So…books are kind of my thing. Just in case you’re new around here.

But it occurred to me recently that it might be fun to share some of the details from my book themed baby shower from back in the day. Let me repeat, back in the day. I’m not pregnant again. Everyone clear on that? I’m looking at you mom.

Moving on.

This shower was thrown for me almost three years ago by my fabulous best friend and her mom.

Although, I feel like we might need a new category for people like Penny and Allison. They are family. In every possible way that it matters. But in many ways, they are better than family. Because we CHOSE each other.

There was never an obligation to spend holidays with them, but we did it every year.  (By the way…my talented best friend just started a food blog…and it’s GOOD! Check it out here!)

My daughter London and Allison’s daughter Mackenzie are third generation best friends. And yes, they are only toddlers…but they WILL BE BEST FRIENDS. Whether they like it or not darn it.

Anyways.

The theme for my shower was a surprise. I had no idea what they were cooking up, but I knew it was going to be good. My mom calls Penny her “Martha Stewart Friend” and she means that in the best possible non-jail time way.

The shower was hosted at my parent’s lake house (the same house where we had my book launch.) This house, this lake, is where my heart is happy, so it makes sense that the BIG moments of my life have been celebrated here. I wanted to get married here but was talked out of it. A little part of me is still sad I allowed myself to be persuaded.

The theme of the shower…was books…and it was above and beyond any shower I’ve ever attended.

Everything was themed with a book.

They even made a Giving Tree for me to sit under to open gifts. That’s commitment to a theme people.

Chocolate chip cookie mix in mason jars were the party favor and, of course, they went along with If you Give a Mouse a Cookie.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar presided over the food table, and made an appearance on the desert table as well.

Meatball Appetizers- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Candy on the Desert Table- Bernstein Bears and Too Much Junkfood

Pasta-Strega Nona

Chicken Salad- Chicken Little

We even had Green Eggs and Ham!

You name it-they had a book that went along with it.

It was like children’s book heaven.

We ate in the dining room where tiny book garlands floated above us and the tables were decorated with baby pictures of my husband and I.

Guests signed their name and wrote messages in a copy of Dr. Seuss’s Oh the Places You’ll Go.

And of course, everyone was asked to bring a book to give to baby Martin.

It was fun to look back at these pictures for a few reasons. The first being…I was so clueless. I was about eight months pregnant here, and I had NO IDEA WHAT WAS COMING. You cannot prepare for being a parent, not really.

I read gobs of books about babies, I’d nannied for multiple summers, I taught kids every day…but I had NO idea how exhausting, time-consuming, all encompassing, and wonderful kids would be. Clue. Less.

The second reason is that these books, the ones decorating the tables and piled around me in pictures are now committed to my memory. My daughter, and now my son, and I have read them hundreds of times. The words in those books have been etched onto our hearts.

Books make the BEST gifts. Period.

My daughter received so many wonderful things that day, but most of them have already been outgrown and now live in  large plastic bins in my basement. It’s sad really. But what isn’t sad are the books that we read Every. Single. Day.

The books I will save and not let my kids take with them when they grow up and move out so that I have something to  read to my grandkids.

My mom did this.

She has a cabinet of books she saved from my childhood. I’m not allowed to steal them. I’ve tried.

But opening those books from my childhood is like opening a memory. I remember who I was when I had those books read to me, and now I get to see my daughter discover the stories that shaped me into the person I am today. I’m not lying when I say that books are magic.

So there you go, feel free to share on Pinterest in case someone else is hunting for the perfect baby shower theme for a book-loving friend. I even got all snazzy and made a graphic for it…because my over-achiever gene made me.

And on a final note about baby showers, and this goes for bridal showers too. While the gifts (especially books) are wonderful and appreciated and generous…for me…that’s not what made my bridal and baby showers SO special.

And I always try to tell this to any bride or mom-to-be when they are gearing up for their own shower. THIS, I tell them, THIS is one of the only times when ALL your people will gather around you.

Your tribe will come together for a shower… relatives and high school friends and college friends and work friends, and neighborhood friends. This will never happen again. (Well, it will…but it’s called your funeral, and odds are you won’t be able to enjoy it overly much.)

This is where your aunts will share the stories of their own weddings and babies, and gasp over the new generation’s stories because “MY HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED!” Where traditions are explained and handed down, where family secrets might get shared over too many glasses of wine.

THIS is the special time. The wedding is great too, but in many ways, the shower is better. And for this reason, I am so sad that my time of showers has come to an end. Because while I still get to see my tribe…they are scattered. They will never congregate in the same place again. At least not while I’m alive to see it.

So now, I just live vicariously through other people’s showers, and I post about mine on this little corner of the internet. I hope you enjoyed it.