Magazine

Priya sorting through a pile of useless baby shower party trinkets in her kitchen.

The Brutal Truth About Shower Gifts That Guests Actually Keep

I'm standing in my kitchen, staring at a tiny resin carriage I just found in the back of my junk drawer. I honestly don't know whose party it came from. Before I had my own kid, I thought you had...

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A dad staring confused at a blank baby shower card next to a coffee

Writing a Baby Shower Card When You Have No Idea What to Say

I was standing in the greeting card aisle at the local Portland Fred Meyer, holding a pastel yellow card featuring a deeply anatomically incorrect stork, completely paralyzed. I had solicited advice from three different people on what to write in...

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A tired dad holding a wooden buffalo next to some Hundred Acre Wood decorations

The Accidental Winnie the Pooh Baby Shower Guide for Anxious Dads

Dear Tom from six months ago. You're currently hiding in the downstairs loo. I know this because I'm you, and I remember the exact texture of the bathmat you're presently sitting on while trying to escape the chaos of your...

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Coffee mug next to a wooden safari baby gym on a messy living room rug.

The Baby Giraffe Metaphor That Completely Changed My Motherhood

I was exactly 34 weeks pregnant with Maya, wearing these black maternity leggings that had a crusty, highly suspicious patch of dried Greek yogurt on the left thigh, standing in the middle of a big-box baby store just absolutely weeping...

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A relaxed outdoor baby bash gathering with parents and friends holding baby gear

Why We Traded Stuffy Showers for the Modern Co-Ed Baby Bash

I'm sitting on a pastel-pink velvet chair in a suburban banquet hall watching my cousin unwrap her nineteenth burp cloth. Someone is measuring her waist with toilet paper while a group of aunts I haven't seen since my wedding stare...

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Table set for a nature inspired baby gathering with a wooden play gym centerpiece

Surviving the Modern Baby Shower: Themes, Rules, and Absurdities

My mother-in-law insisted we needed a hired tea service with crustless cucumber sandwiches, my mate Paul told me to just book the back room at The Crown and put some crisps in a bowl, and an American lifestyle blog I...

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Neutral wooden baby shower decorations and a realistic balloon setup on a living room table.

The Truth About Baby Shower Decorations (And That Balloon Arch)

I was thirty-two weeks pregnant with my oldest, sitting flat on my kitchen floor, and ugly-crying into a pile of deflated sage green balloons. My husband had just walked in from work, taken one look at me holding a dual-action...

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Mom holding a floral baby blanket instead of real baby breath flowers

The Truth About Baby's Breath Flowers at Your Shower

I was standing in the middle of my living room at seven in the morning, eight months pregnant with my oldest, aggressively sniffing my own sofa cushions. My mom was in the kitchen cutting crusts off pimento cheese sandwiches for...

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A beautifully styled baby shower gift basket sitting on a wooden table

Baby Shower Games That Won't Make Your Guests Cringe

I was thirty-five weeks pregnant with my oldest, feet swollen into the shape of overcooked sausages, sitting on a floral armchair in a rural Texas living room while my mother-in-law's friend Brenda aggressively inhaled a microwaved Snickers bar smeared inside...

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