Friday was one of my best work friend's last day before maternity leave. Being
one of the closest people to her, and the
designated party planner office manager, I was volunteered as the one to throw her a baby shower. However, I've never thrown one before, and I've only attended two (and the last one was 2 years ago for a coworker I didn't know, so I wasn't really paying attention...oops).
Also, we just found out the Friday before that (April 1st) that this Friday would be her last-- so I was on a tight deadline.
I sent out an email on Friday morning (as soon as I found out) setting the date/time of the shower, and saying that if anyone wanted to contribute to a group present/cake/etc. to please give it to me by end of day Monday. Then I sent another one as a reminder on Monday morning. I was a little worried that being her friend, and wanting to buy her stuff, I wouldn't have enough money from "contributions" from our coworkers and would have to put out a lot personally. I have to say, I was really surprised by all the money people gave. I collected almost $300, and was able to buy a TON of stuff for her. (I also got lucky in the store- it was closing time, and the lady in front of me had two 20% off coupons that she couldn't use- karma is
AWESOME!). Plus the cake and decorations.
I was also surprised by those who
did not give. And as it turned out, those were some of the ones who make the most money in our department. That made me a bit sad, that they would be so stingy, when people like me (who make the least in our department) always give at least a little something to everything- birthdays, showers, selling Girl Scout cookies- it's about showing support to your coworkers. And of course, these people didn't attend the shower. Which, being that it was held during the work day and we all know they were in their offices because we could see them, seemed quite rude. I mean, you can't even say
Congratulations?? Lame.
Anyway, being that me and the other 2 girls threw her a shower the week before, we were able to re-use those decorations. Yay! And I got a 1/2 sheet cake from ShopRite with strawberries and cream filling...Yum! I know
Carlo's Bakery is right down the street, but ya know what? Their cake isn't good. I've had it. ShopRite's cake was fresh, delicious, and reasonably priced- everyone loved it and was surprised it was from a grocery store.
I waited until Thursday night to go shopping because, as usual, not a lot of people gave by the deadline. And I went at 9pm, because I only get home by 8, and then I wanted to go online and look at sales and what I wanted to buy (she didn't have a registry because this will be her second child, and she doesn't know if it's a boy or girl....and I don't have a lot of practice buying baby stuff). Actually it worked out well because C gets impatient shopping with me in general, let alone for baby stuff, so we only had a half hour to shop. Of course this made me crazy, as I've never been in Babies R Us before and don't know where anything is, but I had my list. So that helped. I was able to get her:
- the Boppy nursing pillow (it was between this and the Diaper Genie. I found out at the shower that she already has one, but I was smart enough to get a gift receipt so she can return it if she chooses.)
- Boppy pillow slip cover
- foldable bath (I think this was her favorite- and I was super mad that the store didn't have the "Essential Baby Bath Set" I had seen online with the tub, towels, robe, and everything, so I got this on a whim!)
- Johnson and Johnson "essentials" kit (shampoo, lotion, oil, Qtips, etc)
- ducky robe (this was on clearance- Buy One Get One FREE so I got another one for my friend who's having a shower this summer! Sah-weeet!)
- color changing rubber ducky- because it is my firm belief that every child should have a rubber ducky
- lil towels
- onesies
- receiving blankets
- a keepsake book
- a teddy bear, teething rings, and a phone rattle
- $50 gift card
- all the wrappings and a card
That's a lot of stuff! I realized this at 10:30 the night before, when I started wrapping all of it and didn't finish until somewhere between 12 or 12:30 in the morning. And especially when I had to
commute with all of it the 2 hours it takes me to get to work....via 2 trains and a bus. Though I skipped the bus part and just took a cab. I had it split between 2 giant gift bags...so big that I couldn't put my arms down all the way because they would hit the ground! And they were heavy, but luckily I didn't have to actually carry them too far.
The other problem was, even as late as Thursday, we didn't have a room! Our conference room had meetings scheduled, and every room in our 14 floor building was booked. We thought of using the Faculty Dining Room, but the one who schedules that room was out on Thursday. C was trying to help- he suggested the bowling alley (yes, our building has a bowling alley in the basement...kinda weird I know but also pretty cool), but even that was in use. Lucky for me, my boss was able to move the meeting originally scheduled in the conference room. And even luckier for me, the meeting got cancelled (though this only happened about a half hour to party time on Friday, but it was still good for me that the execs didn't have to squish into someone's office because of a party.)
Did I mention it was a SURPRISE baby shower? There were over 30 people invited, so I was really nervous someone would slip and say something. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would kinda stink. Especially since the Vice CFO decided to throw a "baby shower" for a computer program they are bringing in this summer. My friend was soooo mad. "Really, they are throwing a baby shower for a computer program, a
computer program, and not for me??
SERIOUSLY?!" Hahahaha. And the fact that we (her friends) threw her a shower the week before also completely threw her off. Because if we already did one for her, who would plan another one? In theory, that makes sense, but we wanted to do one for her that was
just us, not with everyone- it was much more personal, intimate, and I think special- a true sign of friendship, to go out of our way to do something nice for her.
We had the party on her last day, at 3:30 in the afternoon. She had no idea...until her boss told her some bogus lie to get her to come to our floor. But usually when we have a little party, we have it right off the elevator in the front because there's an empty workspace there. So she comes off the elevator, looking alllllll around for something. Anything. Her boss told her other boss was in a meeting and needed her to come up to verify facts. Being that this has never happened, and it was her last day, she wasn't buying it. (She's a smart cookie). But I made sure that I was at my desk when she came off the elevator, and showed her to the "meeting" ...in the conference room.
Her face. Was. Priceless.
Yes, after her boss told her that baloney, she thought we
may have done a
little something. But EVERYONE was there (well, except those losers who didn't want to participate, but that was about 4 people out of 30). And we had the room all decorated- balloons, banners, swags of crepe paper in the shape of babies, a yellow tablecloth with the cake on it and some table top decorations, and the presents all around. And all the people, yelling "Surprise!" It was awesome. She was so surprised, and SO happy, and so grateful to everyone, that she was practically in tears (I think I did see her shed one or two...and she's not a crier!).
I was quite proud of myself. And her bosses AND my boss said I did an amazing job, and her bosses didn't realize how big of an event it was and all that it entailed (I'm guessing they meant the decorations, size of the cake, amount of people that came, and amount of gifts...they're men; I don't think they "get" what a big deal things like showers are, but that's ok) and that they were so happy and grateful that I did it all.
Success!! :)
