I have found more recently a big demand for baby shower cakes. This was a joint Baby Shower Party where one Mum to be knew the gender of her baby, whilst the other Mum did not.Whilst thinking that baby showers are a modern trend imported from USA, I decided to research a little.
“Baby shower” as a term is relatively new, but the celebrations and rituals associated with pregnancy and childbirth are both ancient and enduring. Like other rites of passage associated with significant transitional events such as coming of age, marriage, and death, baby showers function as a type of initiation into, and a construction of, a new state of being–in this case, “motherhood.” Indeed the history goes back to Ancient Egypt, although not called a baby shower then.
The modern baby shower started after WWII during the baby boom era. Baby showers in the mid-twentieth century not only served an economic function by providing the mother-to-be and her home with material goods that lessened the financial burden of infant care.Although baby showers continue to take place in the twenty-first century much as they did in the 1950s, there are several important changes. While traditional baby showers in the 1950s were characterized by exclusively female guests at home, twenty-first century baby showers include workplace, mixed sex, and feminist showers, In many cases, women no longer engage in the traditional separation from an old role as they enter a new role (Motherhood), but rather seek to add an additional role to their existing ones. While there may be many different types of baby showers today, the various rituals associated with pregnancy and childbirth are similar in that they all wish the best for mother and child.
Source: Random History.com