No

by Rebecca K.

Created on: February 16, 2010   Last Updated: February 17, 2010

While celebrating the impending birth of your second child is definitely a worthwhile reason for a get-together, I don't believe an official baby shower is necessary. Sure you both are thrilled about your new addition and maybe a lot of other people are too, but that doesn't mean you should get another thousand dollars worth of gifts, equipment or furniture does it?

To me, throwing another baby shower looks like you are standing, holding your hand out, with your palm up, tapping your foot and saying, "More!"

People like to use the excuse "Oh but I'm having a boy/girl this time!" Well that is dandy, good for you both, but does that mean you automatically need a pink stroller, car seat and crib set? No. I'm sure the baby won't mind sharing her brothers' stuff as long as it is still up-to-date, safe and in good working order.

To solve this possible dilemma, when registering for your first baby's shower, choose neutral colored items like tans or greens, that way if you have the opposite gender next time, the items will be just fine.

Now I can understand a bit of concern over clothing. I mean, who wants their little girl constantly in blue or their little boy in pink duds with saying like "little darling" on them? I get it. For situations like this, you can have an unofficial baby shower.

Some people call it a blessing party, where everyone gets together and says good words about the mother and to-be baby. You can throw a low-scale welcome baby party and make sure you include on the invite that gifts are not expected so you don't look greedy. That could be a turn off for people.

The amazing thing about people is, they will probably guess you'll need baby clothes and you might be surprised by how many cute outfits your baby receives without even asking for them or having ANY party at all.

While pregnant with my second baby a mere three months ago, I debated having a second party. She was a surprise and we didn't know her gender as with our first baby, our son. I have a lot of neutral items like carseat, stroller and pack and play so I intended to re-use it.

The high chair was in some bad shape so we need to replace it when it comes time, but besides a few outfits, we were set. It irritates me when people are wasteful just because their stroller isn't the right color or something.

In the beginning I even dressed our baby girl in some newborn outfits belonging to her brother. She really didn't seem to mind. We didn't go out and buy a bunch of girl clothes because we weren't sure what we were having- though I had a strong hunch.

After our little girl came, we received gifts from family and friends of adorable baby girl outfits - just what we needed. The best thing about it was we never asked or held a party, it was their own ideas. So you see, if you plan ahead, you can be set for baby number two without a shower.

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