You don’t want to open gifts at your baby shower? Think about these three options instead.

Baby shower gifts! YAY

I think the new norm is to not open gifts at your event. Whether that is a bridal shower, baby shower or some other event, people are moving away from the tedium of opening gifts in front of everyone. However, many people find themselves torn between what they want (i.e. not being stuck sitting in front of all of your guests 8 months pregnant in an uncomfortable chair while… Sorry I got distracted) and what your guests want, especially guests of prior generations.

There are three options that I think offer a nice compromise. These options make sure that the guest who want to watch you open gifts get that special moment, while not requiring you to spend the entire party asking for scissors to cut ribbon.

Display gifts are gifts that are not wrapped so other guests can admire them.

Display Gifts - This is nothing new, lots of people have been doing this as a compromise for years. Essentially, the gifts come in more of a display or unwrapped way so other guests can see them. I think for baby shower gifts especially, this is an excellent idea. I personally LOVE unwrapping gifts so this wasn’t my thing, instead at my baby shower, I had everyone put the gifts in the nursery to save me the repeated “show me the nursery” during the party, but I didn’t specify to wrap the gifts or not but I did tell people that we wouldn’t be opening them at the shower. I would say about half ended up doing more of a display gift presentation instead of wrapping.

Receiving “Hour” - I feel like this should be a half hour, but you know your guests best. The idea behind this option is that you set up a greeting area, basically you in a comfy chair, and accept gifts for a specific amount of time before the party. This allows you to have a quaint moment with Grandma or dear Aunt Carol, but for those guests that don’t mind you opening gifts privately, they arrive a little later and you get to enjoy time with all guests.

Post Party Opening - This is the other end of the receiving hour. A friend of mine did this and I thought it was GENIUS! Essentially she had two gift tables, one marked for gift opening, and one marked for private opening. I think the signs said “Open me at the party” and the other said “Open me later” or something like that. About half an hour before she was going to open gifts they made a little speech, thanked everyone for coming. She then made her way around the party and said her goodbyes to people who were leaving. I had put my gift on the Open me later table, but I still stayed to watch her open the gifts. It only took about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. It was much more intimate than if all 50 guests were there during the gift opening. I didn’t do this at my baby shower, but I feel like this would have been a great compromise because several guests did ask me to open their gifts after the party had all but wrapped up.

I am personally of the camp that you do not have to open gifts at your party if you are going to feel uncomfortable or heck, even if you don’t want to. I do enjoy watching people open the gift I got them but I think there are other ways to go about it. My husband and I ended up sitting in my daughters nursery opening gifts and really getting the time to appreciate each one. It took more than an hour and I really appreciated that I didn’t feel rushed or like I wasn’t getting to enjoy each gift.

I also think, if you are having a single gender party, sometimes it is nice for your husband to get to be there when you are opening gifts. Bridal shower gifts are often for the couple and baby shower gifts are mostly for the baby, so why is it just the wife/mom who gets to revel in the excitement of the gift the loved ones gave?

Just remember, at the end of the day, it is your party and you can do it the way you want to.