Magazine

A stack of open baby shower cards resting on an organic cotton baby blanket

Writing baby shower wishes that will not make parents roll their eyes

I'm sitting cross-legged on my faded Chicago apartment rug right now. My toddler is methodically dismantling a cardboard box in the corner, looking for a stale Cheerio I know he dropped three days ago. I'm holding a stack of heavy...

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A heavily scrutinised spread of baby shower food on a buffet table.

How to Serve Baby Shower Food Without Poisoning the Mother

There's a pervasive, Pinterest-fueled lie that catering a baby shower is an exercise in elegant pastel minimalism involving delicate cucumber sandwiches and unbothered women laughing in sunlit rooms. It's actually a high-stakes hostage negotiation with bacteria where one wrong slice...

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A simple naked cake with some fresh berries and green leaves on a wooden table

My Brutally Honest Guide To Surviving The Baby Shower Cake Drama

I was thirty-three weeks pregnant with Maya, wearing a navy blue floral maternity wrap dress from Target that was actively cutting off the circulation to my ribs. It was 2:15 PM on a sweltering Sunday in July, I was sweating...

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A pregnant mom holding a list of cute baby girl names on a notepad

How to Choose Cute Baby Girl Names Without Losing Your Mind

We're sitting in the parking lot of a Texas Roadhouse in the dead of August. I'm 38 weeks pregnant, sweating through a maternity shirt I bought on clearance, and absolutely sobbing into a to-go container of buttered rolls. Why? Because...

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Wooden play gym with neutral toys in a modern baby nursery

What Nobody Tells You About Personalized Baby Gifts

I was sitting on a donut pillow in my cramped Chicago apartment, bleeding through postpartum mesh underwear, while my mother-in-law unboxed a neon pink fleece blanket the size of a parachute. It had my daughter's name embroidered across it in...

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Expectant mother looking skeptically at a massive tray of cold cuts

The brutal truth about catering for heavily pregnant women

At my own party, I stood at the edge of my sister-in-law's patio staring at a three-foot wooden board covered in prosciutto, unpasteurized brie, and what looked like homemade mayonnaise dip. My mother-in-law nudged my elbow. Beta, you need to...

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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 woman holding a pen over a blank baby shower card next to a gift

What to write in a baby shower card without losing your mind

I'm sitting in the passenger seat of our sedan, balancing a small square envelope on the dashboard while my husband dodges Chicago potholes. We're twenty minutes late to my cousin's baby shower. The pen I dug out of the glovebox...

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Pregnant mother wearing a comfortable flowing dress at a baby shower

The Truth About Maternity Dresses for Baby Showers

Let me tell y'all the biggest lie the internet ever sold us: that you're going to float into your celebration at thirty-two weeks pregnant looking like a perfectly contoured, dew-kissed fertility goddess in a restrictive satin gown. I'm starting right...

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