BACKGROUND

Around Halloween last year, I was on my last few weeks of pregnancy. Baby Tuz was about to be welcomed to our little family and of course, we couldn’t be any happier and we wanted to celebrate it!

You might not believe it but I I actually googled the phrase “How Can Introverts Have Baby Showers?” Lol! I was to become a first time mom then and I’ve only attended two baby showers in my lifetime (one was for Irene and it was just over lunch among her 4 girlfriends back in early 2000 and the second one was  for Jem 3 years ago organized by her friends).

Suffice it to say that I really had no clue how baby showers are organized until I started researching about it because though I am an introvert, I like having parties. I’ve always been like this since I was eight years old — I had hosted Christmas parties and birthday parties at home, invited all my poor neighbors and friends (I lived in a poor neighborhood in San Mateo Rizal), prepared my own decors, goodie bags (comprised of used Gospel and Pambata magazines and old books from school), sandwich and drinks my mom helped me make plus local cookies and chocolates I’d bought at a neighborhood convenience store. And voila — my party was always a hit among my poor neighbors and friends.

This went on until I was 13 years old then I transferred to the province (Cagayan de Oro), lived in an opulent village with my grandparents and of course it was never the same. Like on my 16th birthday, most of my classmates and teachers plus guy friends from our brother school went to my party but when 6PM hit the clock, they were all shooed away by my step grandmother to my dismay, which I think jaded me for a long time.

During my early adult years, I would still hold parties at home and I never stopped since. It’s just that now, at the age of 38, I’ve lost touch with my old friends due to my early retirement (I retired at the age of 29 and has been working from home since if not doing solo travels). I’d cocooned myself from the rest of the world which just came naturally for me since I love being by myself most of the time. But still, whenever there are holidays or events that can be celebrated, I celebrate them even if it’s just me or me with my family or with a few close friends.

So having said that, when I got pregnant last year, I was sure that no one will give me a baby shower. Not even my Mahal who is also an introvert, much more introvert than I am, simply because he doesn’t have any clue about parties, much more so, baby parties.

 

WHAT ARE BABY SHOWERS?

Baby showers, from what I know, are given as a surprise party by close friends of the woman who is about to give birth. Sometimes, it is given by the husband or the significant other in collaboration with his wife’s friends. This is to further celebrate the fact that a new life will soon be welcomed into their family and their world, which is of course considered a great blessing from up above. Most articles I read about baby showers also say that it’s a nice way to get free baby gifts from families and friends. Who wouldn’t like that? Hihihi!

 

BUT HOW CAN YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER IF NO ONE WILL ORGANIZE IT FOR YOU?

What if you’re a woman like me who doesn’t have a lot of friends? What if the few ones you have are either far from you and living in the province, or not really close to you or too busy with their own lives to even remember to give you a baby shower? I know it sounds sad especially if you’re an extrovert. You won’t really understand it because it’s so opposite from an extrovert’s point of view. But that is my reality as an introvert and I’ve long accepted that fact way, way back, even before baby Tuz and Mahal came into my life. It doesn’t make me sad, just a minor inconvenience because here I was wanting to throw a party for my unborn baby but no one to help me organize it, much more so, no one to invite and eat the food I’m gonna buy or prepare. Lol!

The general choices that came up when I google searched for “How Can Introverts Have Baby Showers?” were:
– Don’t hold a baby shower
– Hold a baby shower yourself

So guess what I did?

I decided to hold my own baby shower! And I happily did it! Teehee.

When I’ve finally decided to do everything I can to have a baby shower, here’s what came next:

 

BABY SHOWER TO DO LIST

I was 7 months pregnant when I first thought of holding a baby shower. We were still in Dumaguete then but were soon leaving for Manila where we planned to give birth and raise our child. I already had a few ideas in mind on what I’m going to do when we get to Manila so we can celebrate the coming of our precious little miraculous gift from heaven. If you’re an introvert like me, you can do the following list too:

1. Decide what theme you’ll have for your baby shower.

Tuz’s full name is Eurwyn Tuscany Kale. Eurwyn and Kale pertain to gold while Tuscany came from a place in Italy called Tuscany, the backdrop for the movie Under the Tuscan Sun starred by Diane Lane, one of my all-time favorite chick flicks. By his name alone, I was already thinking of using the color golden yellow… like sunflowers amidst a bright blue sky. This motif is bright, sunny and happy – just the colors and theme I want.

2. Make or buy your decors based on the theme.

Since I didn’t have much help nor much time to prepare and I was getting pretty heavy then, I focused on getting party stuff made of colors yellow and sky blue. So when we were doing our road trip from Visayas to Mindanao to Luzon, we bought yellow and blue stuff that we can use for the baby shower. Like when we went to Cagsawa Ruins in Bicol, we bought sky blue and yellow native table runners, place mats, bowls and other table decors made of Abaca.

When we were already in Manila, we dropped by a party shop in Festival Mall to buy yellow and sky blue party balloons. On my free time, I made pompoms and other decors made of the same colors.

The process of crafting my own baby shower decors was pure bliss for me! I was so happy! Crafting is one of my passions which I rarely have the time for so having had the chance to indulge in it last year really gave me tremendous joy.

3. Prepare a menu for your party.

I wanted to cook my special pasta dishes, make my own sandwiches, buy a cake, and prepare a couple of alcoholic drinks, fruit juices and softdrinks. So that’s what I did.

 

I made two kinds of pasta:
– Herbed Fettuccine in olive oil with green and black olives, bellpepper and spicy Spanish sardines
– Fusilli in tomato sauce with ground beef, herbs and spices

Mahal grilled lots of liempo.

We bought a fun-looking chocolate bear cake from Tous le Jours plus several packs of their colorful Macarons.

I made a huge plate of tuna sandwiches, another huge plate of hotdogs and marshmallow on sticks.

I made my favorite salad comprised of various vegetables and superfood with olive oil, honey, apple cider vinegar dressing.

We put a bowl of Parmesan cheese on the table for the pasta and salad.

We cooked rice.

Pretzels, choco chip cookies, cheese curls, candies and lollipops were neatly scattered in strategic locations.

SO YES, IT WAS A SMALL FEAST!

4. Prepare a list of people you want to invite.

Like I said, being introverts, we only have a few friends and family especially here in Manila so the invitation was not hard to do. I actually just texted them and messaged them on Facebook. No need to send formal invitation cards anymore. But despite that, we’re glad that they came. The rest are in other parts of the Philippines and abroad.

5. Enjoy the baby shower with or without parlor games and a formal program!

Even if it’s not the conventional baby shower that most (extrovert) people know or experience, introverts can still hold a baby shower and have fun too. I mostly enjoyed planning for the whole thing, and finally when the day itself arrived, we enjoyed the food and the intimate bonding we had with the people who attended. All in all, we still considered it a success! We were expecting that it will just be me and Mahal with lots of leftover food that will last us until I give birth (lol!) but my parents and nephews came plus some of my closest friends living here in Manila and their significant others. So in that light, we were tremendously blessed! And those who weren’t able to make it sent us their gifts which we weren’t expecting, so again, we felt truly grateful.

 

MY TAKEAWAY

So that’s how you get to have a fun baby shower even if you’re an introvert and no one else will hold it for you for one reason or another. My takeaway? Just like everything else in life, it’s all a matter of perspective. Being happy and positive about aspects of your life is a choice and a blessing.

Have a wonderfully blessed baby shower to all soon-to-be mothers!