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Baby Shower Party Supplies of YoreIn the fifties and sixties—typically in the working class and suburban neighborhoods--the traditional (and even mandatory) list of baby shower party supplies included 1) balloons and streamers; 2) paper plates, napkins, flatware; 3) decorative, festive baby shower banners; and materials for baby shower games, including pads of paper and pencils; cotton balls, blindfolds, and spoons; and all the items one would need in a diaper bag, for a changing table, or for the baby’s health and well-being (baby powder, diapers, diaper pins, baby bottles, etc.). The parties then hosted only women and the events and games all centered on one theme, that, of course, of babies. The baby shower party supplies cotton balls, blindfolds, and spoons were for a game: guests were blindfolded, handed a spoon, instructed to get on their knees on the floor, and had to collect cotton balls that were strewn about…using only their spoons. They could not feel for or, obviously, peek at the location of the cotton balls. Since not everyone played, the onlookers had a blast watching these silly fools scooping away at nothing. Another use of the baby shower party supplies listed above as the changing table or health and well-being items was also a game: the hostess of the party would roll out a cart with a tray which was covered (usually with a new diaper). The hostess would lift the cloth, ask the guests to study the tray contents (again, all baby-related items), and then, after twenty or thirty seconds, cover the tray and have everyone write down everything they remembered seeing. The woman with the most items won a prize, just as did the one wth the most cotton balls (if anyone got any). Among the baby shower party supplies were paper plates. Yes, typically used for food, these plates had a special function at the baby shower. As the guest of honor opened gifts, an assistant would remove the bows from the discarded wrappings, attach the bows to the underside of a paper plate, then flip it over, run a ribbon through it, and tie it to the mother-to-be’s head. Also when the gifts were being unwrapped was the humorous activity of recording the solitary comments of the giftee. These comments, once in a list and out of context, as it were, had hysterical implications: “Ohhh, it’s just what I wanted! Look how big it is! And It’s so soft and beautiful, makes me want to squeeze it” sent titters and shrieks of laughter through the now heated room. This latter “game,” of course not only required no baby show party supplies but was also ideal for bridal showers, too. Today, these western rituals have evolved to including men, to departing occasionally from the baby theme, and to transcending cotton-balling and ribbon hat-wearing. At least, at the last party I attended, I didn’t see any baby shower party supplies of yore, bt found instead personal cameras for every guest, crudités, and lots of booze, music, and theorizing about Baby Einstein versus Playschool or some such talk.
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