Co-ed showers...not the kind from college

I'm definitely not ready to have a baby yet, but it seems that lately that's what everyone around me is doing. Like one of my BFF's Sarah of Say What You Mean to Sa .This is great, don't get me wrong. I'll happily spoil your kid until I'm ready to go out for drinks...

What I have noticed lately however is that the whole wedding and baby showers for women only is a thing of the past. Now it's almost always "couples events" where people drag their poor boyfriends and husbands to someone's house where we all "ooh" and "ahh" at how damn cute every little onesie or burp blanket is.

Although I'm not typically into all the "baby frill", I'll totally go gaga over outfits with trains, baseballs, or really any type of shoe that could fit someone under the age of 2.

So who loses in this equation? In my opinion, both the men and the women are miserable. The male discontent is easier to pick up on by the looks on their faces, but the women are battling internally with trying to make sure he's met some people, and had plenty of "punch" to not freak out over her interest in baby things ("oh god, now she's gonna want one" like it's contagious or something).

My solution? because of course I have thought long and hard about my own baby shower years premature is this:

1) Ok, go for the couples shower. My amount of estrogen present at my female bridal shower was beyond intimidating. I had to be uber proper, sophisticated, blah, blah, blah. We sipped lemonade, ate cake, fruit, and delicious truffles and chatted, of course. It really was a great day, but I felt like I was "on" and couldn't relax the whole time. Our couples luau however was a whole different feel. Music, food, BOOZE, games, and we DIDN't open presents. This pissed off a few people there, but the other 90% were eternally grateful that we didn't sit them through that.

1A) ONLY IF: I insist this be during a major sports day, like College Football Saturday or NFL Sundays. We could all mingle together for food and arrival, but the minute someone mentions baby games or presents, the men hit the TV room and sip off the keg for the next few hours. This allows them to do their thing, and doesn't infringe on the ability of the women to do theirs without shame or concern over his "comfort level".

Our baby shower invite would probably look something like this; plus I'd throw the word "baby" on it a few times...