Baby showers

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Baby Showers

A baby shower is a party in which expectant parents receive gifts for their expected or born child. By convention, a baby shower is intended to help parents get items that they need for their baby, such as baby clothes. It is a popular tradition in the US and to a lesser degree in other countries.

In the United States, many people choose to have baby showers for both parents, and some people have a men-only shower. Minority groups in the US, such as African Americans, and Native American groups also have baby showers but might include an emphasis on their cultural heritage, such as employing rituals from tribal-ancestral African and Native American traditions, respectively. In the Jewish tradition, nothing may be bought for the baby before it is born, though many American Jews today do not subscribe to that tradition.

In the United Kingdom and France and other European countries, baby showers are a new phenomenon, recently imported from the United States. Malika Dalamal, a fashion writer for The Daily Telegraph, notes that a few UK businesses are now starting to respond to this opportunity, but others have not heard of this American custom.. In some countries some shops provide Newborn Lists, where the parents select the gifts that they need for the baby, to avoid duplicate or unnecessary presents.

Baby showers are increasingly popular in Africa, Asia and Latin America, but are "women-only" social gatherings. This is especially true in the Middle East, where social mores prohibit casual contact of the opposite sexes, and in developing countries that are not greatly influenced by American or western culture. Among Hindus in India, religious rituals resembling modern baby showers are held during the seventh month of pregnancy. In earlier times it was a function which was organized and attended by women only, but in recent years, due to India's level of western influence, both genders are often included.

Traditionally, baby showers were given only for the family's first child, but over time, it has become more common to hold them for subsequent or adopted children. Even when a shower is held for only the first child, it is not uncommon for a parent to have more than one baby shower, such as one with friends and another with co-workers.

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