Men, Women, and Unborn Baby Luaus

We recently were invited to a Hawaiian-themed couples baby shower. One afternoon while we were running errands, I coerced Stephen into accompanying me to Target to buy the baby gift.

We printed the gift registry from the little kiosk and set off for the baby section. Stephen glanced at the rows of baby paraphernalia. "How much are you planning to spend on this kid?"

I named the amount, and justified it by emphasizing the importance of the relationship that I have with the baby's maternal grandmother. Besides, my mom had agreed to go in for half.

"Okay," said Stephen, and skimmed the pages of the registry. "That means that we can get the Bumbo Baby Sitter Blue...and a Boppy slipcover. Oh, and one pack of assorted wash cloths. That will be just the right amount."

"No, no," I tried to explain. "We want to pick one semi-large gift to set the theme, but we want to have enough money left to buy a few other items that relate to the theme. Those things you said don't have anything to do with each other."

Stephen tried to look patient and understanding as it dawned on him that this would be no quick in-and-out trip. I prowled up and down the baby aisles in search of inspiration. My initial idea was a bath-themed gift, with a baby tub full of shampoos, lotions, and towels. But washcloths and shampoo were the only thing on the registry, and I wasn't going to go out on a limb for the most expensive part of the gift.

After much agonizing, I decided to go with a diaper-themed gift. We bought diapers and wipes, and a travel changing pad, some diaper rash cream, baby powder, and Purel hand sanitizer.

Stephen mentally totaled the items in our basket. "So, we're set, right? A basket full of themed baby stuff. Now we can get a big gift bag and go?"

"No, no," I contradicted, and proceeded to instruct him in phase two of the gift buying: Themed baby stuff is a good gift. But good is not good enough- we want to give the best gift. And the line between good and best is all in the presentation. "We need to find a cute container that fits our theme that we can put all this stuff in."

Stephen eyed the pile of diaper accessories. "Maybe a laundry basket?"

"You can't put diapers in a laundry basket!" Stephen knows my paranoia about mixing clean and dirty.

"Well, they're unused diapers in a brand new basket," he reasoned.

I was off to investigate what seemed like the only logical possibility for a container in keeping with my theme: a trash can. Voila! There was a perfect one, in a lovely hue of baby green, and for a very reasonable price. Stephen was skeptical, but willing to go along with anything at this point.

I got home, played with my ribbons and scissors and clear cellophane, and even Stephen had to admire my final product: