From the article: The Mother Blessing: A Baby Shower Alternative
A blessingway is an alternative to a traditional baby shower. This celebration usually centers around a mother's journey into parenthood and having a baby. This is less focused on gifts and more about the relationships. Have you been invited to one? How was it different? How was it the same? What parts would you like to see done at your next baby celebration? Share Your Story
lab
- Happy happy day to come to the beautiul baby boy and new life for Kerianne
- —Guest lorrie
our baby had t18 and blessingway
- Our daughter had trisomy 18 and wasn't expected to live long. A friend hosted a lovely blessingway for me and baby - lovely! What a way to honor her life, even tho it was to be brief. We loved the two weeks of life she shared with us.
- —Guest AM
Community Blessingway
- Instead of a typical baby shower we held a blessing way (no gifts) to welcome our baby. Many friends and family within our community gathered to honour the soon to be birth of our child. Each person brought a bead and standing in a circle all gave their wish for our unborn baby and its journey into this world. Then they treaded the bead on a string and created a birthing necklace to give me strength and love during labour. Then we all sang a song and tied a bit of yarn around our right arm connecting everyone in the circle. After a few words were said about the reason we all gathered and that each time we see this yarn on our wrist we are to think of the baby to come as well as us the parents and the incredible journey we are on, everyone then cut the string and tied their bit to their arm. Next everyone was invited to take a candle and write their name on a phone tree. The reason for this was so the community knew when I went into labour and they would light their candle to help light
- —Guest JKOZ
Loved My Blessingway
- In my circle, each mama gets a blessingway for their baby. Mine was lovely. Herbal foot bath, beautiful music and a lovely necklace were given to me. Each friend gave me a blessing for me and my baby and gave me positive energy and love. There were no scary stories and each mother said something positive about my upcoming birth/parenting experience. If I could have that much love each day I would!
- —maelli3
Never Attended One
- I've been to a 100 showers but never a Blessingway - I've been to showers where we had manis/pedis, had BBQ, had a formal tea, made memory books out of fabric swatches and then someone made a quilt for baby, build baby a library showers. I've been to Mommy centered showers with gifts for Mom. I've been to stock the panty and freezer shows. I've been to showers with doula, midwife and/or lactation consultant funds but never a Blessingway.
- —Guest DJ
blessingways are lovely
- I've been to a couple blessingways. One was a blessingway / shower Hybrid... the family still got registry gifts, but the focus of the party was very mother-baby centered. We made her a birthing necklace, shared blessings/wishes for the mother and new baby, and each took home a candle to light when we heard Mom was in labor. Another I've been to was more of the traditional blessingway, though it was still more "mainstream" than others I've heard about. We ate, lit candles, make a necklace, gave our wishes for the birth/breastfeeding/relationship, and we each made a bracelet to wear until the baby was born. Music was playing in the background and there were flowers all around. We also had a mini-pampering session for the mom-to-be: herbal foot bath and a hand and foot massage. At both of these, the energy was very positive. There were no scary stories of long labors or babies with giant heads. It was pleasant & uplifting. I would love to be surrounded by women I love next time
- —Guest erin
Loved it!
- I thought it was weird when my friend invited me, but we were good friends so I felt like I had to go. I'm not a touchy feely person but this was just the perfect mix of celebration and friendship - really touching. We had a community basket out for gifts, so if you wanted to bring something small for the baby you could. It was mostly diapers and wipes. We had a pot luck dinner, the hostess had soup. It was great!
- —Sara1982
