I live 2.5 hours away, but I have a pack and play at my house for naps and overnight. Granddaughter is 6 months tomorrow! Right now D2 (she’s on spring break) and I are babysitting for the day while S and DIL work. I give them the daycare money for the privilege of me-time. They are gone so much during the week that I want them to have weekends with their baby. I’ll take tomorrow morning (she gets up at 6) so they can sleep in and then we will leave.
I have a crib here. It has made visits and babysitting very convenient.
I’m planning on a pack-n-play. Foldable, portable, convenient, safe, cheap.
My daughter’s great aunt and my SIL are going to be hosting a baby shower in our city when daughter comes to visit next month. The guest will be female family members, a couple of my closest friends, my daughter’s college and high school close friends (her 6 bridesmaids, all who live out of town) and maybe a couple of girls that use to work with my daughter and happen to now live here. As she doesn’t talk to these two all the time, she feels like she is just asking for a gift, so isn’t sure she will include them. Of the 6 girls that live out of town, two or three are going to try to come if not terribly expensive to fly.
As my daughter will be flying here for the weekend alone, her husband has a boys get away, she obviously can not take large gifts back with her. She is setting up an Amazon registry, adding a note that gifts should be shipped to her home. I have mixed feeling about this as I know the older crowd is going to want to see her open gifts, but I understand the practical side of not having to pay to package up gifts and ship them to her when everything would be free shipping it it went directly to her. I thought about asking people to bring a picture or description of the item and place in an envelope or small box. Or, if it isn’t something terrible large, so clothing, books, sheets, swaddles, etc…, I could just put all those items in a box and mail to her as it would not be that expensive.
How would you feel about being told to have your gift shipped? Any other suggestions on how we can handle this? Also, if shipped, I would think we would like to have it arrive for after the shower so she can be somewhat surprised when she finds out what she is getting.
Also, this is not a game type of crowd, or decorating bibs and onesies; any other nice shower activities? I feel like we need to do something, but maybe not.
^ Seems awfully confusing. Honestly don’t know how what ever you do there may be different opinions. In answer to your question, yes, I might be offended if I was told to have my gift shipped. Ship yourself might be a better option in my opinion.
I love being told to have my gifts shipped - especially when it is in a link, and all I need to do is click the button, put in my credit card number and hit send. I hate to shop, can’t gift wrap to save my life, and love registries where it’s all done for you! I like the idea of having people bring photos or descriptions of their gifts.
On a totally different note; I just have to brag! Swung by a garage sale near my house and bought a Graco Pack and play which doubles as a crib, for $5, two infant swim life savers that babies wear in a pool (retail 60$ each) for 50 cents each, and a Baby Jogger City Express stroller in excellent shape, including with a second seat and tag-along standing platform - for $30. They retail for about $550 when they have the 2nd seat. I asked the woman if she was sure she didn’t want more money for it, and she said that she just wanted to clear out her garage and she was done with babies!! I have my grandma stash of things growing now!!!
A small PSA for all grandparents - when you buy used baby stuff, google to make sure the item was not recalled.
Yes. Definitely! Especially cribs. And check the expiration date on the car seats…
@snowball I have been to a baby shower like you describe. Items off the registry were easily shipped by the store to the couple’s home and guests wrapped pictures of the items. The couple said they did not open any shipments they received until after the shower. It worked fine and was a lovely event.
Actually, I have been to a similar baby shower! New parents-to-be live several states away, but dad was local to our area with many relatives and friends still in town. They had an amazon registry and we just shipped the gifts to their home when we ordered, printed a picture of our gift and tucked it into a card. Very easy. They opened the cards (and some gifts). They had a neighbor watching for boxes while they were here. It was very fun, mostly meet and greet with a buffet lunch. Can’t remember the games, but nothing tacky (to me).
@snowball I think your plan to have people arrange gifts to be shipped directly to the new parents is just fine. People will understand that she can’t cart a bunch of gifts home on the plane. A photo/description in a card to be opened at the shower is a great idea. We’re not big game people either, and I can say that we did not have games at any of the showers for my Ds, wedding or baby. Lots of eating/talking/laughing, lots of fun! To be honest, I don’t know anyone who enjoys those stupid games.
At a recent shower, we played a couple of games that weren’t too bad. First (not really a game) we stood/sat in a circle and went around introducing ourselves and how we knew the parents-to-be. That was nice as not everyone knew each other.
Then we used yarn and everyone cut a length that they thought would be the right measurement of the mom’s belly. The hostess actually cut a piece the right size and compared the others to it. The closest won a prize.
We also played a game where you put a paper plate on the top of your head and had to draw a picture of something while the plate was on your head. You couldn’t see what you were doing and your hands don’t work too well over your head. I think we drew a pig, but you could choose something that is being used to decorate the baby’s nursery (elephants or teddy bears, etc). The best picture won a prize. The mom-to-be was the judge. Some of the pictures were hilarious. One pig had what appeared to be a penis. Was supposed to be a leg but wound up in the wrong place since you can’t see what you are doing. Lots of laughter.
On a different note, I bought a crib today from Facebook marketplace. I have worked for hours but can’t get the darn thing put together. Two of the bolts won’t “catch.” I’ve come to the conclusion after much swearing that the bolts are not quite long enough so it’s off to Home Depot tomorrow.
Due date is two weeks from today! I’m a bit bummed that both of my coworkers are going to be taking off the week after the due date, so I will not be able to take off work when the baby comes, if it is late. There are only three of us in the office and we can’t be off at the same time.
I clearly did not think about the answer very well. Yes, I would gladly ship to the parents.
DIL called today and said GS (4.5 months old) slept through the night! Must say it’s been a journey since their friends and pediatrician have advocated for “let him cry it out” and “he should be sleeping 12 hours straight at 3 months.” My S apparently woke up at 5am and wondered what was wrong with GS since he’d been sleeping since 7pm. My response - enjoy feeling rested and let’s see what tonight brings!
I guess I’ve been pretty skeptical because he’s exclusively breast fed and only weighs 13 pounds but we’ll see. My H and I babysat Saturday night and he did, indeed, go to sleep after crying for 15 minutes. Must say, having the video moniter (looks like surveillance video!) makes it easier to be sure he’s ok.
As for shower gifts, I am in the “send to parents’ home” category. Gifts brought to my house (wedding, baby, you name it) seem to live in my house and my S and DIL only live an hour away.
We’re just back from a lovely baby shower for my middle daughter and her husband. No games, no gifts were unwrapped, and most people shipped gifts ahead of time. Thirty people attended, family and close friends - the gender breakdown was about 50-50. The focus was conversation and the really good food, provided by a popular barbecue restaurant.
We had two activities that people could do or not, at any point. We printed prediction cards for attendees to fill out (height, weight, date and time of birth, etc.). No prizes, just something fun for the new mom and dad to read. We also had a “words of encouragement” station, where people could write something humorous or sweet on the outside of a disposable diaper. The mom and dad are supposed to put them into the diaper caddy before they read them, interspersed with other diapers, and come across them during random diaper changes.
I like to peek in this thread from time to time even though it doesn’t apply to me yet! (which is fine!)
But thought about this thread and new parents - and what to bring them to help out - and thought it was worthy of sharing…
https://www.thekitchn.com/what-you-should-really-bring-someone-who-just-had-a-baby-220209
People tend to think of bringing dinner meals to help out. This shares other items that may be appreciated including hydration, breakfast foods, healthy snacks, etc. - and most importantly, no strings attached. 
Re: Cribs - I think it all depends on how far away your grandchildren are and if they will be spending the night at your house. D, SIL, and GS are just five minutes away, so I almost always go to their house. It is just easier for everyone. D and SIL work some crazy hours, so I can be there day or night and GS can sleep in his own bed.
D had one baby shower and only invited family and very close friends. Several other friends, mothers of close friends, and coworkers did send gifts after GS was born, which was lovely and totally unexpected. I, personally, would not be offended if asked to send a gift to her home. It makes sense to me! The only activity we did was a Nursery Rhyme Quiz - Google baby shower games nursery rhyme quiz.
^Yeah, we too are only five minutes away. My babysitting will be over there. OTOH, our second and hopefully soon retirement home is two and a half hours away and they have visited us (bringing the Finn box GD sleeps in for now) and we plan for pack and play and crib eventually to make visiting easy. Its a vacation area so we figure they’ll be there a lot.
GS is expected in early July. GD is now 11 months old, and will be 14 months old when her little brother arrives. We found a great used brown metal crib that converts into junior bed (recent mfr, so the bed bars are correct spacing); I still had DD’s crib mattress (always had it stored well and covered well) so GD was taken care of. DD just picked up a matching crib and mattress through an area on-line market for a very good buy. Storing the mattress for now under the current crib. They are moving into a bigger apt the end of July and the babies will have their own room.
Delighted to be a designated babysitter on several weekends when SIL has Army Reserves and DD has nursing duties all weekend.
Looking forward to new baby and how the two will interact. GD is totally delightful, very happy.