5! As a writer, I think written words are keepsakes and so very important! Maybe not for the baby, but for you in the future. I say go for it! Thanks for giving me a good idea :)

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D..

answers from Miami on

I can’t imagine sharing this with my children. I have boys and I’d be lucky if they read 2 of them. (Don’t mean to be insulting, just honest.)

I did go to a shower that had notes for us to write one piece of practical advice for the mom-to-be. It was her first baby, so this was a good idea for her particularly, and the fact that all of us were already moms. She really actually appreciated them.

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M.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Not quite the same, but I know someone who wrote a message to her child every year on her birthday - it was sort of a form with her likes and dislikes, and pretty concise. She put them in a box, and the child opened them at her high school graduation party (family party, not with friends). It was very sweet and everyone had some good laughs as well. I could see the baby shower idea that you describe being similar.

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