Yep.

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Jo- I would say they our our closest friends. I think that makes it harder, b/c I want to get them something special. The married couple has a 1 yr old. The other couple has been dating for a year, and he just moved into a new house.

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Jen- why don't you plan a game night for them to come to your house and YOU play the host? You can supply dinner and drinks as well as the games and treat your friends to a night out. You can even arrange for a babysitter for the one-year-old so that your parent friends can enjoy their night without worry. That would be something fun for everyone to enjoy. Let me keep thinking of ideas...

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While thankful, I am also pretty broke. We just got married last December, and I got my wedding party really expensive gifts. Unfortunately I cannot afford to do that again. My sister and cousin are throwing my shower. I just got my sister's daughter a bunch of cute clothes at BRU (my sister will consider that a gift to herself). My cousin is having some problems trying to concieve and recently asked me if I had any advice, so I was goig to give her my copy of TCOYF, and a candle from this homemade candle shop. I know that is an unconventional gift; but she wants it.

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Krissy

Jo - I like the idea, but we actually have them over pretty frequently (our house is the one we go to the most), so it probably wouldn't feel like much of a gift. I was thinking of taking the girls to get pedis at this really cute place, and then telling DH to figure somehting out for the guys.....but that might not be the best idea, either.....
Or getting them something for their houses that they wouldn't buy themselves?

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Ok so I think I have some ideas for my friends with the help of the conversations here. I think I'm going to get small tote bags through Landsend with their name and then fill them with goodies from Bath and Body etc. Or if I can come up with some other ideas to put in there. The one that is from MI I was may be going to throw in a pedi but didn't know what to do for the one from the Chicago area.

I thought for my mom and grandma I could do some personalized frames or something for when the baby comes and then still have to figure out something for my sister.

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Jen- for the house idea, why not check out Southern Living at Home? https://www.southernlivingathome.com/Corp/index.aspx They always have cute decor pieces and entertaining pieces.

Heidi- when my sister was pg, she got me a t-shirt that said, "World's Coolest Aunt". Even though it was about 4 sizes too big, I still wore it as a nightshirt. It was my first time to be an aunt.

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Jo-I love Southern Living. I've been to a few parties and they have great stuff. I may have to check that out too. I think for my sister I would like to do something for her as a family so they can all enjoy something. But what that is I'm stuck.

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Heidi - I love the lands end bags! I have gotten them for several friends as gifts & filled them with fun stuff. They look so great & are so reasonable! Maybe I could do that for the girls - I think they ship pretty fast.

Jo - great idea. I am going to check it out. I was also looking at William Sonoma monogrammed glasses...but that could pose an issue for the non married couple.....

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This might sound stupid, but am I missing something when it comes to shower gifts? I have helped throw quite a few baby showers, and have never gotten anything like the things you are all mentioning. It sounds much more like bridal party gifts than hostess gifts. For one shower I threw, the girl got me a bottle of wine, and for the other shower she took me out to lunch the next day. I also threw a couples shower and I don't remember getting anything, and that was absolutely fine with me; afterall, they had a new baby to pay for. Now I am reconsidering; maybe I should be doing similar things to you guys? Is this ettiquette and I am just missing something?

I spoke with Montessori yesterday, and then spent the next two hours crying. I was so upset about the cost, and also hormonal, that I started to be mean to DH for no reason, and I didn't think that was fair so I left and went to the park to cool down. Daycare is so expensive. I am a college professor, and DH makes great money doing home restoration, and yet, we can't figure it out. How do people with low paying jobs do it? I have no idea how people are stay at home moms. Again, kudos for all of you who are getting expensive gifts for those throwing your showers. I don't know how you do it with baby coming. I am apparently much more broke than everyone else.

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Krissy

Krissy- I would set a $25 limit for the hostess gifts. That would be ideal. I only had to buy 2 gifts for these showers so it wasn't too bad if I went a little over. My martini idea was around $25 and the Sephora gift idea was $50. The Sephora was for a family member, though.

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Krissy- I also wanted to add that you could also make a scrapbook for your hostess. If they have kids just premake some 8x8 pages and she can stick in some photos, or you could do a friends book and put in pictures of you guys having fun together.

Heidi- what about getting them a portrait session for a family photo? That might be something that they've been meaning to do, just haven't gotten around to yet.

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Krissy - I tend to go a little overboard when it comes to buying gifts for others. I really enjoy giving them as much as I enjoy getting them, and that usually resulting in DH telling me to re-think it, or spending too much money. I do the same thing for Xmas every year, even though I try not to. I'm sure traditions are different everywhere, but it is pretty common here to give the host a gift. I am probably just going overbaord, as usual. I emailed DH the ideas & I am just waiting for him to tell me its too much.

Sorry about daycare - I haven't looked into it yet, but I know its going to be a shock. I'm sure you'll figure something out. Hang in there

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Jo - We need a new pic of you! Your last one was at 28 weeks!

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Jen- I had my maternity photos done at 34 weeks. My next one will be this weekend when I hit the big 36 weeks!! Then, I think I'll be doing weekly photos. The maternity photos are on page 13 of this thread. I think you were out of town when I posted them...not sure.

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Jo--$25 seems reasonable to me. I think I am just in the middle of having a financial breakdown! Like Jen, I tend to go overboard, and I spent WAY too much on wedding party gifts, and as it is, I have to pay for gas to drive the 4 hrs to our shower (it's in my hometown) and a hotel, so I am just a bit concerned about money in general. Plus, I buy stuff for my sister all the time, just because we are pretty close and I always see stuff that makes me think of her or her daughter. I don't really feel like I need to buy her anything too expensive for the shower, but I don't want to look like a cheap A** either!
I want to see everyones belly shots! It has been awhile!
I was going to post a belly shot. I am now 28 weeks, and feel like I am officially huge. Chris took a belly shot yesterday, but It is a terrible picture, it is too dark. I will probably just post some shower pic's next week and stick a belly shot in with those. I am definitely bigger! Now Ely reacts, too. If I poke my belly, he kicks back. It is so weird, but it is sort of nice because now when someone wants to feel him kick they don't have to just stand their with their hand on my belly and hope that he does it. Instead, they can just sort of jiggle him or poke him, and they get a good strong kick!

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Krissy

Krissy - My DH has a decent paying job and I worked during PG but I wasn't making hardly a 1/4 of what my DH made. I used my little bit of money to help with insurance on the cars and I kept half of it to buy what I wanted (clothes during PG and such). It wouldn't be feasible in our case for me to work because my whole check would go to childcare. Where I live there are NOT good paying jobs for people with a Bachelor's in Graphic Design. I made more money working as an Admin. Assistant at a non-profit organization than I did at our local newspaper as a Graphic Designer. I could move to a larger city and do quite well but there just isn't a calling for it here and we live in a college town to boot so go figure! You'll figure it out.

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That completely makes sense! I never realized before how much child care costs. I am sure that a lot of moms stay home because it is actually CHEAPER than child care. It is not an option for us; especially since all of our benefits are through my job, and we just recently purchased a very expensive "fixer upper" house. Also, we have a lot of debt. I payed for most of my graduate school; didn't actually get a TA position until a year and a half into the PHD program. Im sure we will figure it out; it is just SO frustrating!

YEAH--The Montessori school just called me while I was typing this, and helped me figure out the actual tuition for the spring '09. It will double in the fall, and I have NO idea how we will pay for that, but it sounds like as long as I hold all of my office hours at night, and teach a few night classes, we can actually afford it for the spring. It won't be easy, but not impossible either. I think I may go ahead and enroll him, and worry about fall '09 when we get closer. That makes me feel much better. The only thing I don't like, is that if I come in during the day to bf, they don't take that time "off the clock". So I will be paying them for time that I am bf'ing. Stupid.

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