Baby shower

A baby shower is a party centered on gift-giving to celebrate the delivery or expected birth of a child.

[5] However, this custom varies by culture or region and in some it is expected and customary for a close female family member to host the baby shower.

[citation needed] Pre-birth baby showers may be held late in the pregnancy, but not usually during the last few weeks, in case of a pre-term birth.

[1] The baby shower is a family's first opportunity to gather people together to help play a part in their child's life.

Baby showers are relatively new, having become popular only in the middle of the 20th century,[1] but other celebrations and rituals associated with pregnancy and childbirth are both ancient and enduring.

[10] Baby showers and other social events to celebrate an impending or recent birth are popular around the world, but not in Western Europe.

However, with the growth of American cultural influence – accelerated through celebrities via social media sites like Instagram – baby shower decorations are becoming more common in the United Kingdom.

[18] Wetting the baby's head is traditionally when the father celebrates the birth by having a few drinks and getting drunk with a group of friends.

There has been some controversy over these, with Judith Martin calling them a "monstrous imposition",[16] although she was referring to the attitude of demanding gifts and not necessarily the male version of a baby shower.