Strollerderby

Our on baby shower invites, we asked people to come with recommendations for baby books - favorites from their childhood or their children's.  We received plenty of traditional gifts, and a wonderful shopping list of books to go out and snag ourselves.  Plus, it saved us from receiving 17 copies of Goodnight Moon.

It makes sense if you have the means to purchase whatever baby gear you might need, in whatever style you wish.  However, I think that the majority of recipients of baby showers are doing so because that can't handle the financial burden of the hospital bills, doctor copays, room renovations, and baby gear purchasing all at once.  I don't run in the circles of the devastatingly wealthy, so I don't know.  Maybe they do register for five hundred dollar crib sheet sets and seventy dollar bottles of baby shampoo.  Maybe their friends buy those things for them without batting an eyelash.  If I could have spent the three or four grand it cost me to get set up for my twins out of my own pocket, I would have happily had a baby library shower.  As it stood, I was deeply grateful for every gift I received.  I didn't even mind taking back the duplicate diaper genies and bathtubs.  

Actually, we did this about 8 or 9 years ago for one of our friends -- people could bring traditional presents if they wanted, but each invitation had a number between 1 and 21, and the person was asked to give a book that they liked or thought someone should have at that age.  I turned out great because you don't get the situation where 12 people all buy "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".

Wow - I love the idea of asking people to think of a book that a child of that age (1 to 21) would like.  What a creative idea!  Our neighbors threw a book baby shower for our youngest when she came along two years ago.  It was very welcomed and fun especially since we had all the requisite gear from our older children.  People wrote little notes to her and tucked them into the books, which made them even more special since she was destined to use mostly hand-me-downs her entire childhood!

For my brother's baby, I knew I'd get invited to multiple showers, so for the first one, I had my 4-year-old pick out a bunch of her favorite books; for the second I had my 2-year-old do the same; then for the last shower, I gave them a nice bookcase that matched their nursery furniture.

For almost every shower I have attended (or been given!) in the last several years, the invitation asked that in lieu of a card, the gift giver use a child's book as a card and include an inscription to the new baby.  It's great because cards cost so much (usally as much or more than a nice board book!)...and usually just get put into a scrapbook if kept at all!  Those books were the start of a great library for our baby!  The only drawback was that we received several copies of some Disney Golden books that the local dollar store happened to have in stock at the time.  But really...can you have too many copies of Sleeping Beauty? =)

I don't understand. You have to be devastatingly wealthy to be able to afford the essentials for having a child? Huh. We did this for both of the showers our friends graciously threw for us. We asked everybody to bring their favorite kid's book, for whatever age. It was a blast to see what people loved and to hear why they loved it, and awesome to get a ton of books for our child. We bought the practical stuff ourselves.

"You have to be devastatingly wealthy to be able to afford the essentials for having a child"

No, if you are devastatingly wealthy and want to buy your own high end, ultra-expensive baby gear, then I think a book shower is a wonderful idea.  In fact, I think a book shower is a wonderful idea for any person who wishes to have one.  I meant that many people are the recipients of showers simply because they cannot afford the to purchase all of the practical stuff on their own.

I had a book shower, but I'm not devastatingly wealthy, unfortunately!

Most of my friends are childless and I knew they'd all give me teddy bears or impractical clothing rather than nursery essentials. I didn't want to create a registry (didn't even want gifts, really; the shower itself was mostly for my SIL's benefit) so this was an attempt to keep the stuffed toy frenzy in check. We still got about 10 teddy bears when the baby was born, but at least my daughter has a kickass library.

I printed out these bookplates and had people fill them in: nested.typepad.com/.../childrens-book-.html

As for what you get, I came home with 5 copies of "Green Eggs and Ham" and 3 "Very Hungry Caterpillars". Surprisingly, no "Where The Wild Things Are"! Tip: Borders is good for no-receipt exchange ;)