I find that many friends give gifts whether it’s my 1st or my 5th – with or without the party. If you don’t want to spend the money, don’t. If they get mad because you didn’t help them get those expensive gifts, they weren’t much of a friend in the first place.

Since the parents already have a lot of baby stuff from the first child, ask the guests to bring only items that have to be re-bought, such as baby food, diapers, bath time stuff, etc.

One of the most popular Baby Sprinkle themes is the diaper party. Basically, all the guests bring diapers and wipes, since you can never have enough of those. And some people assign guests to bring diapers for certain age groups. By doing this, the parents will have newborn – toddler size diapers.

The idea of a baby sprinkle is not as popular as the traditional baby shower, but more and more people are using it every year. It’s a great way to celebrate the birth of a child without having to ask your friends and families to buy you another expensive gift.

In my opinion, all new babies should be celebrated in some way.

I do think that if it had been an item specific shower, maybe it wouldn’t have seemed so greedy. Such as “Everyone bring your favorite children’s book” or something along those lines.

To reply a bit to everyone, I don’t think that it was the fact there is a second shower that bothered me, but more the way it was done, with the pricey registry.

I’d check out what they were registering for. Really fancy baby equipment, no thanks. If it was some of the normal stuff, I might assume they’d given it away and give them something small.

Meredith has the best idea, I think. Babysitting, either for a date night or for a break for mom is a real gift. Or offers to make a meal after the baby is born. Or offering to watch the 3-year-old while mom and dad are getting the baby home from the hospital, etc. A few hours respite might be very useful when dad goes back to work!

Thank you.