Last Saturday, we celebrated our upcoming arrival with our family and friends. When we started thinking about this party, we knew that we wanted essentially a party where we can invite all of our family and friends. It didn’t necessary have to be baby themed but the baby was a good excuse to throw a party!

Enter my good friend, Melinda who knew exactly how we felt and really knew what we wanted better than we knew what we wanted. She helped us plan and coordinate the best and most memorable baby shower we could ask for. To us, it was special and exactly what we wanted and more.

—We invited all of our closest family and friends – male or female. Kids and significant others were all invited. We did not put a cap on the number of people. We’re fortunate in that we were able to rent the residence club room in our apartment building that could easily hold over 300 people, so the number of people was not an issue. This party was about me as much as it was about Josh and our families.

—We wanted our family and friends to eat, drink and be merry! Our shower was catered by David’s Soundview Catering (who did an amazing job) and was a full lunch with kid’s menu and an open bar of wine and beer. Just because I can’t drink doesn’t mean everyone else can’t!

—We did not open presents. Don’t get me wrong, we appreciate all the presents (and they were not necessary), but we really did not want to take away time from the party for everyone to watch me open presents. We are very grateful for everything we received and are thanking everyone individually.

—We did not play baby shower games. I have played my fair share of baby shower games and but they are not for me. We didn’t want our guests to be put in any awkward situations or felt obligated to take part. This is not to say we don’t like showers where games are a part of it, it’s just a personal choice to not have them at ours.

—Despite all of this, the party was still baby themed. Melinda carried my love for elephants (from the baby registry process) throughout the entire event. She ordered a custom cake, custom sugar cookies, coordinated a wishing well of books, baby shower greeting board, onesies and bib decorating, and coordinated with our parents to have baby pictures of Josh and I all around the room.

We loved every minute of our baby shower and would not change any aspect of it. Melinda did an amazing job making it very personal and special for us and we are incredibly grateful. We appreciate everyone traveling the distance to CT to celebrate with us and fortunate for all the wonderful memories and well wishes from everyone.

Deciding to have a baby shower or not, is a very personal choice and so are all the details that come along with it. Everyone has different opinions in what they would like to have in a shower and by no means, does it mean that what we did is right or wrong, these are just options we decided to go with. I truly respect all opinions and options on this topic and wanted to just share what we did as food for thought for others who are going through a similar process.